This is the first time that I’ve every truly experienced the taper crazies. Before, I wasn’t so stressed as much as excited. This time, I’m a nervous wreck.
Yep, pretty much.
I mentioned last week how I’d come down with a serious head cold, well it hasn’t gone away. In fact, last week it turned into a full blown I feel like death sickness. My head hurt, I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t talk–think smoker, raspy voice. It was bad.
But I ran. Oh, by golly, I ran.
On Sunday and Monday, I took a rest day after my twenty miler the previous Saturday. Remember how I lamented about my knee? Yeah, it’s sore 😦 Ugh!!!
Tuesday I forced myself to get to my run club’s Tuesday run. They all heard my voice and asked what the hell I was doing there. I managed to get in a good 5 miles (9:05/mile), despite sounding and feeling miserable.
Wednesday I was officially on the struggle bus. I had 9 Yasso’s on the schedule and I really didn’t want to miss this day of training. So I went and it was not pretty. Last week, I was so proud of my 800s and how consistent they were; this week, not so much. They were all over the place.
At least the circles are pretty 🙂
Thursday and Friday I rested. I tried to rest as much as I could. I actually took the day off from work on Thursday to help out my situation. I was just so exhausted.
In other news, I’m looking into transferring schools closer to home. My current commute is around 40 minutes both ways and even though I absolutely love, love, LOVE, my current school, I really want to be close to my kids and husband. On Thursday I found an opening at a school I’m interested in close to where I live. I scrambled all afternoon getting everything I needed to fulfill the application. As a result, it wasn’t as a relaxing day off as I’d planned lol! But still very exciting as I’m keeping my fingers crossed everything works out.
Friday, my husband and I had our Valentine’s Day dinner. We opted to do it then instead of Saturday night because I had a race on Sunday and didn’t want to run with a full stomach from dinner ha!
Cheesecake Factory 😀
A few of my friends and I had planned to run the first 8 miles of the Phoenix Marathon course the next morning, Saturday. We wanted to get our legs ready for that initial downhill. I set my alarm for 5 a.m. and tried my best to get a good night’s sleep.
But it didn’t happen.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm and my throat on fire. There was no way I’d be able to run that morning and not make my situation worse. I texted my girlfriends that I wasn’t going to be able to make it. And then I cried.
Yes, I cried.
I got so emotional. I’ve been working so hard this training and I feel like it’s slipping away. Between being sick and now this knee hurting, I’m afraid that any chance of doing well is going out the window. I know I’m being dramatic, but it’s tough having things so out of your control. Ugh.
Later on Saturday, my husband suggested we go for a run ourselves. He knew that I really wanted to get the mileage in. So we did 6 miles around the neighborhood and I came home to a Valentine’s card and a new pair of shoes!
❤
Those six miles were tough and I was not feeling good about the race the next day. If you follow me on Insta or Facebook, then you know that those tough 6 miles were a foreshadowing of a not-so-good Sunday 10k race. I’ll be doing a full re-cap tomorrow but yeah, it wasn’t my best piece of work. By any means.
Welp, there you have it! A big struggle week but I made it through.
Total miles: 21.7 miles
Water Intake: B+ (at least something went well this week lol!)
–Do you run when you’re sick? How about if you’re reeeeally close to marathon time?
–How was your Valentine’s Day?
It’s funny, I have no taper crazies thus far! I’m feeling pretty secure–I’ll likely feel different next week, but right now I am looking forward to the warm weather run 😀
Just keep calm, you will do famously.
Also, I still have the Ravennas if you want a back up pair! I’ll dock the price more, too, and I’ll just bring them with me.
Honestly, this is super common for people to get a cold or an illness during taper. And they all come out just fine in the end. Remember that at this point you have done all of the hard work. Your body is prepared. Being sick and resting now are not going to ruin your race. You are ready! I think you will surprise yourself. Fingers (and toes) crossed for the new job!
Ahh, taper crazies! I don’t work out if I’m feeling sick; I feel like it slows down my recovery.
Sorry you’ve had a tough time. It sucks. I’m so paranoid about getting sick, and I’ve had the smoker voice the past few days but am hoping it’s due to the cold and nothing settling in my lungs. You’ll do fine in your race, just relax, worrying will accomplish nothing. (SOOOOOO much easier said than done, yes, I am well aware!) Get better soon and tell that knee to behave!!!
Thank you! I def need to relax and not make things worse by stressing out!
booo for you being sick too!
I hope you get the new school! I do work out if it’s just a little cold, but I’m not opposed to taking a legit rest day. Don’t sweat it – you’ve already done the work, your race will go fine. 😊
Thank you!! I keep needing to remind myself of that–I did the training, I can do the race! 🙂
Aww Helly <3. I'm so sorry that you got sick at this time. Just take a deep breath (when you're not so congested 😉 ) and remember all of the really good runs and workouts you had. Don't forget about those. A few runs that aren't ideal don't erase all of those good training runs and at this point, you just need need to have the right mindset and you will be okay!
I usually do run when I'm sick, but I've ran through things I probably shouldn't have…I think's that's a common thing a lot of us have haha. And I've totally cried over not being able to run before too though, so I get it. I will say though, it is quite tough to cry while being sick huh!? Talk about the need for air hehe. I hope you get back to feeling like yourself soon! :]
Thank you Hailey! I love you advice–think of the good training runs!!
I won’t typically run when I’m sick. You are so close and to be honest with you your body needs the rest. You know your legs can do the distance! I use elderberry, zinc and echinacea and oregano oil when I’m sick and it helps a lot!! Feel better! Oh, and I hope you get the job transfer you want, I know how hard commutes can be!
The commute is def hard. Thank you for the pick-me up! ❤
I’m sorry you had such a crappy week! But on the bright side you’re getting it all out of the way before race day. Hang in there – you’ve done all of the hard work now you just need to wait for your body to catch up.
That’s what I’m hoping for–getting all the sick out of the way so I can be clear come race time! One can hope lol!
I think you did a great job this week! If I was sick I think I would have skipped a few more of those runs. You are almost there and you’re doing awesome! Also, those new shoes look so cute!
Thank you! ❤ I definitely think I'm too hard on myself–something I'm working on. Loving my new shoes–thank you!
I love that you got new sneakers for Valentine’s Day and went on a run together – that’s love 🙂 Sometimes I run when I’m sick but I feel there is a limit and I always feel better when I rest. Your body just needs it sometimes.
Definitely!
And I running with my husband always makes me feel better 🙂
I’m so sorry you’re feeling yucky. It sucks when something that’s so out of your control comes up. All you can do is take care of yourself and trust that your excellent training cycle will carry you through on the day.
Thank you for your kind words. You’re right. I need to just trust my training and hope for the best ❤