Update from the sidelines

My mileage for this week will read a big fat zero! I've been continuing to suffer from what has turned into a nasty sinus infection and swings from painful sinus pressure to general fatigue and soreness have kept me pretty much confined to the couch. I am hoping to go for a jog in the morning but it will all depend on how I feel when I wake up- the morning seems to be the worst presumably as I have spent the night horizontal and all the gunk in my head has nowhere to go. If I am still feeling bad on Tuesday I will go the Docs. I was meant to go on Friday but child care arrangements proved an obstacle with Lisa out of town. I am entered in a 5k on Friday but that is looking out of the equation at the moment. The only reason I would consider doing it anyway is because if I miss it I can no longer complete the Series the race is part of which finishes with Thunder Road Marathon in November. To cheer myself up in the mean time I have found this race that takes place while I am in Sydney with work for three weeks in July!

A bump in the road

Today I took my first sick day off from work in I don't know how long! I woke up various times in the night feeling absolutely horrible and sure enough when I attempted to roll out of bed to lace them up and get out there this morning my body said an emphatic "NO!" and thrust me back into the comfort of my bed. I have barely eaten all day and have spent most of it in bed nursing a fever and aches and pains all over my body. This evening I feel slightly better but unless I see a dramatic improvement overnight I can foresee another day home from work, which I hate, and obviously another day off from running (that will be three in a row as I took my usual Sunday off as normal). All I can do is wait for this to pass and then take it easy for a few days before launching back into the hard training again.

That hard training was just starting to bear fruit. I've been nailing my workouts and long runs and was finally starting to feel some wheels under me and look forward to racing again soon. Hopefully this will just prove to be a minor setback along that route

Morning Runner

This week has been a planned ‘down week’. I have been able to sleep in a couple of mornings, run a couple of times after work and generally just try and recharge the batteries a bit. My two worst runs though this week have definitely been the ones I did after work! Monday I was planning on running early but heavy rainstorms were passing through so I put my run off to the evening. Then Thursday I had planned to run late so that I could be all hot and sweaty for the weekly ‘Runners Yoga’ class I am doing while they offer it. Both runs pretty much sucked! Sitting at a desk all day clearly converts my lower limbs into even more inflexible objects than they usually are. My attempts at post run strides and drills were particularly laughable both these days.

The rest of the week has been more positive. Tuesday I headed to the track with Mike, Aaron, David and Joe and did the 12 * 300m session that was the ‘shock to the system’ Coach had referred to. These were done all around the 52 second mark (last couple a bit faster) with 1 minute walks back to the start between each. I felt pretty smooth doing these although I definitely had to dig a little as the workout went on and running at mile pace for the first time in a while has subsequently left my hamstrings and groin feeling a little fragile. The next day I was able to knock out a solid 12 mile ‘long run’ and all that is left for me for the remainder of the week is a 4 mile tempo effort that I have on the plate tomorrow lunch time for which I will be joined by good friend and erstwhile training partner Jay!

Saturday to Saturday 70

Solid 8 days of training in the books. 70 miles, 2 tempo runs, mile repeats, 15 mile long run, 1 * drills and strides, 1 yoga session! The latter probably the most significant item. Went to a free class for runners after our Try Sports group run on Thursday evening. Having run 15 in the morning and 5 miserably sore miles with the group, these 20 minutes were the best of the week! I felt rejuvenated in both the leg and spirit department and was able to knock out a decent run Friday morning to make it 25 miles in 24 hours and a solid LT tempo effort in the park today (2*3 miles with 2 minute recovery in 17:04/17:03).

I get tomorrow completely off and then a 'cutback week' next week. Coach has yet to reveal what exactly is in store for me. I asked and all I got was "next week will be a down week on the miles (but probably some added intensity to shock the system a bit). Just want to keep you on edge!"