Set back

Yep. Two very bad words if you're training. I had a short set back but enough to make my head spin and set me into pseudo panic mode. Story follows:

I had a good run on Friday afternoon after work. I really didn't press the pace but it was a good effort and I recovered quickly. A 4 miler run at about 80 percent effort. As I spent Friday evening eating and watching a movie with Susan, I kept thinking . . . I cannot wait for my 10 miler on Sunday!

Saturday was one of those days. You know the kind of day where you don't do anything physical and you're more tired than if you had gone for a long run or worked in the yard all day? Susan and I enjoyed the lesson with Dr. Louis Markos (http://fc.hbu.edu/~lmarkos/) who spoke on CS Lewis and his works Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain. Very good lectures and enlightening. Susan got a call and found out here dad was in the hospital. Gall bladder. Fortunately, the hospital was less than 10 minutes from church. Her dad was somewhat sedated due to pain meds and nausea medicine. He had had a gall bladder attack the previous evening and went to the hospital in the middle of the night, never contacting anyone. Fortunately, somebody from his church got to calling and Susan and her sister both were told about it. We hung around the hospital while they did an ultrasound and got him somewhat comfortable for the evening. We left after he ate and decided to change our plans. We had previously planned on making fajitas at my house but we were both tired and decided to eat out. I wanted some pasta or mexican to prepare for my 10 miler the next day. However, I offered Thai Emerald as an option and Susan wanted to go there. BIG MISTAKE. I don't want Susan to feel guilty about her decision but it affected the training schedule!

First, before everyone starts yelling at me, let me say that I have eaten at this restaurant in the past and I've eaten sushi here before (actually, I think the smoked and cooked sushi is not actually sushi). We had double shrimp rolls and tuna crunch. Susan only nibbled at the tuna crunch so I will blame the next 24 hours on the tuna crunch. We did not over induldge . . . I had one Stella Artois so I know it wasn't that. Within the hour, I started feeling "funny". You know the feeling-not bad but your body is letting you know that something isn't quite right either. I was belching a lot and had some upper GI distress, which isn't unusual if I eat to much of the wrong thing. We went back to Susan's house so she could be close to the hospital in case her dad needed her. We played scrabble and I just couldn't focus. A little Gaviscon and I felt a little better. However, by the time we played a couple of games of scrabble, I was definitely in a downward spiral. Susan's girls were with her dad and I was feeling bad so Susan was kind enough to let me stay. The intent was to get up feeling better and go to church and then to go see her dad. Believe me . . . no romancing happening. Let's just say when I say I was up all night, it was nothing to brag about! Between diarreaha, vomiting, delirium, sweating, neither of us got much sleep. A miserable night. I think I "woke up" around 7:30 and decided to make a mad dash home. No sense in messing up Susan's day and if I'm going to die, I'd rather do it in the privacy of my own home, on my own sofa.

I spent most of the day Sunday sprinting to the powder room (which is now off limits to guests until the HazMat team arrives later this week). Susan came by in the afternoon to let me know her dad had had his gall bladder removed and should be going home on Monday. My diet for the day consisted of Gatorade, sprite, half-can of chicken soup, and a WW dinner dinner around 6 when I started feeling halfway normal. I went to bed around 7:30 and slept straight thru until the alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. I feel better now but can tell my body had been through it.

Needless to say, I did not get in my 10 miler. Now what do I do? Do I try to get the 10 in tonight? Personally, I don't think it would be beneficial at this point. I know my body is still recovering and the strain might do more harm than good at this point. Plus I've read in several places that if a run is skipped for reasons such as this, the thing to do is just pick up as the normal schedule falls. I'm thinking I'll adjust my weekly schedule slightly but let the 10 miler pass. However, that means 12 might be tough next weekend. I guess I'll play next week's long run by ear. BTW, I've lost almost 6 pounds in the last two weeks. Of course my spell with food poisoning helped out!



here's progress and this week's adjusted schedule-

Thurs 1/17 4 m (done)

Sat 1/19 8 m Weekly mileage 20 (done)

Mon 1/21 4 m (done)

Wed 1/23 4 m (done)

Fri 1/25 4 m (done)

Sun 1/27 10 m (skipped due to bad tuna) Weekly mileage 12 not 22 as wanted

Mon 1/28 4 m

Tues 1/29 4 m fartleks

Thurs 1/32 4 m

Sat 2/2 10 to 12 m Weekly mileage 22 to 24 miles

Mon 2/4 4 m

Tues 2/5 4 m

Thurs 2/7 4 m

Sunday 2/10 is Mercedes Half-marathon 13.1 miles Weekly mileage 25