Some stuff that happened over the past month:
1) A lot of bad runs as the temperature went up/humidity increased.
2) One very bad half-marathon, during which I felt sick around mile 4 and never got better.
3) One really good 6-mile run on a night where the humidity was low. That was fun! So it isn't all hopeless, apparently.
4) An 11-mile run on the treadmill, which seemed endless.
5) I BOUGHT A TREADMILL!!!!!!! Not the same one as the 11-mile run. But my very own. So I can run on it and watch the Red Sox.
Stuff that is happening in the future:
1) I am going to Australia. It's winter there. I hope that this bodes well for running.
2) I'm doing a 5k in Australia. Because hey, why not?
3) Then I get to do the Beach to Beacon 10k. I am hoping to set a new PR here. My goal is under 11:00 mile splits. Doesn't have to be much under them. Could be 10:59. But that would still be a PR. My current PR is 11:15 and I have spent years trying to break that one.
4) All that's left after that is a marathon. No biggie.
I am trying to stay positive in the face of much negative with running. Still working off the stomach bug that hit me during the half-marathon and running has not been going so well since then. Still trying to remember that it is only one glitch and sometimes glitches happen. Not doing great with all of these sentiments.
I'm sad that the half-marathon didn't go better for a number of reasons. The conditions were really good for running (in the 50s!). The course was really good for running: only one real uphill and very scenic besides. My stepmother would have done very well if we could have just run the course. So I was very annoyed at the outcome. At the same time, it's really hard to run when you're sick and there is a bug going around. I am not the only one to suffer through it.
Showing posts with label Sick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sick. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Benchmarks for non-running illness
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!
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!
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Year of Frustrating Sickness continues
2011: in like a flu, out like a chest cold?
The reason I haven't been writing much lately (or running much lately) is that soon after Thanksgiving I came down with a pretty nasty chest cold. I did manage my Sunday night run (speedwork) and my Tuesday night run (same speedwork), but Tuesday night I noticed that I was coughing a lot afterward. Wednesday, I needed to take the day off work, which is virtually unheard of for me. So that was a cue that things were not okay. The cold stuck around for the next few days: it was one of those ones where you feel better one day, then tired again the next. So I decided not to run.
The basic rule of running when sick is that you are okay to run if the cold is from your neck up (so a head cold is okay, even if unpleasant) and not okay to run from the neck down (i.e., in your chest). I knew that I should take it easy and mostly I did. But I also knew that at some point, I was going to have to go running again.
I got out this Wednesday, so it had been a week of no running at all, which was lousy! I did some easy speedwork (this might sound like an oxymoron, but it was not a very long distance or amount). Admittedly, I did not feel 100%, but I did make it through the workout without falling off the treadmill. Same thing for Thursday. I decided to go ahead and do the next half-marathon that was on Sunday (yesterday).
This one was the Holiday Half-Marathon, which is a one-way that goes from Madeira Beach to Largo. The course was meh, I felt. At least it was overcast so it wasn't exposed and sunny, because I think that it would have been pretty killer in those conditions. I felt cautiously optimistic about the it, thinking that possibly with the time off, I had a chance for a good time.
And I think that I would have had a chance for a good time, too, if it weren't for this pesky chest cold that REFUSES TO DIE! So I got through the first two miles in relatively good time, then realized that I was not feeling well. I walked for a bit and discovered that my heart rate was much too high. Blerg. So walk/run it was. For the whole rest of the half-marathon. It seemed like one hundred million miles, although my time was actually not horribly dreadful considering the circumstances and that I was walk/running.
In fact, my time was still better than it was for the Oak Tree back in September. Me sick > me running hills. Sad but true.
I think that there were some good things to take from this experience. First, I was glad that I had run into adversarial conditions last summer because I had strategies for coping with this en route. I decided to run divide my intervals into 0.65, so 5%, then run for 0.55 and recover for 0.1. Obviously, it worked well enough to get me through the course and I wasn't even the last person. I'm not sure that I would have known what to do if I hadn't had to complete such runs last summer. So this was a good thing.
Second, I feel like I am ready and raring to go for a half-marathon. It was the illness that stopped me this time. So here's hoping that the next half (January in Clearwater) goes better. I think that it will, too, because I will have some hill practice time between then and now while I am in Canada for the holidays. The Boxing Day race in Hamilton has a few nasty ones, so if I can get some hill work in, that should be useful for both. The next half involves the Causeway (i.e., one giant hill).
Third, I am half-way through the Halfathon! Which is totally cool. Only the equivalent of one marathon to go now. Also, I was happy with this most recent training plan, so I will modify it for the next race and see how that goes.
Fourth, I am incredibly glad that at no point yesterday did I lie down in a ditch and take a nap next to the race course, even though that was very tempting. Victory!
The reason I haven't been writing much lately (or running much lately) is that soon after Thanksgiving I came down with a pretty nasty chest cold. I did manage my Sunday night run (speedwork) and my Tuesday night run (same speedwork), but Tuesday night I noticed that I was coughing a lot afterward. Wednesday, I needed to take the day off work, which is virtually unheard of for me. So that was a cue that things were not okay. The cold stuck around for the next few days: it was one of those ones where you feel better one day, then tired again the next. So I decided not to run.
The basic rule of running when sick is that you are okay to run if the cold is from your neck up (so a head cold is okay, even if unpleasant) and not okay to run from the neck down (i.e., in your chest). I knew that I should take it easy and mostly I did. But I also knew that at some point, I was going to have to go running again.
I got out this Wednesday, so it had been a week of no running at all, which was lousy! I did some easy speedwork (this might sound like an oxymoron, but it was not a very long distance or amount). Admittedly, I did not feel 100%, but I did make it through the workout without falling off the treadmill. Same thing for Thursday. I decided to go ahead and do the next half-marathon that was on Sunday (yesterday).
This one was the Holiday Half-Marathon, which is a one-way that goes from Madeira Beach to Largo. The course was meh, I felt. At least it was overcast so it wasn't exposed and sunny, because I think that it would have been pretty killer in those conditions. I felt cautiously optimistic about the it, thinking that possibly with the time off, I had a chance for a good time.
And I think that I would have had a chance for a good time, too, if it weren't for this pesky chest cold that REFUSES TO DIE! So I got through the first two miles in relatively good time, then realized that I was not feeling well. I walked for a bit and discovered that my heart rate was much too high. Blerg. So walk/run it was. For the whole rest of the half-marathon. It seemed like one hundred million miles, although my time was actually not horribly dreadful considering the circumstances and that I was walk/running.
In fact, my time was still better than it was for the Oak Tree back in September. Me sick > me running hills. Sad but true.
I think that there were some good things to take from this experience. First, I was glad that I had run into adversarial conditions last summer because I had strategies for coping with this en route. I decided to run divide my intervals into 0.65, so 5%, then run for 0.55 and recover for 0.1. Obviously, it worked well enough to get me through the course and I wasn't even the last person. I'm not sure that I would have known what to do if I hadn't had to complete such runs last summer. So this was a good thing.
Second, I feel like I am ready and raring to go for a half-marathon. It was the illness that stopped me this time. So here's hoping that the next half (January in Clearwater) goes better. I think that it will, too, because I will have some hill practice time between then and now while I am in Canada for the holidays. The Boxing Day race in Hamilton has a few nasty ones, so if I can get some hill work in, that should be useful for both. The next half involves the Causeway (i.e., one giant hill).
Third, I am half-way through the Halfathon! Which is totally cool. Only the equivalent of one marathon to go now. Also, I was happy with this most recent training plan, so I will modify it for the next race and see how that goes.
Fourth, I am incredibly glad that at no point yesterday did I lie down in a ditch and take a nap next to the race course, even though that was very tempting. Victory!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Recapping the past week
Well, a week ago we got drier air, and it has been better since then. This did not make my 12-mile run on Sunday any more fun, but I am getting ahead of myself. My 5-mile on Saturday was definitely better; I don't think that I broke any speed records, but I was feeling pretty good during that run.
Then came the 12-mile on Sunday.
For various reasons, I was in Clearwater, which is far from where I usually run (like, far as in it would have added 2 hours to my day to drive back, which was a bit much). So I decided to run on the Pinellas Trail instead. The Pinellas Trail was a railroad line that has been converted into a trail. It runs from St. Petersburg in the south to the northern part of Pinellas Country. All well and good. Parts of the trail were very nice, like the parts near Dunedin. Parts, though, were not so good for running because there was little/no shade, by which I mean the parts near Largo. Little/no shade is not okay for running in Florida. I should have known something was up by the ratio of bikers to runners: more bikers usually means not a shady trail (an observation taken from my experience with the Suncoast Trail, which starts with a straight mile devoid of shade).
The Pinellas Trail has two other aspects where it could do better, I feel:
1) I ran a good 5 miles of this trail on Sunday (I had to loop earlier than anticipated because of the complete lack of shade near Largo). There was not one bathroom to be found.
2) Ditto on drinking fountains. There was one--ONE!!!!!--functional one in the whole 5 miles I covered on the trail. If you're curious, there was one non-functioning one.
Now, I wasn't counting on drinking fountains for actually drinking the water, more as a cooling off option by dumping the water on my head. Instead, I had my fake Gatorade in the car and arranged my run so that I passed it at the half-way mark (so I went 3 miles north, came back, refilled water bottle, then tried to go 3 miles south except that there was no shade. In theory, it was a great plan). But I would think that in Florida, of all places, you could have more than one drinking fountain over a 5-mile stretch. That's not okay.
If you do happen to be on the Pinellas Trail and you need a bathroom, the bus station is not far from the trail in downtown Clearwater. This is the best option, I think, apart from creating your own bathroom in nature's wilderness (while being sure not to invade someone's yard).
So what's been happening since then? Well, I haven't been running. I survived the 12 miles, but haven't been feeling well at all. It's one of those pre-cold tired things, I think. Alternatively, Sunday did me in more than I thought (which wouldn't surprise me at all because it was brutal). When you're not feeling well, it's amazingly difficult to motivate yourself to go running in conditions that are already tough. My plan is to get back on track Saturday and finish up the training program. This has been the year where I get sick, so I guess we are not through with that yet. I think that it should be okay since this is taper time, but trust me that no one is more annoyed at this setback than I am.
Then came the 12-mile on Sunday.
For various reasons, I was in Clearwater, which is far from where I usually run (like, far as in it would have added 2 hours to my day to drive back, which was a bit much). So I decided to run on the Pinellas Trail instead. The Pinellas Trail was a railroad line that has been converted into a trail. It runs from St. Petersburg in the south to the northern part of Pinellas Country. All well and good. Parts of the trail were very nice, like the parts near Dunedin. Parts, though, were not so good for running because there was little/no shade, by which I mean the parts near Largo. Little/no shade is not okay for running in Florida. I should have known something was up by the ratio of bikers to runners: more bikers usually means not a shady trail (an observation taken from my experience with the Suncoast Trail, which starts with a straight mile devoid of shade).
The Pinellas Trail has two other aspects where it could do better, I feel:
1) I ran a good 5 miles of this trail on Sunday (I had to loop earlier than anticipated because of the complete lack of shade near Largo). There was not one bathroom to be found.
2) Ditto on drinking fountains. There was one--ONE!!!!!--functional one in the whole 5 miles I covered on the trail. If you're curious, there was one non-functioning one.
Now, I wasn't counting on drinking fountains for actually drinking the water, more as a cooling off option by dumping the water on my head. Instead, I had my fake Gatorade in the car and arranged my run so that I passed it at the half-way mark (so I went 3 miles north, came back, refilled water bottle, then tried to go 3 miles south except that there was no shade. In theory, it was a great plan). But I would think that in Florida, of all places, you could have more than one drinking fountain over a 5-mile stretch. That's not okay.
If you do happen to be on the Pinellas Trail and you need a bathroom, the bus station is not far from the trail in downtown Clearwater. This is the best option, I think, apart from creating your own bathroom in nature's wilderness (while being sure not to invade someone's yard).
So what's been happening since then? Well, I haven't been running. I survived the 12 miles, but haven't been feeling well at all. It's one of those pre-cold tired things, I think. Alternatively, Sunday did me in more than I thought (which wouldn't surprise me at all because it was brutal). When you're not feeling well, it's amazingly difficult to motivate yourself to go running in conditions that are already tough. My plan is to get back on track Saturday and finish up the training program. This has been the year where I get sick, so I guess we are not through with that yet. I think that it should be okay since this is taper time, but trust me that no one is more annoyed at this setback than I am.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Hiatus
Not sick of blogging, not sick of running -- just plain sick. And have been for a while now. The tired set in already early in the week, as did the lack of motivation to do anything related to exercise. As I should know by now, that generally means that I am not feeling well. Yesterday, I took the day off and today am still moving slowly. Definitely not feeling up for a run by any means!
New training program is supposed to start next Monday, so hopefully I will be have kicked this flu bug by then.
New training program is supposed to start next Monday, so hopefully I will be have kicked this flu bug by then.
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