Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Price To Pay

I was never under any illusions that I could just get away with running an unplanned 2:56 marathon without repercussions, but I did not expect payback to happen quite so quickly.

I didn't do myself any favours by hanging around at the finish for well over half an hour, dressed in my singlet and getting cold, before finally heading for the showers which were another 15 minutes walk away. I felt good on Sunday but had a headache on Monday evening, which I did not pay too much attention to, but during the course of Tuesday I got progressively worse. Initially I wasn't sure if it was a head cold or my usual, twice-annual hayfever (or maybe both), but eventually I was left in no doubt that, yes, I did indeed have that most lethal of illnesses, the dreaded man-flu.

It has to be bad when I don't even consider going for a run, and right now I'm much too busy feeling sorry for myself to worry how long recover will take. Since I am supposed to run another marathon 12 days from now, it better be quick. At least next time I'll be carrying a balloon with 3:15 written onto it around the course so there won't be any danger of repeating Saturday's shenanigans and racing away.

That brings me to my other point. I clearly need to rethink my marathon-as-training-runs strategy. It worked beautifully last year in Donadea when I ran the 50k at a decent clip but definitely at training effort. Thing is, Donadea was the national 50k championship so I let the elites up front do their own thing and the idea of racing never entered my mind. It was different in Killarney when I saw the runners ahead of me and knew I could keep up with them if I wanted to. Apart from races with elites up front, I guess the only way I can ensure that I will stick to the plan is by running as one of the official pacers. I've done that often enough by now, after all.

Up until I got sick, recovery had gone well, the legs had felt fine of Sunday and Monday, at least after the first couple of gingerly steps were out of the way, and the HR was low enough to suggest that my body was still in good shape. All I need right now is to shake of that cold, take it easy, and I'll be good again to go.
19 May
5 miles, 40:06, 8:01 pace, HR 137
20 May
5 miles, 39:59, 8:00 pace, HR 133
21 May
8 miles, 1:02:20, 7:47 pace, HR 137
22 May
0

2 comments:

  1. Man-flu is an awful illness. Very dangerous! Look after yourself (get the Mrs to) and you'll be good to go for the next one. If not, I'm sure you could run 3:15 with one lung and a nose running like a tap.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope you are feeling better already. I knew something was cooking when I saw you had low mileage on Dailymile. Take care and rest well.

    ReplyDelete