Worst training days ever or how Febapple Frozen Fifty totally did not happen.

Febapple Frozen Fifty: (going clockwise, from top left) (a) Chris Reynolds, Caitlin Weaver, and Chris Jaworksi wait for the 50K start; (b) Yoshiko Jo, Elaine Acosta (who would have won first female 50K if she just showed up on time!) and me; (c) Stephen England and me; (d) Scott Martin, after his first loop.

February 12 to February 28, 2013

I am not going to sugar coat it - just had my worst training days ever.  Even worse than when I badly sprained my ankle a few years back, because at least I forced myself to swim and run in the water for a couple of hours every day.  Actually, as awful as that month was, I think I came out a stronger runner because I discovered something that was worse than running on a treadmill - I learned the true meaning of boredom by running laps in a teeny tiny pool with only a lifeguard for company.    

So what happened?  I got a cold over President's Day weekend.  Normally a cold isn't a big deal, but this cold spawned into a worse cold, which spawned into a mega cold.  The spawnage of the mega cold was completely my fault because when my cold started, I simply did not take care of myself.  My attitude was that since I had already experienced a flu/coldapocalpyse back in December, the chances of it happening again seemed slim.  Also, I had the Febapple Frozen 50 with the New Jersey Trail Series folks coming up that weekend, and I just did not want to think about DNS'ing (Did Not Start) my first race ever.  

However, as the week continued, I got sicker and sicker and finally, I pulled the plug a couple of days before the race.  I felt absolutely terrible about doing this because my sorority sister Caitlin was flying up from North Carolina to run it with me.  Caitlin is doing her first 100 miler at Umstead in April and we thought this would be a great training run.  Thankfully, Caitlin was totally a good sport after I told her that I would not be able to run with her.  It just did not seem like a smart idea to go out and run thirty miles in the cold rain when I could barely keep it together at work.  As much I love to run, I won't think too hard about missing a training session or two.  When I miss a day of work because of illness, I agonize over it for days.  Therefore my rule is that if I am even considering not going to work, I should not train. 

So last Friday night, I picked Caitlin up at the airport.  Caitlin was in pretty good form, despite her flight being delayed for hours.  I was still a coughing mess, but I felt hopeful with the idea that if I just didn't overexert myself, I would totally be fine by Monday.  And by not overexerting myself, I still planned on dropping off Caitlin at the race, doing some heat training at the gym, and then going to a gala benefit later in the evening.  

Caitlin, before her first trail ultramarathon!

It was a surreal experience to go to a race and well, not race.  Believe me, I was mildly tempted to go out and do a lap "just to see how I felt."  It was a good thing that I didn't, because when I finally headed back to my car, I started my cough/vomit, indicating that my body was done with being outside.   However, I was really happy to see some friends that morning: Joe and Chris Reynolds, Jess Kennedy, Chris Jaworksi, Elaine Acosta, Stephen England, Yoshiko Jo, Joe Delconte, Scott Martin, Kristin Pedersen, Alanna Garrison-Kast, and of course Rick and Jennifer McNulty, the race directors. 

Elaine is awesome.  She started an hour later than the rest of the 50K'ers, but lapped most of 'em :). 

I tried hitting the gym after dropping off Caitlin, but I was feeling feverish and fatigued, so my workout was extremely short-lived.   I managed to pull myself together and pick up Caitlin, who finished the 20 mile course, but probably ran close to a marathon because she got lost and did some bonus mileage.  I then drugged myself with Vitamin Robitussin and then headed off to the Big Brothers Big Sisters Gala with Rob.  

And paid for it all this week.  I pretty much spent this week in a fever/cold/exhausted state. When I wasn't working, I tried to sleep and when I tried to sleep, I couldn't, because I kept on coughing/vomiting.

Gosh, this post is depressing.

Anyway, on the bright side, I am totally, totally, totally better now.  I am not going to do anything stupid this weekend and I look forward to going back to my regularly scheduled workouts.  While I am mildly freaking about the loss of training time and the nearness of Western States (as my friend Jose San Gabriel reminded me yesterday, only seventeen weeks to go!), I am just going to have to force myself to be awesome every single day until then.  So what does that mean?

(1) No more being sick.  If I even have a hint of anything, I am going to baby that sucker.  Also, I am now on a Vitamin C/Zinc daily regimen.  
(2) MUST SLEEP MORE.  No more reading books and watching Portlandia/Colbert Report until 1 a.m. because it's so awesome.  Rob, this is your job.  If I get whiny, point to this blog entry.

If you have suggestions on not getting sick, please let me know.  I really cannot waste any more time with being ill.  Whether this is feasible, I do not know, but if you are person who generally does not get sick, I really want to know your secret :).