You probably won't believe it when I tell you that I got sick yet again after the last race. Seriously. I caught a nasty cold which then morphed into a sinus infection. I still have the sinus infection. It's the first one that I can recall experiencing (although thinking back, I may have had one in 2005). Enough! Enough! Enough!
I consulted the internet to see if a sinus infection is something that was a no-no for running. It's not, although Runner's World recommended waiting for 72 hours after first experiencing symptoms to allow the sinuses a bit of recovery time. I took that advice. Also, it was suggested to not run if temperature was over 99F. So I now have three guidelines:
1) Only run if you are sick from the neck up (as in, not with a chest cold because as my last half-marathon demonstrated, that completely sucks);
2) Do not run if you have a temperature of 99F or over;
3) Give yourself 72 hours after the onset of sinusitis.
In case you're curious, my run still sucked today with plenty of walking involved. Believe it or not, it's really hard to run well when you aren't able to fully use your nose for breathing. Who knew? I took my temperature when I got back and it was at a runnable 97.7F.
As I was writing this, I had a sneezing fit. Here's hoping that is all!
Showing posts with label Runner's World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Runner's World. Show all posts
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, October 20, 2011
There's some good news and some bad news
Good news: I can still run 12 miles! And while I will admit to walking once or twice, I did not have to walk for any significant amount of time, unlike a few months ago. I consider this to be a major achievement after the past few months! And the weather was great! Low 70s at the highest point with not very much humidity...by Florida standards....it was in the 60-70% range, but hey, I'll take what I can get.
The bad news:
1) I sure didn't run them very fast.
2) I sure didn't run them at a consistent speed.
3) I think I double-bonked, if this is possible (bonking is what used to be called 'hitting the wall,' which is when your body up and quits. Sometimes your brain up and quits. I've been close to this before, but today I think I was over the edge. If you want to know more about bonking than you ever thought that you would know, Runner's World has a detailed article). I definitely felt a drop in energy at the half-way point, then felt better after having a mini-Clif Bar (I am out of sport beans. Boooooooooo). I'm going to assume that this was Bonk #1. Bonk #2 pertained to fluids, or lack thereof. I passed the neighborhood water fountain at 4 miles and thought, 'Meh, I'm doing okay.' This was a stupid thought, because I still had 2 miles to go out and 2 miles to go back. For those of you who are slow at math, that was 4 miles. I should have just stopped at the drinking fountain both times. Oh, and I was out of healthy Gatorade (Recharge), so I used the last two packages of healthy Gatorade juice crystals--the ones that offer basically no caloric support.
I'm going to blame Bonk #1 on the fact that I didn't plan my eating very well today and I was probably drained by the time I actually got out to run. Yet another reason to do long runs in the morning (although truth be told, I don't really need to remind myself of that).
Another idea I had: maybe don't try a long run the day after your toughest yoga class of the week. I started with some tired legs.
But what matters is that I did it, and unlike on Sunday, I didn't quit after 2.5 miles. So it was an aberration. I think that I may play this half by ear, depending on the weather. If it's back to classic Florida conditions, it might be a good day for run/walk. If not, I'll do my best to full-out run (or my current version of full-out running, which is not really 'full-out'). I knew that this half was not going to be very good, so my motivation will be just to go out there and do it. It is the first of four, I get three more chances.
One thing that does need to change: I need a better training plan. This one is not challenging enough.
The bad news:
1) I sure didn't run them very fast.
2) I sure didn't run them at a consistent speed.
3) I think I double-bonked, if this is possible (bonking is what used to be called 'hitting the wall,' which is when your body up and quits. Sometimes your brain up and quits. I've been close to this before, but today I think I was over the edge. If you want to know more about bonking than you ever thought that you would know, Runner's World has a detailed article). I definitely felt a drop in energy at the half-way point, then felt better after having a mini-Clif Bar (I am out of sport beans. Boooooooooo). I'm going to assume that this was Bonk #1. Bonk #2 pertained to fluids, or lack thereof. I passed the neighborhood water fountain at 4 miles and thought, 'Meh, I'm doing okay.' This was a stupid thought, because I still had 2 miles to go out and 2 miles to go back. For those of you who are slow at math, that was 4 miles. I should have just stopped at the drinking fountain both times. Oh, and I was out of healthy Gatorade (Recharge), so I used the last two packages of healthy Gatorade juice crystals--the ones that offer basically no caloric support.
I'm going to blame Bonk #1 on the fact that I didn't plan my eating very well today and I was probably drained by the time I actually got out to run. Yet another reason to do long runs in the morning (although truth be told, I don't really need to remind myself of that).
Another idea I had: maybe don't try a long run the day after your toughest yoga class of the week. I started with some tired legs.
But what matters is that I did it, and unlike on Sunday, I didn't quit after 2.5 miles. So it was an aberration. I think that I may play this half by ear, depending on the weather. If it's back to classic Florida conditions, it might be a good day for run/walk. If not, I'll do my best to full-out run (or my current version of full-out running, which is not really 'full-out'). I knew that this half was not going to be very good, so my motivation will be just to go out there and do it. It is the first of four, I get three more chances.
One thing that does need to change: I need a better training plan. This one is not challenging enough.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Another Long Run of Ick
You're probably getting completely sick of me complaining about the unending, awful running weather here. It's hard to stop, I have to say. But during today's run, I got to thinking about a few less depressing things than the Threshold of Ick. For maybe 2-3 minutes. The other 2 hours were agonizing. I did walk/run it, even though I had this hilarious idea around 0.2 miles that maybe it wasn't so bad out. Ha! The sweaty hair around 0.7 miles reminded me that it was.
1) This is training: it's not the real run. It's okay if I'm slow or sweaty or walking or whatever. It's learning how to cope with a challenge. So if I wake up on the morning of the 1/2 marathon and it is 77F with 90% humidity, I will have a strategy. Although really if that happens, I will probably just cry or something. Since the race is happening in a far more northernly clime, though, let's assume that it won't.
2) I need to read labels more often. I haven't been using my normal healthy Gatorade (aka Recharge) because my local store apparently no longer stocks it. Instead, I was using the sticks, which are basically juice mix that you add to water. Take a look at how many calories that the sticks supplied on my run today. I had two, so you can double that to 20. Not nearly enough for a long run, I can promise you that! I guess a trip to the Whole Foods is needed.
I did have my caffeinated jelly beans this morning though. That may have been the highlight of my run.
3) The running around the drinking fountain route may be boring, but it is mostly shady and has the added bonus of a water fountain every 1.86 miles or so (that is the approximate length of the loop). Who needs excitement?
4) I'm running in oppressive conditions. Even Runner's World says so. In fact, here is their advice for running in oppressive conditions:
Adorable. Okay, I am not in 'high heat' most of the time. Only for half of today's run. Ah heck, it's close enough.
Also, is 60%+ high humidity? Wow. This makes me feel much better.
4) There is one saving grace about walk/run: it makes the actual activity very regulated and, for lack of a better word, doable. It was much easier today to know that I only had to get through a certain interval and then I would get a break. Also, when I started getting ahead of myself and felt like I couldn't get through the remaining intervals, I told myself that I could only do one at a time and there was no point in getting ahead of things (this was actually really helpful). Otherwise, it would have been impossible. So I just need to stick to this for the remaining long runs. Incidentally, for the purposes of this training plan, I've decided that anything over 5 miles is a 'long run' and will have to be run/walked. What this means is that 4 out of next week's 5 runs are 'long' and will have to be run/walked.
5) There is nothing wrong with dousing yourself with water at the water fountain. It won't evaporate for the rest of the run, but there is nothing wrong with it. In fact, because you will be slippery for the rest of the run, you may avoid chafing. Unexpected bonus!
Believe it or not, I am in a better mood about this run than I was a few hours ago. As the Runner's World article says, irritability is a sign of heat exhaustion. Only three more weeks to go. It's almost over. So very close.
1) This is training: it's not the real run. It's okay if I'm slow or sweaty or walking or whatever. It's learning how to cope with a challenge. So if I wake up on the morning of the 1/2 marathon and it is 77F with 90% humidity, I will have a strategy. Although really if that happens, I will probably just cry or something. Since the race is happening in a far more northernly clime, though, let's assume that it won't.
2) I need to read labels more often. I haven't been using my normal healthy Gatorade (aka Recharge) because my local store apparently no longer stocks it. Instead, I was using the sticks, which are basically juice mix that you add to water. Take a look at how many calories that the sticks supplied on my run today. I had two, so you can double that to 20. Not nearly enough for a long run, I can promise you that! I guess a trip to the Whole Foods is needed.
I did have my caffeinated jelly beans this morning though. That may have been the highlight of my run.
3) The running around the drinking fountain route may be boring, but it is mostly shady and has the added bonus of a water fountain every 1.86 miles or so (that is the approximate length of the loop). Who needs excitement?
4) I'm running in oppressive conditions. Even Runner's World says so. In fact, here is their advice for running in oppressive conditions:
High heat (85+) + high humidity (over 60%)
THE EFFECTS
Raises core temp, reduces blood volume; humidity interferes with evaporation of sweat.
THE SOLUTION
"Stick to easy runs or use the treadmill," says Puleo.
Adorable. Okay, I am not in 'high heat' most of the time. Only for half of today's run. Ah heck, it's close enough.
Also, is 60%+ high humidity? Wow. This makes me feel much better.
4) There is one saving grace about walk/run: it makes the actual activity very regulated and, for lack of a better word, doable. It was much easier today to know that I only had to get through a certain interval and then I would get a break. Also, when I started getting ahead of myself and felt like I couldn't get through the remaining intervals, I told myself that I could only do one at a time and there was no point in getting ahead of things (this was actually really helpful). Otherwise, it would have been impossible. So I just need to stick to this for the remaining long runs. Incidentally, for the purposes of this training plan, I've decided that anything over 5 miles is a 'long run' and will have to be run/walked. What this means is that 4 out of next week's 5 runs are 'long' and will have to be run/walked.
5) There is nothing wrong with dousing yourself with water at the water fountain. It won't evaporate for the rest of the run, but there is nothing wrong with it. In fact, because you will be slippery for the rest of the run, you may avoid chafing. Unexpected bonus!
Believe it or not, I am in a better mood about this run than I was a few hours ago. As the Runner's World article says, irritability is a sign of heat exhaustion. Only three more weeks to go. It's almost over. So very close.
Monday, January 31, 2011
'Then life intervened'
Sometimes, the best laid plans don't happen. That was yesterday. I really did want to go run, but was waylaid by stuff that needed doing. For some reason, this reminded me of a Runner's World article from a while ago. There were a bunch of half-marathon plans that were designed for individuals. One was for a mother who had trained for a half-marathon before. 'Then,' as the article put it (at least in the paraphrased version that I'm choosing to remember'), 'life intervened.' Or something like that -- it was definitely that gist. I feel like this past January has been a whole month of life intervening. On my marathon blog, I mentioned a book by Lois Lowry called Anastasia On Her Own (which is a fab book), where the nascent Type-A teenaged protagonist tries to schedule everything around the house, only to find that sometimes life intervenes. So she makes up 'unexpected events,' which she schedules in to the daily routine (yes, this is probably the most Type-A thing ever). I think that it's important to remember that sometimes these things happen. Sure, it would have been better if I could have run more in January. But it's okay. I can still run 5k. This might not be the PR that I was seeking, but it's not like I've lost all fitness by sitting around eating pork rinds in bulk.
Anyway, I have vowed to do better in February, barring any life interventions of course. That started a day early because today I did get out running (yay!). Today's workout was eight intervals that were 600 meters with a 90-second break in between. I went just across the street on a relatively straight stretch of sidewalk. This was a good workout: tough, but not impossible. My times ranged pretty widely and weren't as fast as I would want in a perfect world. However, that is exactly why we train: to get better.
All in all, I think that it went pretty well. I definitely got a workout! And it was somewhat humid (over 70%), but not completely ridiculous or anything.
Tomorrow's workout will be another Indo-Row session, so that one I can't miss or I might forfeit the class (you need to reserve in advance). So that is on. Here we go for February!
In exciting racing news, it looks like I will be doing a 5k later this month with a friend. Just for fun. It's a run put on by the Tampa Bay Lightning (local NHL team) and we will get a free ticket to see that night's game just for participating.
Anyway, I have vowed to do better in February, barring any life interventions of course. That started a day early because today I did get out running (yay!). Today's workout was eight intervals that were 600 meters with a 90-second break in between. I went just across the street on a relatively straight stretch of sidewalk. This was a good workout: tough, but not impossible. My times ranged pretty widely and weren't as fast as I would want in a perfect world. However, that is exactly why we train: to get better.
All in all, I think that it went pretty well. I definitely got a workout! And it was somewhat humid (over 70%), but not completely ridiculous or anything.
Tomorrow's workout will be another Indo-Row session, so that one I can't miss or I might forfeit the class (you need to reserve in advance). So that is on. Here we go for February!
In exciting racing news, it looks like I will be doing a 5k later this month with a friend. Just for fun. It's a run put on by the Tampa Bay Lightning (local NHL team) and we will get a free ticket to see that night's game just for participating.
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