Down with the Sickness

I think it's official. I'm sick. Not the mental kind either (we all know it's too late to fix me on that one). I'm tired, my throat hurts, my glands hurt, and my ears are stuffy. I was hoping I would feel better quickly but I'm not banking on it now. Shane said he's feeling it too, which means it must be a heck of a bug. My husband is hardly ever sick.

I still haven't missed a mile but I'm starting to worry. I did my 4 miles Tuesday but ended up breaking up my scheduled 8 yesterday. I got up at 4am, my new normal for Wednesdays, and was on the treadmill by 4:30. After 3.5 miles at an average pace of 11:50 minutes per mile I gave up and went back to bed. I figured I'd feel better after more sleep (and coffee).

I spent all day at work dealing with some of the craziness that has taken over my life lately. By the end of the day I just wanted to fall down. Instead I got home, ate dinner, and then played Life with Gemma for an hour or so. When I looked at the clock and realized it was almost 7:30 I almost had a coronary. I told Gem to get ready for bed (Ash had fallen asleep on the couch after dinner) and I headed out the door. I ran my remaining 4.5 miles but felt like I was fighting for every inch. I made it home with only minutes to spare before Shane had to leave for work.

Today I'm scheduled for 4 miles again and the weatherman is calling for severe storms. I'm kind of worried about getting it done. If it's 50 MPH winds and hailing I won't be outside. And if the power is out the treadmill will be a no-go too. I've had the experience of the power 'blinking' while I'm on the treadmill before. Not fun! The belt stops but I don't and I get clotheslined in the stomach by the control panel. I'll be happy to never do that again!

If the worst happens though, I'll take it as a sign that I need some rest right now. Maybe I'll switch my Friday rest day for today's 4 or maybe I'll miss miles for the first time this training cycle (that's a last resort though!). No matter what I need to trust my training. I've built almost 8 full weeks of solid running and I get to have a blast with course sweeping from mile 40 to mile 60 at the Burning River 100 Miler this weekend. Sometimes it's good to take a step back and put running and training back in the proper perspective. After all, if it's not fun then why are we doing it?

How strictly do you follow a plan? What forces you to take a day (or more) off? How do you keep your priorities straight when all your hopes are pinned on a single goal race?