A Better Week

My training this week continued to be slowed by illness, but ended on a positive note. It’s just 20 days to the Reston Ten Miler, and 55 to the Credit Union Cherry Blossom race. Here’s a recap of the week.

Monday

My scheduled rest day, which was well-timed. Still fighting off cold symptoms, I took advantage of the rest to try and recover physically.

Tuesday

Fast intervals were on the agenda, but still feeling a bit under the weather, I delayed the run. By evening, I felt well enough to attend my vinyasa yoga class. Most of the poses focused on stretching and twisting, which seemed to help a lot. I felt good coming out of the class and ready to resume running.

Wednesday

Since I was feeling better, decided to tackle the intervals I’d put off the day before. The run itself went well enough. I managed 2.53 miles in 27:39 with an average pace of 10:55. I was close to my target speed for the fast segments (the first for two minutes, the second for one), averaging around 8:50 for both. I briefly hit 7:32, thanks to a slight downhill segment of the course.

It turned out though, that it was a bit much a little too soon. The colder air, 37°, played havoc with my inflamed throat and lungs, bring back the sore throat and cough.

Thursday

Unplanned rest day, to give myself a chance to recover a bit more. Thursday was meant to be a shorter, easy run, but I took the day to recover.

Friday

Fit in a short run Friday evening, doing 2.62 miles in a rather leisurely 29:17. Two goals – I was once again feeling better, and wanted to test my health, and I really felt the need to get in a decent run before my planned long Sunday run with the CUCB Training Group at the Reston PR Running store. Succeeded on both counts. Clocked 11:22 for the first mile, and improved that slightly for mile two with a pace of 10:52. Slowed down again for the last six-tenths of a mile, up to 11:21. I’d run down to the boat launch to take in a view of the lake – gained a bit of speed running down the hill, but lost it all heading back up. It’s a pretty steep grade over a short distance, and at that point there wasn’t much energy left to climb the hill.

Saturday

Another unplanned rest day. Most of my exertions were mental as I worked on pulling together records in order to work on taxes.

Sunday

Not a promising look for a long run.

Not a promising start to the day. It’s a bit over an hour to get from my home in the Shenandoah Valley to the CUCB group in Reston. Weather radar looked downright scary, with heavy storms passing through the area. Experienced several periods of heavy rain on the drive in — but luckily, by the time we started, the worst of the storms were just to the South and East. Most of the group managed to miss the worst of the rain, although it was picking up again by the time I’d finished. The drive home saw several downpours, and nasty fog passing over the Blue Ridge.

Follow the link below to view other blogger’s updates on their training for the CUCB 2018 Race. If you’re training, and a blogger, add your own update!

3 comments On A Better Week

  • I definitely try to plan my runs on the better weather days for the weekend. Hope you are feeling better this week. You just freaked me out with the 55 days until race day reminder!

  • I’m so glad to see you listening to your body and taking the rest when you need it! We’ve been pretty lucky out in Vienna on Saturdays with the weather. But I’ll see you on Sunday when I visit Reston (and by see you, I mean say hi and bye as you’re much faster than me!)

  • I had to take a forced break from training last month to allow my body to get better… I think you’re doing well playing it day by day and seeing how you feel… I do hope you get better soon though!!

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