Patience is letting the motor idle when you feel like stripping the gears!

Alot of talk of patience these days from me but I am a frustrated athlete. I keep reading the results from all these different races and I want to race too!
After another two weeks post Columbia of not feeling good I decided to go back to the doctors to have a check up. Although my coughing has stopped, I was left with a constant feeling of a tight sore chest and shortness of breath. Swimming was becoming increasingly harder and slower! This is so tough when all you want to be doing is training hard...nailing workouts...gaining fitness and speed. My whole style of swimming changed to survival mode...every other stroke breathing and occasionally stopping during a set to swim breastroke and catch my breath. My friend Maggie had warned me that the effects of bronchitis would stick around for awhile and she wasn't kidding. Not only was I hurting in the pool but now my running was starting to suffer too. I was being brought to a standstill either catching my breath or running 8.30's trying to just cope. Finally Thursday I went back to the doctor who did several tests. ECG came back perfect,but the spirometer test was not so hot. Seems I have been training with the breathing capacity of a 78 year old and not an Ironman finisher 78 year old either.
While I was happy to know that there was not a virus, or that I wasn't completely out of my mind or super unfit, I now have to just wait this out before I can get back to training all out and gearing up for Ironman Lake Placid.
On a positive note though, this will pass and I will be back racing soon and I can still train!
So life is still good! It was a gorgeous weekend here in Point Pleasant New Jersey. We finally had two dry days in a row....definitely something to smile about!