OMG, I've been so deathly sick. It's been horrible. 10 days ago I started feeling something deep in my chest, but I chalked it up to having done a lot of cleaning the day before and thought it was probably because I had breathed in a lot of bleach. So I went to track practice as usual and everyone was on point that night, running really fast splits on the 5x1000 that we did. I was definitely pushing my body to try to keep up w/ my group and maybe that workout put me over the edge.
The next day I woke up and felt pretty terrible. All day I was alternating between really hot and really cold. I was either sweating or had goosebumps. I felt like Jack Black in Tropic Thunder when he's coming down off his "jelly beans." By Friday I was so miserable that I actually went to the doctor. My temp was 103 and they told me I had the flu. I ached all over, had a headache, no energy, and a very deep cough. Ew gross, I haven't been really sick like this in so long.
I thought if I rested over the weekend and took a couple more days off running I'd be fine. I took Tamiflu, alternated w/ Ibuprofen & Tylenol, & drank codeine cough syrup at night. But Monday rolled around, I was still ill, and I unfortunately haven't accrued any sick leave. So I trudged out last week feeling less than stellar. By Wednesday I hadn't run at all in an entire week! Seven days and my mileage was a big goose egg! I wanted to run, but I just hadn't felt up to it.
Thursday, I decided that even though I wasn't better I HAD to start exercising again b/c taking that much time off was starting to take a physical and a mental toll on me. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and was feeling somewhat optimistic that this was the start of me getting back on track. However, Friday I had a migraine after work and felt a little nauseous so I didn't run. This morning I got in an hour, but didn't feel very good. It was cold and windy and I whined to myself about summer being so far away. Tomorrow I'm planning on running for 90 minutes and I'm really hoping that I'm going to feel better.
Overall I think I am getting better, even though the process has been so painfully slow. The worst part is when I think about how much I was putting into my running before and how much I was gaining. I had finally gotten up to about 60 miles per week, was up to 20 miles on my long run, and was routinely putting in the hard work at the track on Wednesdays. I was confident that I was doing the proper preparation to set myself up for success at Quintiles. Now I just feel like I've lost all that fitness! I mean, I know I couldn't have lost my entire base, but I do know that if you are not conditioning, you are deconditioning and this process begins to happen pretty quickly. It's so frustrating b/c I'm in a phase of training that is really important for my marathon which is only about 2 months away now. I'm worried that this is going to affect my ability to reach my sub 3 hour goal and that does not make me a happy camper at the moment.
So, all I can really do is continue to rest and eat right and do what I can training-wise until I'm healthy again. Then I've got to assess where I'm at and get back into my training plan. I'm not the first athlete to get sick and take some forced time off training, but when you're in this position you almost feel like you are the only one on the world going through it. Anyhow, hope this post finds the rest of you in good health and good spirits! Hopefully I'll be back out there w/ you all SOON!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh and here's a funny Eminem song from MMLP2 called Baby that I was listening to on my run and gave me the idea for the title of this blog :-)
you don't decondition in 10 days......and that's a fact! You must must must must, believe and stay positive, if you have your mind set that you have lost it, then you have lost it. Believe that your body holds onto fitness even during the flu and you will bounce back and peak when it I the right time.
ReplyDeleteThanks Coach! :-)
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