February Update

Its been a bit of a crap-tastic last 4 weeks. After a really solid block of training at the end of December and beginning of January (including some gorgeous weather, although I still road inside on the trainer), things have been going in the wrong direction for the past few weeks). First problem was finding a "race" for the weekend of January 14th and 15th. I was supposed to run a 10K, but the only race I could find wasn't actually a race but an organized run of 8.6 miles around Peoples Forest State Park. At start time on race morning the temperature was 3 degrees Fahrenheit and with the windchill it was way below zero. My feet were frozen for the entire run (I ended up tripping a few times because I couldn't feel them) and I felt like a waddling marshmallow rather than a runner.  I ended up running just over 8 min/miles, not super fast but it was very, very cold. 

Three layers on top, two layers on bottom and still cold.

The next week, I kept training as usual, although I felt a little run down.  By Friday at work, I was absolutely miserable and had to bag my Friday night run.  When I woke up Saturday morning, I knew it was worse than just being tired, I was sick.  I spent the entire day on the coach on Saturday and could barely move.  On Sunday I woke up determined to bike and run and I did.  I drugged myself up and got on the trainer for 3 hours followed by a 40 minute run.  I was so proud of myself but it was probably the stupidest thing I could have done.  On Monday morning I was back to being miserably sick and had developed a nasty chest cough. I couldn't train on Monday or Tuesday and by Tuesday afternoon I realized that I needed to see the doctor.  News from the doctor was not good, I had bronchitis and my asthma had flared.  She put my on an antibiotic and new twice-daily asthma medicine (I never had asthma medicine before, just a rescue inhaler) and instructed me to take at least a week off from training.  I spent the remainder of the week coughing my lungs up and trying not to feel completely horrible. 

How I'm feeling right now.

Because I was sick for so long, Doug changed my schedule around and eliminated racing a half marathon this week (I'm not super upset, it ended up being another super cold day).  I've spent the past week trying to get back to normal, but its not working so well.  The combination of taking a week off, recovering from being sick and my new asthma medicine have wreaked havoc on my numbers.  I train by heart rate and my heart rate has been sky high all week, especially when running.  I'm super frustrated to be biking and running so slow and to still be having issues with breathing and coughing.  To make matter worse, I'm feeling like crap again this weekend (woke up this morning with a sore throat and feeling run down).

I know its "only" February, but in my mind its "already" February.  Ironman Texas is in just over three months, I don't feel like I'm anywhere close to where I was three months before Ironman Florida.  I know its too soon my my usual pre-race mental breakdown but the fact that my body is rebelling against my mind causes me concern.  Hopefully this is just a speed bump and I'll be back to normal soon. 

And on a positive note -- I found a mole!