It strikes exactly when it's not convenient. I'm not sure where it came from or what caused it to magnify, but The Sickness hit me on Thursday night and has rendered me medicated and congested since then. The worst part of all is that I have been coddling myself and have missed three runs so far. Yes, the anxiety is killing me. Yes, the thought of "what if this screws up my whole training schedule?!" has been running through my brain nonstop. Yes, I have considered alternative forms of cardio - but my body has resisted wholeheartedly.
Consulting my Runner's World Women's Running Handbook, I am advised, under the chapter entitled "Overtraining" that I need rest. Plain and simple. The fatigue, low grade cold symptoms and lack of motivation are clearly present. The trouble sleeping and slowing times were two tricker aspects that sneaked under my radar. I assumed I just needed more sleep. But knowing how much training I did last week, it makes sense I might have overdone it.
The hardest part about getting rest is that it's not plain and simple. The constant nagging of "you should be running, you should be running" makes it difficult to get sleep. And the deeper-seated fear of "your training will be incomplete, you'll never finish your race" is, I'm sure, contributing more to elevated stress levels than anything.
I felt guilty this weekend about calling in sick, about allowing myself to get rest. It's not uncommon - the work mode around here is "go, go, go" so when I need to say "slow, slow, slow", it's easy to feel like someone is watching me and saying - "oh, taking the easy route are we?" Bigger problem is that it's myself saying it.
Hopefully this Sickness will let up this week, at least enough to get me back on a machine of some sort. The weather forecast predicts a warming up over the next few days, so I'm crossing my fingers that come Saturday I'll be running around outside in a short sleeves. That thought alone is enough to lift my immune-system spirits!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Salt and Bricks
This week was a tough training week. And I haven't even reached Saturday.
Following an outdoor trip last weekend that involved snow tubing off 4-ft high jumps, snowshoeing across frozen lakes, and shoveling snow out of a bonfire pit the size of a small New York apartment, I woke up Monday to a very sore body and an insane amount of fatigue. No matter we had fed like hippos for two days - tromping about outdoors in the middle of winter will tire. you. out.
Luckily, Monday was a rest day. Unluckily, the rest of the week were full-blown work/train/work days.
Tuesday saw the appearance of some nasty weather that made getting to and from school a marathon event all its own. Tuesday evening, while reaching for my socks before heading to the gym, I realized I had left my shoes downtown at Shannon's after our Friday run, and thus had no athletic footwear to last me for 2.5 miles on the treadmill. Substitute? Shakin' it to some pop hits on grooveshark.com for about 30 minutes in my bare feet. The sweat output was comparable, thanks to you, Bruno Mars.
Wednesday was an early start, a trip to the local 50-metre indoor swimming facility a few blocks away. However, I had left my swim gear at home over the break, rendering me 0-2 in the workout gear preparedness test for this week. I dug out a fashionable brown tanning suit and a swim cap proclaiming "Tis the Season to Swim!" and borrowed some goggles from the lifeguard. Lucky I had a whole lane to myself and could dodge the inquisitive stares of neighboring swimmers; not only was I decked out-of-fashion for a fast-lane aficionado, I was the only gal there.
Later that night, having retrieved my shoes, I hopped on the treadmill for a quick 20 minute speed session. After maxing out at 17 minutes, I recovered my lungs and took a quick nap before starting my late-night pubtending shift.
5 hours later, Thursday morning arrived and I was reaching for my snooze button in vain. An afternoon hip-hop dance class toned up my hamstrings and a 3-mile run shortly afterwards forced me into an ice bath that evening. As I sat in the freezing cold water with my cup of cinnamon tea and woolly sweater, I calculated how much sodium I had ingested over the past 5 days, and briefly toyed with the idea of opting for a salt lick to hang by my sink. The event-heavy schedule of the week had rendered me powerless against smoked meats, cheeses, and the white shaker on the table. The cravings I'm sure were a result of being hit by a ton of bricks...and all the physical endurance I was burning thorough from dawn til midnight.
Thursday night was another pub shift, and while I had every intention of closing early, luckily a gaggle of Serbo-Croatians with a hankering for gin tonics and house techno music bombarded the joint until I had to politely urge them to put their shoes back on and exit the bar at 2am.
4 hours later, I groaned in my dream at the sound of an alarm and literally rolled off the bed in order to get dressed. I turned to coffee as a last resort to get me through the next 3 hours of physical and vocal work I had to accomplish at school.
I managed to take a nap on my coat on the floor of the hallway, and awoke sighing heavily at the prospect of what lay ahead this evening: a Chinese Cultural hour after-party that will inevitably last until 4am. Chopsticks and censorship and tequila shots...oh my! But, I'm sure I will want nothing more than to run 6 miles tomorrow morning in the icy weather.
I intend to load up on smoked salmon and Fritos to get me through the next 7 hours of work, and when I crawl (literally) into bed tomorrow morning, I will build myself a little brick canopy of darkness for sleeping and if you don't hear from me by next Wednesday, send some chocolate-covered pretzels.
Following an outdoor trip last weekend that involved snow tubing off 4-ft high jumps, snowshoeing across frozen lakes, and shoveling snow out of a bonfire pit the size of a small New York apartment, I woke up Monday to a very sore body and an insane amount of fatigue. No matter we had fed like hippos for two days - tromping about outdoors in the middle of winter will tire. you. out.
Luckily, Monday was a rest day. Unluckily, the rest of the week were full-blown work/train/work days.
Tuesday saw the appearance of some nasty weather that made getting to and from school a marathon event all its own. Tuesday evening, while reaching for my socks before heading to the gym, I realized I had left my shoes downtown at Shannon's after our Friday run, and thus had no athletic footwear to last me for 2.5 miles on the treadmill. Substitute? Shakin' it to some pop hits on grooveshark.com for about 30 minutes in my bare feet. The sweat output was comparable, thanks to you, Bruno Mars.
Wednesday was an early start, a trip to the local 50-metre indoor swimming facility a few blocks away. However, I had left my swim gear at home over the break, rendering me 0-2 in the workout gear preparedness test for this week. I dug out a fashionable brown tanning suit and a swim cap proclaiming "Tis the Season to Swim!" and borrowed some goggles from the lifeguard. Lucky I had a whole lane to myself and could dodge the inquisitive stares of neighboring swimmers; not only was I decked out-of-fashion for a fast-lane aficionado, I was the only gal there.
Later that night, having retrieved my shoes, I hopped on the treadmill for a quick 20 minute speed session. After maxing out at 17 minutes, I recovered my lungs and took a quick nap before starting my late-night pubtending shift.
5 hours later, Thursday morning arrived and I was reaching for my snooze button in vain. An afternoon hip-hop dance class toned up my hamstrings and a 3-mile run shortly afterwards forced me into an ice bath that evening. As I sat in the freezing cold water with my cup of cinnamon tea and woolly sweater, I calculated how much sodium I had ingested over the past 5 days, and briefly toyed with the idea of opting for a salt lick to hang by my sink. The event-heavy schedule of the week had rendered me powerless against smoked meats, cheeses, and the white shaker on the table. The cravings I'm sure were a result of being hit by a ton of bricks...and all the physical endurance I was burning thorough from dawn til midnight.
Thursday night was another pub shift, and while I had every intention of closing early, luckily a gaggle of Serbo-Croatians with a hankering for gin tonics and house techno music bombarded the joint until I had to politely urge them to put their shoes back on and exit the bar at 2am.
4 hours later, I groaned in my dream at the sound of an alarm and literally rolled off the bed in order to get dressed. I turned to coffee as a last resort to get me through the next 3 hours of physical and vocal work I had to accomplish at school.
I managed to take a nap on my coat on the floor of the hallway, and awoke sighing heavily at the prospect of what lay ahead this evening: a Chinese Cultural hour after-party that will inevitably last until 4am. Chopsticks and censorship and tequila shots...oh my! But, I'm sure I will want nothing more than to run 6 miles tomorrow morning in the icy weather.
I intend to load up on smoked salmon and Fritos to get me through the next 7 hours of work, and when I crawl (literally) into bed tomorrow morning, I will build myself a little brick canopy of darkness for sleeping and if you don't hear from me by next Wednesday, send some chocolate-covered pretzels.
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