Thomas: I know
Niamh: You should take tomorrow off work
Thomas: (pause) I don't think that will be necessary
Niamh: The only reason you go to work is so you can justify going for a run
Thomas: How did you know that?
Ok, so that one wasn't all that difficult to guess, but she's right. It's exactly the reason why I don't want to take a day off sick - if someone saw me running the same day, I'd be in serious trouble, and since I'm feeling good enough to go for a run I'm also feeling good enough to go to work.
I had a sore throat, a headache and I was generally feeling lousy and exhausted, but all the symptoms were above the neck, which is why I could justify going for my morning run with a clear conscience (though to be honest, past experience shows that I still tend to run even with symptoms below the neck, except that then I'm feeling guilty because I know I'm being an idiot).
Getting respiratory infections after a marathon is quite common apparently, but I am very rarely afflicted. The fact that I ran 2 marathons in a week might have something to do with it, of course. The good news is that today, Thursday, I'm already feeling better and the worst should be behind me. I'm looking forward to resume proper training again.
The fly in the ointment as far as training is concerned is that Niamh wants to have a weekend life as well and has booked me in for a couple of weekends of babysitting when she will be the one to indulge. It's not good news as far as training goes, especially with July approaching at an alarming rate, but since I have already taken two weekends this month to run a marathon and am planning two further trips away from home in June, I am really not in a position to argue.
Right now I'm wondering where the tipping point is between between recovering from my double marathon excursion and further training. It really is a fine balance and optimal training is difficult to achieve, especially as I'm in uncharted territory. I like to think that I have a reasonable handle on marathon training by now, but long ultras are different and my most relevant experience in that regard, when training for Dingle 2 years ago, mostly tells me a few things on how not to do it. I still have to figure out how to do it, and trial and error unfortunately includes error
- 15 May
- 5 miles, 40:04, 8:01 pace, HR 139
- 16 May
- 5 miles, 39:28, 7:54 pace, HR 149
- 17 May
- 5 miles, 39:08, 7:50 pace, HR 147
Give that bug you have a kick in the butt with some rest! Some time off will only help launch things forward. Hope you feel well soon.
ReplyDeleteAs long it's not the beginnings of Pneumonia you'll be fine ;)
ReplyDeleteNice job with the 3:30 pacing last weekend - also with balancing training with domestic demands. You need to keep the Mrs happy - that's where Scott Brown went wrong!