Mon: 7.5 miles
Tue: 9.5 miles, including turnover work
Wed: 7.5 miles
Thu: 10 miles, including combo workout
Fri: 9 miles
Sat: 7.5 miles
Sun: 9 miles
Total: 60 miles
One word can be used to sum up this past week: Ugh! I never seem to have a good week of training when I’m at the beach, and I normally attribute that to being out of my routine as well as being distracted by enjoying the trip, both of which are good reasons (or excuses, depending on how you look at it). However, this week was different. I didn’t have a good week of training, but it wasn’t for good reasons. Towards the end of last week I was feeling pretty run down and was wondering what was going on. By the first of this week, I knew what at least part of the problem was as I had a come down with a cold, complete with all the symptoms. As I type this, I’m still battling it, and whatever it is, it’s nasty stuff that just doesn’t seem to want to go away. Add in the fact that the weather at the beach was lousy with a capital “L” and things were just plain ugly. Should I have taken a day or two off? Probably, but I had a training partner who I only get to run with twice a year, so I battled my way through it.
In the way of something positive, one nice thing about the beach is your pace is just naturally faster when you come from the mountains like I do. I averaged well under 7 min pace most every day off the same sort of effort that would be 10-15 sec slower back home. I also got in a couple of decent workouts in spite of having to cough and hack my way through them. The first of those workouts was simply a turnover day that consisted of 4X30 sec, 4X60 sec, and 4X30 sec, all with 60 sec recovery. This was probably my worst feeling run of the week. My chest was just burning, especially when running into the wind, and I was basically wiped out afterward. I recovered pretty well over the next couple days, however, and was able to put in a fairly solid effort on Thursday. That day was 3 min at 10k pace, followed by 10 min at tempo pace, then finally 2 min at 5k pace. In spite of having well less than 100% lung capacity, I hit paces of 5:27, 5:42, and 5:07, respectively, so it was a decent workout. I had hoped to close the week out with a long run on Sunday, but by the time that day rolled around, I thought better of it. I was just too worn down from traveling and being sick and knew it would do more harm than good.
So, I’m now into about 3 weeks of sub-par training with at least 10-12 more days to go before I’ll be able to get back to my normal routine. I knew this was going to be a tough stretch, but I had no idea I would have additional challenges on top of the ones I already knew about. I’m not happy about it, but there’s nothing I can do other than try to make the best of it. I think I’ve done enough to maintain my fitness for the most part, but I certainly haven’t gained much here recently, which is not at all optimal heading into the heart of the spring racing season. I have to remind myself that I can’t control the challenges that come my way, but I can control my response to them. In other words, back to my motto: nothing comes easy, so do what it takes. Happy running!
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