Week 1 Official Training for the Heartland 50

The cold I talked about last week in my posts is still lingering.  I have pretty much been in bed or lazing around since last Friday, and have not run at all, hoping that would help me get better quicker.   Here is how the first official week of training went, which of course was not according to plan, but that is life.

Monday:  official rest day.  I slept almost 12 hours and woke up feeling a bit better.  No fever, but still extreme fatigue any time I tried to do anything productive.  Also, the coughing started.  Mostly upper chest and only when I get hot, but still coughing scares the hell out of me.  I have coughed my way through training and landed myself with Pneumonia in the past. I don't have time to be off sick, with all the time I have had to take off taking Stella for her appointments.  Well, I have the time, I just don't want to let my new boss down, as he is expecting a lot of research out of me in the new year.  Plus, my original lab has suddenly picked up, so I have more than enough work in both labs.

Tuesday:  Coach gave me some lee way this week, since I was still actively sick/recovering.  I decided to not get up at 4 am and get as much sleep as possible, and possibly run post Stella's appointment.  That meant abandoning my running partner to run on her own, but I had to recover as much as possible.  Unfortunately,  just the act of taking Stella in to town and waiting for her exam wore me out.  This is the gift that just keeps on giving.  Thanks stupid cold.

The exam was routine, so not much to report.  I am still as I type this waiting on the CBC report.  We are staying the course as of now, and not changing anything medication wise.  Just to show us she was feeling better, she grabbed a bag of apples off of the counter and partook in at least one, while sharing the other three with her brother.  I found one that had just been chewed on, one partially eaten, and a whole pile that had just been thrown up.  AH the life of a dog mom!  

Wednesday:  Another rest day thanks to this cold.  I finally had to head back to work, and while the day went pretty well as I was super busy, when I got home, I was seriously beat.  Andrew had wrestling again since their schedule was dictated by the high school tournament happening this week.

We got our wrestling pictures back.  WOW!  They did such an awesome job!  I have asked the company that did the shots for digital rights so I can post on FB.  I just LOVE this picture!

A little update on stella's CBC.  I am still confused.  Her WBC was elevated but minimally.  KSU wants to do a recheck, but they can't say really why.  The elevation was not bad and with her being on immunosupressors, it should be much much lower so there is that.  I am still trying to process the why, and just go with the fact that they have some reasoning.  At least the recheck and blood work is pretty cheap.  

Thursday:  Decided I would try and run today on the mill.  While I felt fine during the run, well other than a leaky nose, when I got off the mill, I felt like a bus had hit me full on.  I just sat in my computer chair for a while and stared at the computer, not even doing anything.  I have never had fatigue like this with a simple cold.  I guess I will have to take it easy the rest of the week, and not get back to training like I had hoped.  Life.  Oh well.  

Friday:  Took another rest day.  I am starting to feel a little better, and got through work without wanting to collapse in a heap.  I did get to bed early, but didn't feel like a horrible mess.

Saturday:  a longish run with Melly.  I really honestly didn't know how long I could go for.  We planned for 6-8 and we managed 8.  It was feels like -5 when we started, but no wind.  I will take a snowy cold day minus wind any day over a windy day!  The snow was pretty light on the roads, so didn't really need our icespikes or yaktraxs.  I felt okay during the run, a little draggy at the end, but not too bad.  I took fuel and when we walked at the 4 mile turn around, I went ahead and took it, whether i needed it or not.  

Overall, it was good to be outside with Melly and Deuce.  This is Deuce's first winter training, since stella is still down and out for running.  I made sure he had Musher's Secret on his feet, and even put his fleece coat on him.  I am contemplating getting him a performance coat from Hurrta but it is 80 bucks so will have to wait till next paycheck.

I may or may not have spent most of the rest of the day in my pjs, post shower.  

More pics from the frozen tundra:)

Sunday:  Again, I wasn't really sure exactly what I was going to do.  On one hand, I kind of felt like a 10 or 12 miler would be nice, but on the other hand, I kind of felt like 8 was probably good for a long run for the way this week had gone.  Slept in with little red, did some work at work and took it easy till later.  

We lunch at Arrow Coffee shop and it was yummy.  I am pretty sure I could eat their grown up grilled cheese every day! Finally got on the road early afternoon and got in 6.  Called it good for the week.  I guess you could call it a cut back week?

Not the way I wanted the first week of training to start but 18 total miles for the week.  Looking forward to getting better mileage next week!  Have a great week!