Sick AGAIN!!!

What can I say. I just don't understand. Many, many people train a lot harder than I do. Last post I was saying how exhausted I was after each run. Well, I guess I was starting to get sick. I took Friday and Saturday off. You'd think that would be enough. I guess not since about half way through my run my lungs started to hurt again. But, as I was stuck out in the middle of nowhere, I had to finish the race. I've been trying to recover ever since. I was really sick on Monday and I cancelled paddling. It is Wednesday now and I'm not planning to run tonight so that will be 3 days in a row. I can't tell you how this is killing me. I can literally feel my muscles turning to mush!!!

But on the brighter side, I got another PR. My race was 2:08:56. That's 3 minutes faster than the last one. Of course, as I said before, this one was pancake flat. When I passed the 5 km mark my Iphone told me it was 30 minutes. I've never hit 30 minutes for 5 km in my life. Not even in a 5 km race! At 10 km I was at 60 minutes. Now, I wasn't even really trying. As I said before, I was out to get an even pace. My GPS didn't work right from the start so I was just going at the fastest pace I could comfortably go for the whole race. Of course after the 10 km mark I was thinking a PR was possible but tried to just keep the same pace. It was about then that my lungs started to hurt. But I kept at it and by the 15 km mark when I was just slightly behind pace I remembered that it was good to practice a strong finish. Any excuse to try for that PR. So I admit, I did push it the last few km's. Was I disappointed when the clock read 2:12:XX when I crossed the finish line. I survived the rest of the day and when I got home I checked my official time on the internet and it gave me the 2:08:56. Yeah for me!

I have to say that this not running is really bothering me and I hope I'm feeling well enough to run tomorrow. The hard part is that I actually feel fine and energetic but I can still feel that discomfort in my lungs so I know if I run, I will make it worse. Feel sorry for me, ok.

80 days to go. I hope I'll be ready.

Another busy week. I knew training for a marathon would be time consuming but I didn't realize how all consuming it would be. Could be my personality. I run 3 weekdays in a row and do circuit training afterwards on 2 of those. By the time I get home, make dinner, eat and clean up from dinner, I'm exhausted and just want to go to bed. Mondays during the summer I paddle so its the same thing. On Sundays when I do my long run, I sleep in because it is one of the few days I get to catch up on lost sleep (and getting enough sleep is important in training). Then I eat a good breakfast because I'll be running for several hours but then I have to wait quite awhile for breakfast to digest. By the time I get out to run its 11 or 12. Run for 2-3 hours, stretch, shower, eat and rest (because it is quite tiring running that long). Then its almost time for bed. Almost :). Throw in some races, trips to Calgary, volunteer commitments and my house is a mess. It has definitely been a learning experience. Oh well, 3 months and I get a life again, maybe.

I've been rethinking my training a lot these days and really haven't come up with a solution. I was completely exhausted this week after my sessions. I have a race tomorrow (Sunday) so I'm a little concerned. I should have tapered but I don't want to jeopardize my marathon training. There never seems to be a good time to take a few days off. I'm just going to use this race as a test. I'd like to try to run it a marathon pace to see how I do. I'm definitely not expecting a PR because I don't want to push myself that hard. It would take too much recovery time and may adversely affect my training. The race is in Ladner, which is flat, so it will be nice to run to see how I do without tons of hills.

I'm kind of embarrassed. Last week I set out from Sechelt on a 23 k jaunt. My GPS failed just after 12 k and, according to my run map, I swam to Naniamo and back about then. The end result was a 53 k run on my program. Which is sent to facebook. You see where I'm going, right? I had 5 facebook comments from friends and family saying "way to go". I, of course, went straight to work (as my home computer was still being fixed), and corrected the map with a result of 23.79 k for the day. However, this doesn't get corrected on facebook. I feel like a fraud. Although, common sense should have prevailed because there is no way I could have run that distance in the 2 hours and 45 minutes that it took me. According to my program I would have had to run a 3:06 km pace. Not likely in my lifetime.

So, where do I stand right now. I'm happy with my weight but wouldn't be upset if I lost a few more pounds. I'd be really happy to get rid of this little pot belly that I have. Core training seems to be a possible solution but finding the extra time doesn't seem likely at this point. I am also concerned about it wearing me out and my training suffering. Of course, it could do the opposite, it could increase my running economy and, therefore, make my training more effective. I would also like to increase the strength of my upper body. I guess basically I'm so happy with the results from running that I would like to be more fit all over and try a variety of sports. I guess my thoughts are that being an athlete is actually attainable. Six years ago I would never have considered it even possible for me to run a half marathon, let alone compete (or at least participate) in a triathlon. Now, I think that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I have accepted the fact that I may never be in the top ten but I have goals of getting out of the bottom half. And, oddly enough, I think time is on my side. The older I get, the less competion there will be (theoretically anyway). If I can keep this up for another 20 years, I may be in the top 10 of my age group (65-69) :) There can't possibly be that many competitors of that age. I may have to find a really small race....

84 days to go...