Training Summary: 1/20 - 1/26

Mon: 0 – Sick
Tue: 0 – Sick
Wed: 0 – Sick
Thu: 4 miles
Fri: 5 miles
Sat: 6 miles
Sun: 8 miles
Total: 23 miles

Wow! Glad that’s over. I don’t get sick very often, but when I do, it’s generally bad, and whatever I came down with this time was no exception. I’m not sure I remember the last time I missed a full week of running due to being sick, but that’s what happened with this stuff, and honestly I’m still recovering.

Monday and Tuesday I just felt BAD. By Wednesday, I was finally starting to get over the hump, but I was still pretty worn down and didn’t have the energy to try to run. I finally made it out the door on Thursday for an easy 4 miles, with easy being defined only by the pace because it certainly didn’t feel that way. In fact, I thought several times during the first couple miles that I was going to have to bail out based on how I was feeling. The rest of the week I gradually increased my mileage, along with the pace, to the point where my Sunday run was 8 miles at an average of 7:11 with a final mile of 6:53. When compared to the 4 miles at 7:40 pace I did on Thursday, that seemed like quite an accomplishment.

Now begins the task of getting in shape and preparing for a spring race season. As I’ve mentioned before, I was already behind where I wanted to be and now I’m even further in a hole. At this point, any sort of an indoor track season appears to be out, so I’ll just focus on running outdoors. Sadly, my quads have been sore ever since I ran on Thursday, and I can tell I lost a lot of fitness from the time I missed. You might think it’s mental, but trust me, it’s not. I get out of shape faster than anyone I’ve ever known, and now that I’m older, I don’t build it back nearly as quick as I used to either. Regardless, all I can do is get to work and hope the weather and everything else will cooperate going forward. This week looks to be really nasty the first few days with wind chill down in the single digits or lower, but maybe towards the end we’ll catch at least a little break. Here’s to warmer weather, getting back in shape, and how about just a little bit of good luck for a change!