So much for getting serious

Last 5 weeks - Total Weekly Mileage

I think I definitely over did it and got a little too serious too fast.  Totally broke the 10% rule and jumped into my training a little ambitiously and now I'm paying the price bigtime.  I've been sick for about a week.  It all started last weekend when I did my first really long run for Big Sur training.  Saturday morning, my friend Denise met me at my house for 16 miles.   It was actually pretty nice out, in the mid-40s and sunny with a little wind, but not bad.  We went out wicked fast and we knew it, but we were chatty and hadn't seen each other since Disney when we first met so we had a lot of catching up to do.  We settled into a decent pace about 5 miles in and just stayed there, by the last 4 miles I was fading.  Denise powered up the last hill ahead of me and finished strong, I eventually caught up.  It was a solid run.  I felt really good and was more than please with our time and overall pace. 

After the run, I really wanted to shower and then take a nap, but I had things to do and people to see.  I had a birthday party to attend and before that I had to get a card and wrap the presents I bought.  So, I quickly showered and got dressed and shovelled some food in my mouth. Headed to Target and got a card and some wrapping supplies and did an amazing job making the gift look like Martha Stewart wrapped it (even though I did it in the front seat of my car).  Then I drove straight to the party.  I socialized and celebrated for hours before going home and going to bed. 

Sunday I had a 5 mile race in Lowell.  My legs were a little heavy from the run the day before but not too bad so I'd take it easy and see how I felt.  I went out really easy in the first 2 miles then I started to feel good so I picked up the pace.  Then I saw some familiar heads bobbing ahead of me and the competitive side of me came out and I picked up the pace a little bit more.  I scanned the crowd for a few other heads and ponytails that I wanted to beat and pushed as hard as I possibly could trying to cathc them before crossing the finish line.  I didn't catch up to the person I was trying to beat, but I finished really strong and just at my goal time of 50 minutes (49:59 to be exact).  I felt horrible.  Dizzy, coughing, having a little difficulty breathing and tightness in my chest.  Figured I just pushed a little too hard.

When I got home I reviewed my Garmin and here's what my splits looked like:

Mile 1 - pace 10:38, average HR 134, max HR 148

Mile 2 - pace 10:37, average HR 136, max HR 143

Mile 3 - pace 10:09, average HR 146, max HR 161
Mile 4 - pace 9:17, average HR 157, max HR 162
Mile 5 - pace 8:54, average HR 162, max HR 229!!!!
last 266ft - pace 0:25, average HR 220, max HR 229

So, yeah I pushed WAY too hard.  And felt like junk immediately afterwards.

Monday morning I went to work and then immediately decided that was a bad idea.  I went home sick and slept the rest of the day.  Tuesday I felt better, energy was better and my body didn't ache as much.  Thought maybe it was just a combination of daylight saving time change and running too much that wore me out and then Wednesday I was getting more sick.  Thursday it hit me like a friggin mack truck.  No energy and a never-ending supply of snot streaming from my head.  We had a really important meeting at work so I didn't want to miss it or force it to be rescheduled so I stuck it out and stayed.  By the time I got home the cold had pretty much taken ownership of my body.  I crashed hard on my couch and didn't move for the next 3 days.  Took a sick day Friday and slept on the couch ALL weekend. 

It's now been a week and I feel slightly better, but still not even close to 100%.  I'd say maybe 40-50%.  Energy is better, but not back.  Congestion is less but still present.  I've gone through about 3 boxes of tissues and a roll of TP because I ran out of tissues, who knows how many cups of green tea, and seen every episode of Criminal Minds played back to back to back on A&E for the last 72 hours.  The only positive thing that happened and brightened this dark period in my training thus far for 2013 - I got an email on Saturday or maybe it was Friday who knows, but anyway I got confirmation that I will be running the Mount Washington Road Race this summer!!!  So, on June 15th I will check off #24 on my list!