training talk, vol. II

November 10, 2009

whose legs are these??
alternatively titled, “subpar nutrition + viral debilitation = one BAD run.”

i suppose i shouldn’t have been all that surprised. part of being sick this time around was that i had absolutely zero appetite whatsoever. pretty much everything was nauseating, and as a result, i wasn’t able to eat all that much. oddly, my hunger-levels still not back to their usual snack-happy heights, but at least eating is no longer an unpleasant concept. (i KNOW! it was very weird — and sad — for me, too).

i have to believe that those 3 days of insufficient intake were a major contributor to an extremely bad run yesterday. i haven’t felt such fatigue in my legs since . . . well, maybe ever! i let myself take the pace as relaxed as i could, but i felt like i was hitting ‘the wall’ (you know, THE WALL) from the very first step.

it was so weird — like my brain and cardiovascular systems were on board and sending out signals to go ahead, but the mitochondria in the muscles just weren’t responding! i honestly didn’t feel like i was using the same body that i seemed to inhabit just 5 days earlier, completing 3 x 1 mi at an average of 7:45/interval. instead, my 9:17/mi average pace actually felt HARDER than that, at least with respect to my legs.

hopefully, my glycogen stores are starting to replenish themselves, and today’s workout will go better. but wow — what a lesson in the importance of nutrition! unless i really did manage to decondition myself in 3 days.

makeup runs and other grave dangers
i’m not quite in the mood to write another running story installment, but somewhere along the way i figured out that for me, trying to make up for lost runs is not a good idea. the short version: i once ran an 81-mile week that was the beginning of the end of my injury-free running career!

anyway. so i was fretting about having missed THREE WHOLE RUNS this past weekend, including an 18-mile long run, and there were a few feverish moments of poor judgment when i tossed in my sheets wondering how i would make them up. but then i broke free from my pyretic hallucinations and realized that doing this never has been — and never will be — a good idea.

here’s the remainder of my plan (including last week’s missed runs)


i will be shifting things around just a bit in the training plan weeks that i have left, but only mildly. the main change i will be making is to change the heavy 3-week taper to a 2-week taper. honestly, i’ve never been a fan of a 3-week taper to begin with — especially with a training plan that isn’t super-strenuous in the first place. i will do my last 2 true long runs as follows:

thursday november 19: 20 mile long run (i have the day off)

sunday november 29: 18 mile long run

this way, the highest-mileage runs are still a nice 10 days apart, i’ll have a full 2 weeks to taper, and i won’t have to do any crazy distances during my vacation.

off to work
in the morning for once!!! yes, it’s back to a normal schedule. yesterday’s half-day went well in terms of productivity (to-do list: CHECK!), but clinic was certainly full of some characters.

one mother didn’t seem to have time to bring her child to the clinic herself, but had plenty of time to yell at me about alllllllll of her daughter’s issues (and there were many) through grandma’s cell phone. another woman told me that she was not going to let me make her kid autistic with the H1N1 vaccine like she had ‘seen on the world news’. seriously!? it’s been out like a month. how did the kid on TV even have TIME to develop autism??

i guess i seem less credible because i am not on TV. maybe i need to work on that . . .

don’t forget: giveaway!
check it out! it’s delicious, healthy, free, and easy-as-pie to enter!

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11.9.09

workout: 5 awful miles in chapel hill, average 9:17/mi

doin’ time: lamb chop with yogurt sauce + orzo, snap pea, and squash salad. it was actually even better than it looked.

reading: finished an article on seizure management

8 Comments

  • Reply Chelsea March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    Sorry about the cruddy run, but I&#39m sure you&#39ll be back to normal once your eating gets back to normal. The lamb looks really good. I&#39ve never cooked it, but our campus meat store sells a lot of it, and I feel like I should try sometime.

  • Reply Anonymous March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    ick for a bad run but you were just really sick so don&#39t be so hard on yourself about the run or missing some runs! i&#39m sure once you get some good food in you that your legs will bounce right back 🙂

  • Reply da March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    Sure, try TV. It worked for my doctor. See http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/about_us/Dr_Mike
    L, da

  • Reply Anonymous March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    Glad you&#39re starting to feel better. You are right; once you start fueling your body, your runs will be better, I&#39m sure.

  • Reply Laura March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    So awesome that your blog is about my 2 favorite things…am definitely going to frequent often.:)

  • Reply martinidad March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    If only there were an autism vaccine…

  • Reply Allie (Live Laugh Eat) March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    81 mile-week back in the day!? Hope your glycogen stores are up for your next run.

    Your work stories remind me of Grey&#39s 🙂

  • Reply atilla March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    I would die for that dinner love lamb…It never ceases to amaze me how many excuses smart and not so smart people can make for not getting the h1n1 vaccine.. Half my coworkers are sure my present cold is because I got the vaccine. gotta love it

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