As I mentioned in my last post, I was having some trouble with snot. The trouble with excessive snot is that it tends to flow freely at the most inoportune moments and if it's not coming out the nose, it's sliding down the throat and into the lungs. This has been my problem.
Since last Tuesday, I've been a snotty, sneezey, achey sinuses, mess. That left me with a couple of nights of no sleep (or less than 4 hours of sleep). That left me dead tired. When I finally did get to sleep, I was like the dead...or, at least, that's what I thought. My husband tells me that I snorted, coughed, choked, gurgled and snored something awful the whole night. The next day, I awoke with a rattling in my chest to rival the old guys in the sauna. Lovely.
So Saturday was supposed to be my brick. I asked my husband to take me on the 16 mile bike ride he occasionally does that includes a nice climb. I've never done this route, so I needed a guide (or a map and a guide is way more fun than a map!). We headed out at around 2 pm when it was plenty warm and beautifully sunny. Despite a week of feeling like I was sick even though I wasn't, I felt good and strong. Good thing too, it was super windy! Anyway we did the ride - and the climb was really nice. It was long, not too terribly steep (except one little slope near the top where I thought I was going to fall over backwards, no joke!), and the whole thing was paved and laced with gorgeous views. It was also mostly treed, so the wind was minimal, too. Had I not had to pull over and rid myself of snot 5 times, I would have enjoyed it even more. By the time we were within a mile of our house, that chest rumbleing was starting to get exceedingly painful. I had set out my running gear to change into upon finishing, and yet I knew when I got off the bike that it wasn't happening. My chest was burning and I was hacking up nothing, something awful. I decided that rest was in my best interest. Rest and sushi for dinner, of course. ;-)
Anyway, a couple of more neti pot cleanses later, I'm feeling MUCH better. I took Sunday off from all training as well and I'm glad I did. I woke up feeling much more 'normal' this morning. Today I'm going to try swimming again but I'm going to make the journey to 24-hour fitness and avoid the super-chlorinated pool. I also think I need to make a few adjustments to that 12-week training plan I created since I've basically lost a week now. I don't think it'll be a big deal, but I want to make sure that all my bases are covered.
I read a post over on beginnertriathlete.com about training for the non-pro athletes. Another beginner was feeling 'guilty' for missing training sessions due to life and when she asked for advice, got some really great input. This person suggested she take her normal schedule and block out when she can train consistently. Pick times that she can easily plan to train, day in and day out. Then she was advised to take that schedule and add the workouts (swim, bike, run). The suggestion was to do two or three weeks worth and then rotate them so some weeks it might be 3xrun, 2xbike, 2xswim and then the other one is 3xswim, 3xrun, 2xbike or whatever...then she should rotate those schedules. This is her BASE training and if she misses any of these workouts, she can go ahead and feel bad about it. Then she was directed to add on any other workouts opportunities that might come up...ie. MIL in town to watch the kids so she can do a long run, big family event on weekend at a lake so she can sneak in an open water swim workout, hires a sitter for a Sunday so she can do a long bike ride, etc. Those are bonus workouts and she should NEVER feel guilty for missing one.
Anyway, I really liked this approach and I'm going to use it to modify/improve my 12-week (well, now 11-week) plan to ensure success.
No comments:
Post a Comment