HOW TO SURVIVE A BAD WEEK

On the surface, last week didn't look so bad. It was Week 3, Half Ironman Training. Here's what training was supposed to be:

• Monday--strength training;
• Tuesday--Swim 1 hour; run 30 minutes;
• Wednesday--45 min. cycle, 1 leg drills;
• Thursday--30 min. swim; 30 min. run;
• Friday--1 hour cycle;
• Saturday--1.5 hour cycle; 30 min. run;
• Sunday--off.

Here's how training actually went:

• Monday--strength training (although I was pretty tired from the weekend and only spent about 20 minutes at it);
• Tuesday--1 hour swim; 35 min. run. Both accomplished, and the run was outside despite the colder temperatures and high winds. What was especially good about the run was that I was able to keep in the mid ranges of heart rate despite the wind, and only found myself forced to walk twice briefly. My ability to maintain low intensity is increasing every week.
• Wednesday--45 min. cycle, on the trainer of course, doing 1 leg drills. I noticed that by the end of this workout I was extremely fatigued and was having difficulty maintaining the lower heart rate required. Getting ready for work, I was so tired I wanted to go back to bed. By the time I got to work, I felt ill I was so tired, and my sinuses were acting up, along with having a raging sinus headache. I ended up going home from work early.
• Thursday--off entirely. Still felt sick and extremely fatigued.
• Friday--off entirely. Was feeling better but not good enough to want to exert.
• Saturday--Felt much better, and actually did 1.5 hours on the trainer followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill, without stopping. I could have gone outside to run because it was sunny and about 38 degrees, but was so sweaty after the long trainer workout I just opted to get on the treadmill and avoid the longer transition that would have been necessary to get all dressed again to go out.
• Sunday--was supposed to be off, but felt good enough that I made up a couple of the missed workouts--did a 3 mile run, followed by a 45 min. trainer ride.

I don't know why the schedule was different from the first 2 weeks, but regardless, I certainly needed some down days.

The weekend before, what with having weekend company and babysitting, along with the long run/bike workouts, probably should have been enough to wear me out, but then I had to add an extremely stressful family situation unfolding along with work continuing--for the past 2 months--being extra stressful, and I think it all hit at once. And the sinus/headache/sick stomach thing apparently has been going around at work. I didn't realize it until I actually took Wednesday afternoon off to just go home and lay down because of the nausea and headache, thinking instead it was from extreme fatigue/stress/sinus drainage. So it made me feel somewhat less guilty about missing workouts, considering I probably did have something going on with my system. My heartrate was up for 3 days, so that told me something was going on.

This past weekend, we dodged the bullet--the snow bullet that is--and only had about a hour's worth of snowfall, which did not accumulate. The rest of the weekend was just cold, rainy, and windy. And like the faithful postman, neither rain, cold, wind, or the darkness of night prevented me from getting out to run yesterday, late in the afternoon, but I got it done. I had felt sleepy and out of sorts most of the day. My daughter and one grandson and I went to see the butterfly exhibit at Frederick Meijer Gardens, an indoor arboretum and garden center, but I was pretty much not into it, even though I haven't seen this many butterflies in all the years we've been going. And my camera wasn't working correctly, so of course I got only a few pics! I finally told them I just had to go home and lay down or something, but then the oddest thing happened. I jogged over to my car because it was cold and windy, and I was amazed at how much that perked me up!

By the time I got home 15 min. later, I was really feeling much better and decided to dress to go out and run, despite the fact that rain threatened again and it was extremely windy. But I felt like I had to do something. It was going to be a long evening otherwise, and I knew I would be beating myself up all night if I didn't do something before the day ended.

Surprisingly, the run went well, even though I was still a little tired, and running into the wind elevated the heart rate enough that I ended up walking for a minute each of the 3 times it happened. When I got home, I found I was trapped in my running jacket--the zipper was completely jammed--and after about 20 minutes I was able to get it unzipped enough to force over my head. So then I hopped on the bike before I changed my mind completely, finishing up 45 min. later and glad to be done! And only missing one scheduled workout.

Hopefully this week goes better and our weather warms up again. I have some long workouts ahead of me!