With three kids under age 10, it's hard to avoid the funky bugs and germs they bring home, regardless of how much you wash your hands and disinfect the house. It happens, but usually in the winter months.
I caught something two weeks before a race in mid May that put me out of commission for a week and a half or so, and with a race looming that weekend, I decided to rest my body instead of squeezing in a few workouts. I was feeling better by race day, but not good enough to "race" the event. My body just wasn't recovered, and it showed. I struggled through the swim and bike, then finished off with a 30 minute 5k, about 10 minutes off my normal pace.
Over the next two weeks, I began to feel better, and improved with each workout. At the end of that two weeks was another race. I was feeling pretty good and actually posted a decent time (my 5k time back around 21 minutes). I thought I was back in action.
Monsters Inside Me
However, that same night I began to have body aches and other flu-like symptoms. I took the next day off work and slept for 8 hours. I was exhausted and weak. It took another two weeks for me to exercise again, and when I did, I could only maintain a very slow jog. I went to the pool to swim a few laps, but my warm-up became my workout and I headed home. This was very discouraging because, of course, I had another race on the weekend. That one, however, I decided to withdraw from.
In all my years of racing I have never had an illness hang around for so long. Actually, I'm not sure if it's the same one flaring up, or multiple viruses. I'm crossing my fingers I didn't catch something nasty from the pond I swam in during the second race. I don't even want to consider that as an option. I'm not prepared to be on an episode of "Monsters Inside Me."
More Bad Results
Still not 100%, I did a race in Columbia in late June. I knew I couldn't "race" the event, so I went out easy and just tried to maintain a good effort the entire race. My times were slow, but I was happy to at least be able to race at 80% effort and not burn out. I was getting better!
After that race, I had two weeks to return to form before race #3 of the CSTS. Although my training times weren't where they were earlier in the year, they were improving. The closer I got to race day, the better I felt. I even decided to go a little harder than planned. I had a solid swim, but didn't push it. My bike split was slow, about 2 minutes off my normal time, and I ran a 23 minute 5k.
That night, I started feeling sick again. And indeed, woke up with a cold. Unlike the Ebola virus, or SARS, or whatever I had earlier in the summer, this seems to be more of a common cold, an upper respiratory thing. And I can usually bounce back quickly from a cold, but my season is over. I have two more races in the next month, and I know won't be up to task.
Bottom line, this has been a disastrous summer of racing. At the time when I'm supposed to be peaking, I'm rebuilding. It's very frustrating, but it happens I suppose.
I think the lesson learned is not to sign up early for so many races. And as much as I hate to admit it, when you get sick, it's probably best to see a doctor and get it treated, instead of letting it wreck your body for several weeks. Oh well, there's always next year.
