Week 10 Recap

In Week 4 I performed my first good hill workout on a 1/2 mile stretch I've found in Yorktown, VA. In my blog I described running those intervals in "adequate times." This was two months ago. Until Week 10 I had been unable to make it out to the location due to the lack of sunlight after work. As you'll soon see my return was a triumphant one.

On Tuesday I was standing at the bottom of the hill, all warmed up, properly stretched, and mentally prepared to kick my own ass. Then I began to wonder what type of times I ran last December. Nothing came to mind so I decided to challenge myself but not over do it on the first repeat. 3:09. I thought not bad, but had to have been slower than before. 3:08. "Okay so maybe this is all I've got in the tank today." 2:59. "Whew, where did that one come from?" 2:55, 2:55. "Wow, it's time to cool down." I was losing sunlight quickly and I didn't feel like getting hit by a car.

The next day I added the data to my workout journal and noticed my previous efforts of 3:26, 3:21, 3:15, 3:37. All I can say is I must be doing something right to drop, on average, 0:26 off a split.

The rest of the week was going well until I felt sick on Saturday. I played the full 90 minutes of a soccer game and then immediately afterwards ran the trail for 7 miles. I had to force myself to run the last 2 miles. The whole time I contemplated how much fitness I was gaining from a meager 2 miles more and if it was worth it. After the run I ate lunch as planned and thought I could sleep my way through an easy 2500 yard swim. I had a headache and my back was aching a bit so I figured I’d take a nap and stretch some before the swim. Once my body hit the couch training was over.

Sunday's soccer game was out of the question, along with the remaining training I had planned. My body ached from head to toe. My chest and stomach hurt from coughing. A trip to the doctor’s office on Monday revealed I had the flu and bronchitis. I had felt miserable since Saturday afternoon and had continued to feel so until last night. I’ve probably only been awake 16 hours in the past five days. Thank codeine. I won’t be working out till next Monday so Week 11 training is a complete bust. I've also decided to cancel my adventures in Hal Higdon's marathon plan for some much needed time on my bike trainer.

Even with a reduced amount of training I put 6 hours in over 6800 yards swimming, 9 miles biking, and 22 miles of running.