Just when everything was going so well...
Last weekend, my daughter and I took a girls road-trip to Nashville, where we visited the science museum, the country music hall of fame, and a Taylor Swift concert. Along with a few t-shirts, a cowboy hat, and some smashed lovebugs on my car, I seem to have brought home an extremely nasty case of strep throat. In retrospect, I was unusually exhausted the early part of the week, but I put it off to the long drive. On Thursday morning, I had an intense workout, so I chalked off the body aches to lactic acid buildup. On Thursday night, I went to a fancy fundraiser with some friends, so when I woke up with a headache on Friday, I assumed I had overestimated my tolerance for white wine. I only went to the doctor on Friday because it WAS Friday, and just in case I was actually sick, I wanted to get checked out during office hours.
For whatever reason, my body has become susceptible to strep throat. When I was a kid and up into my mid-30's, if I got sick, it was always a respiratory or sinus issue. In the past five years, I have had strep at least once a year. I know the symptoms and the course of treatment all too well. Normally, I get a steroid shot and a prescription for one of the few antibiotics that I can take without getting hives. Within 24 hours, I'm usually a new woman. This time, the stinking bug has been stubborn.
This was supposed to be a week of tests in my marathon training. I had two hard workouts scheduled. Thanks to this strep throat, I only had two workouts all week.
I did not run on Monday. I was so tired from driving eight hours the day before, and I just wanted to stay in bed as long as possible.
On Tuesday, I had an easy run. I was scheduled for 4-5 miles at an easy pace with six bursts of 10-second sprints with 20-second recoveries thrown in. It was really humid out, about 90%. Still, it was a run that improved the longer I went. I hit the speed bursts in mile four. Overall: 4.34 at 9:20 average pace.
Wednesday, I was not up for running. That should have been a sign that I was getting sick, but instead I interpreted it as laziness.
Thursday: My epic run of the week. This was my first attempt at Yasso 800's: ten intervals of 800-meter runs with 400-meter recoveries in between. The goal is to complete each recovery in about the same amount of time (or less) that it takes to run the 800's. The theory is that your average time for an 800 in minutes and seconds will be an indicator of how fast you can run a marathon in hours and minutes. For example, if you average 4 minutes and 30 seconds per 800-meter run after 10 rounds, you should be able to run a marathon in 4 hours and 30 minutes.
Two things I did differently: First, instead of running on a track, I decided to stay closer to home and run this on the road. This meant I had to contend with minor hills and traffic. Second, since I never read the owners manual for my GPS watch, I have no idea how to switch over to metric timing, so I ran half-miles instead of 800 meters. A half-mile is just over 804 meters, so it was another minor change. Part of me wants to argue that this was a harder workout than typical Yasso 800's due to the combination of those minor changes, and that my results were therefore on the conservative side. However, I was so shocked with my results that I am not going to jinx myself by thinking I could have done better. I can't even type my times on this blog for fear that I'd be setting myself up for a letdown. Suffice it to say, my predicted marathon time was about 10 minutes faster than my "stars are aligned, perfect weather, perfect fueling, perfect course, perfect everything, probably unattainable" goal, 20 minutes faster than my "decent happy day" goal, and 30 minutes faster than my personal record.
I can't say it was a confidence booster. It really scared me more than anything else. I'm not going to readjust my goals for Chickamauga based on an awesome Yasso workout. I have yet to run a perfect marathon, or even a perfect half-marathon, and I have set some pretty unrealistic goals in the past, leaving me disappointed at the finish line. My goal for this marathon is YES to run faster, but mainly to cross that finish line feeling like I ran a smart race to the best of my ability with what I am given on that day.
The rest of the week was a wash. I left work early on Friday, spent the entire weekend in bed, and here it is Monday and I'm still at home, having watched an entire season of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. Running hasn't even been a tiny temptation the past few days, not even Saturday, when I was supposed to run some serious marathon-pace miles in mild 64 degree temps. At least I had the one good workout to keep me going. It has definitely kept me interested. Perhaps a spring marathon? On a flat & fast course? Tallahassee, might you be my "stars-are-aligned" race??
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