I'm not sure where the saying "sick as a dog" came from but it fit this past week. Last Sunday I started to feel iffy, Monday much worse and called it and slept the day away, Tuesday not really much better but I had to go to the office, Wednesday another day of sleeping the day away.
Now as an athlete we tend to feel invincible and immune to the flu, or at least better equipped to get over and recover quicker. So Thursday rolled around I was feeling better, so I headed out for a solid run in the afternoon. 1:20 minutes of easy tempo work, as the run started I was checking my HR and it was right in line where it should have been and I felt great. I debated turning around at 30 minutes but I still felt good. Clearly I was not well. 20 minutes later my HR spiked and my pace dropped off a cliff. It wasn't helped by the fact the temp dropped 10 degrees and the cold rain started falling. 10 minutes later I could barely lift my legs off the ground to continue moving forward. I did make it back to the finish but was close.
Friday was borderline but not great, but my coach and I exchanged emails about the planned Sunday race and he strongly recommendd I not run, in my mind I was going to run. Yeserday I spent an hour on the trainer which nearly killed me as not from the workout but the fact that it was dry and moderately warm outside and I really wanted to be riding outside. So today I had already resolved that I wasn't going to race but I did get out for a 50 minute run. I'm clearly not back to "normal" yet but I was feeling better.
It's a funny thing trying to separate the athlete from the neutral observer. As a coach I'd never recommend an athelete I coach run in this condition but again as an athlete the work that's been put in and the desire to race sometimes cloud your rational decision making. This is one of the advantage having a hands on coach as opposed to be self coached or just getting cookie cutter workouts, that little person on your shoulder your alter ego who can be the voice of reason.
So I'm hoping that this is it for the flu and me this year and that I get back to "normal" this week, because it's time trial time this coming weekend. It should be interesting, short and sweet, and utterly painful. I'll let you know how it goes.
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