Sick, Sick, Sick

I have been sick ever since the half marathon on Sunday.

I felt like I was possibly coming down with something the day before the race, with a slight sore throat and feeling more tired than normal, but I just took some Airborne (immunity booster) and ignored it. I expected to feel badly the next day (which I did), but then on Tuesday, I was completely fatigued and so lethargic that I could barely move around my house. I figured it was the after effects of dehydration, but now I think it was probably a combination of dehydration along with a really nasty bug.

I never did understand the difference between a cold and the flu, but whatever this is, it has knocked me out pretty badly. I am on day 5 of no running, and I am hoping to salvage a long run on Sunday. That's probably wishful thinking, though, given how I feel at the moment.

We only get five days of sick leave a year at my job, which I think is far too few. I think that if you are sick and you have a full-time, salaried position, you should be able to take off work. You are getting paid a yearly salary to do a job-- not hourly wages! Anyway, I used two of my sick days in June just as the training program was starting. And then I used the last three Tuesday-Thursday. So, I am here in the office today, feeling very sick and tired. My main symptoms are body aches (upper back and chest), major pressure behind my ears, and extreme fatigue. The sore throat has diminished to some extent.

I don't think I will be very productive at work today, but at least I'm following the rules.

I am worried that this will affect my marathon in October. I have less than six weeks to go. On one hand, I did complete the program flawlessly up until now, hitting all of the proper paces, getting all the miles in, etc. However, endurance is my strong point anyway, and what I really need to work on is speed, which is what this last phase focuses on. This week called for intervals of 1000m, a medium-long run of 12 miles, and a marathon-pace run of 14 miles. I think I will just take my long run easy on Sunday (if I am well enough to actually get out there). And then do this week's schedule next week. Comparing this week and next week, it seems that this week is more intense and would yield better training benefit than next week. This means I will have to drop out of my 5K next week, though.

But all I can do is my best!