It Wasn't Pretty, But I'm Back on Track

Last weekend I bailed out on a half marathon training run due to the onset of a sore throat.  Having 2 small kids, it seems I get sick more often then ever these days.  Starts out with a subtle irritation at the back of the throat that I hope is just an allergy (it never is). Then about 40% of the time I'm able to fight it off by getting to bed early and downing extra vitamin C tablets.

Last weekend was the 60% of the time.  Overall sluggishness and tiredness and for several days, throat got worse, then I move on to fever, sneezing, chest congestion and a cough.  Wake up on the morning wheezing. Gee I just love colds.

So the first half of the week was slow going, but I gradually got back up to 35, 45, 50 minute runs over the last three days.  Today I was determined to get back on track.  I still didn't feel really good but was able to slog through an 80 minute run, roughly 10.5 miles.

The weather was overcast and cool this morning.  In fact it stayed that way until 1 p.m. 

So I'm sure most of you go through the same thing....get sick, feel like you're falling behind in your training, get kind of bummed out about it and then...you make a choice.  The easy choice: give up your goals.  The hard choice: put your head down and dig in.

I've mentioned before that I build "slack" time into my training routine.  I know I'll get sick or injured every now and then so I mentally prepare myself for it.  I build "letdowns" in to my mental training so that they don't pull down my mental training foundation.

I do some stupid things in my training, like NOT taking any rest days for the entire month.  While this increases my chance for injury and burnout, it builds my mental mileage bank and removes any guilt from taking days off when I REALLY NEED THEM.  Perhaps this approach, not to the same degree, could work for you.