Training / Injury / Diarrhea / Sickness Update

It's been a rough 3 weeks.

Sickness:

Two-and-a-half weeks ago, I swam in my first swim meet. That night, I started sniffling. I caught a pretty "standard" cold, but started feeling better on Thursday. Then on Friday, Henry and I caught a NEW cold. The new cold was much snottier - we went through about 5 boxes of Kleenex last week. We were snotty for a LONG time. I finally started feeling a bit better on Saturday (2 weeks after first getting sick), but then on Monday, I started having a bit of a sore throat. This sore throat isn't bad, so hopefully I'll be back to "normal" soon.

During the end of the first cold and the start of the 2nd, I went from a pretty steady 159/160 pounds down to 155 for a few days. I had no appetite, and I'd forget to eat. (That's NOT normal for me.)


Diarrhea:

Last Thursday, as I was still snotty as could be, I had 5 straight hours of diarrhea while at work. It was 6 loooooong sessions on the shitter. It was fantastic craptastic. And I had horrible abdominal pain for the last 3 hours of my shitting session. I called my medically-minded wife at work, and she had me poke at myself to make sure it wasn't a blown appendix. But it was just nasty, nasty cramps. Ladies, I don't know how you do that every month. If I were a woman, I'd be pregnant all the time just so I could avoid a visit from Debbie every month. (We call it "Debbie" in my family.)


Training:

I noted that my 2 runs last week were bad, ESPECIALLY my intervals. My intervals 2 days ago were much better, but still didn't feel 100%. I ran 3 x 1800 meter intervals (3 laps at the Metrodome) in 6:19, 6:26, and 6:26 for an average of 6:23.6 / interval (or 5:42.0 / mile pace). A few weeks before that, I did FOUR x 1800 meter intervals with my average pace being 5:43, so I had hoped to be faster than I was because I only did 3 this week.

At least it was still light when I got to the Dome (thanks to Daylight Savings Time):

Looking out from the 2nd level concourse, ready to start some intervals!

My swimming is way up from last year: I've swam as much this year as I did by late JUNE last year!

My biking is the same: crappy. I need to hit the trainer. Now.

My running is down from last year, but I had a big year last year. My mileage is a few weeks behind where I was last year, but that's totally fine.


Injury:

My left heel is doing A-OK! (That's my persistent injury I've been dealing with for years, and it was really bad 2 years ago when I had to take 2 months off COMPLETELY from running.)

My left butt-cheek has had some sore issues off-and-on for a few months. It started getting more prevalent about 6 weeks ago once I started trying to run harder again. I was a little worried. But then online friend Emily mentioned that she's had similar issues and recommended stretching my hip flexors. I started doing these 2 stretches pre- and post-run:


http://youtu.be/_d3jtp1_nJ8


http://youtu.be/njT_N8qmlBA

They REALLY seem to be helping!! That first stretch is hard to hold for 30 seconds on each side (2 or 3 times). Then I do the easier stretch on my back, and often head back to the first stretch again.


Future Training:

So my heel is doing OK, and I think I've learned how to deal with my finicky butt. It's time to keep hitting the speedwork and and keep the intensity up. I've learned with my heel in the past that I can keep holding off and keep workout around 80% if everything doesn't feel perfect, because usually if I try upping the intensity and do the smart things like stretching and foam rolling well, things are almost always fine! It's "GO" time, so I gotta get going!!