Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

I thought I'd jump the gun a bit and write my year-end post a couple of days early. I don't think there's any reason to stick to a 365 day schedule, and since my training for Ogden starts tomorrow, as far as I'm concerned my 2012 running year ended yesterday. 

This was not a great year for me. I've struggled to maintain consistency in the past because of injuries, but since Elliott was born a year and a half ago I've struggled to maintain consistency because of a simple lack of time. With family life, school life, and sleep to compete with, running sometimes just loses out. 

I had my best stretch from August through November. When we moved back to Provo, commute time was suddenly available for running, and I was able to settle into a nice routine of running in the morning before school every day. The late arrival of real winter weather really helped with this. In fact, I think it's the cold that derailed me in December. There were other factors--finals, travel, sick Elliott--but I don't think any of these would have stopped me if it weren't for the cold. When there were other things to worry about, I had a hard time motivating myself to either a) bundle up and head outside or b) run on a treadmill. This is bad news, since these will be my only options for the next few months. With any luck, the upcoming motivation will help keep me going. 

I've mentioned marathon training several times in the past few weeks. That's because I'm actually going to try to follow a plan to prepare for Ogden. I found a 20-week schedule that seems reasonable and that I plan to start tomorrow. I'll make some modifications as necessary to suit my personal goals, and I won't be so blind as to adhere to the plan at all costs (I've learned that that's a recipe for injury), but I do plan to follow through on this, and if I can avoid injury I should be in great shape at Ogden. When I was a cyclist, there was nothing I could do better than grind away at threshold pace for 2-4 hours. If my running strengths are similar, I should be able to run a solid 26.2.

Day 1 was pretty easy. Thirty minutes, cycling between 5 minutes easy (8:00) and 1 minute hard (5:45). I went to Gold's at about 7:30, and I don't think I've ever seen the gym so crowded. A lot of people wanted an early start on their New Year's resolutions, maybe.

Today was day 2, and it was an easy one. Five miles easy, that is. Because it was such a bitter cold morning, I ran on the treadmill again. From here till sometime in the spring, You can assume that indoors running is the default. to avoid too much monotony for my legs, I threw in some gentle inclines and declines, never more than 2 percent.

I was going to go skiing with Catherine today, but Elliott threw up again last night. Our pediatrician told us to bring her in today if she wasn't any better, so I stayed home with Elliott and Catherine went skiing with her brother. I woke up with a sore throat today, so it may be for the best that I stayed home. 

According to the doctor, Elliott has just come down with two sicknesses in a row. He said she should be better in a day or two, and it looks like he may be right. Elliott is much happier as I write this than she has been in a while. If she can make it through the night without puking, I think we'll have turned the corner.

As for running, today I was supposed to do five 800s with 200m recoveries. Or as close as I can come to that on a treadmill at the gym. But because I'm sick I ran a little slower than I was supposed and a lot shorter. Not good to cut a workout short on day three, but sometimes life happens.

By the way, I went back and deleted yesterday's miles. I had forgotten until today, but this year I won't be tracking miles. I think distance is a good metric, but it's not the most important one. And when you're always counting miles, it's hard not to let the count get in the way of more important considerations. Or maybe that's just my way I've hiding my low mileage :)

The days not over yet, but I'm sure enough that I won't be running to go ahead and post. I've been coming down with what Elliott had for a couple of days, and today it hit in full force. Mercifully, the sore throat and deep lung cough are gone. But my head hurts and I'm always cold and I feel weak and wobbly every time I stand up and walk around. I can't imagine running tonight, so I won't. Who cares about consistency for consistency's sake?

It's discouraging to be missing days so early into my plan. But sometimes it's just a bad idea to run. And if this ends up being all I miss, I'll be glad that the down days happened at the beginning of the training cycle rather than disrupting it in the middle. 

And looking on the bright side, I'll probably lose a few pounds by the time all of this is over. And I don't even have to pick up an eating disorder to do it.

Last night, when I felt like garbage, my temperature was around 100 degrees. I had a fitful night, tossing and turning and sweating while always feeling too cold, but I woke up feeling a bit better. And although I still do feel a bit better, it turns out my temperature is up to 101 degrees. I still feel perpetually cold, and I get weak and shaky every time I stand up or walk for a prolonged period. I say all of this to justify the fact that I missed another day of running tomorrow. 

I will run tomorrow, even if all I can manage is a one-mile shuffle. 

As promised, I ran today. I even thought I would do the whole 7 miles I had planned. But about a minute into my run I could tell I was still sick, so I called it after a mile. A fitting end to my first week of training.