Highs and Lows- Week 11

Coffee and Cardio. I accidentally stopped by Schneider's on the way to pick up donuts for my girls.

The past month has been rough on muh body. From chest pain to GERD to menstrual cycles to more GERD to flu to nausea... BAM! Somehow, I've managed to truck along. After surviving the worst long run ever last weekend, I was miraculously healed for my birthday. On Monday, I started getting that same chest pain along with heart burn. By the time I got home, nausea set in and I was miserable. I somehow managed to keep my son alive while Jimmy played volleyball that evening. I made James go to bed 30 minutes early because I didn't think I could stay up any longer! I win the mom of the year award! I thought for sure I'd feel better when I woke up....not so much. I was nauseous all through the night and into the morning. I ended up calling in sick and staying home. I literally stayed in bed ALL DAY LONG. I didn't go to the bathroom, I didn't eat...I just laid there, pathetic-looking. Just after 4 p.m., I woke up completely soaked in sweat. I felt tremendously better. I was still fatigued but I could move and I wasn't nauseous.

 

I thought I felt better the next day but probably did too much. Same story the following day. I honestly don't know how I made it through my workouts. My GERD had me all messed up and my lower GI was not right. Here are my highs and lows:

 

LOWS:

• I ROLLED MY ANKLE. I was 2 miles into my easy Monday 6 miler when I stepped on the edge of the sidewalk and my ankle went kerplunk. Not gonna lie, it scared the piss out of me. It hurt like the dickens. I've done it a bazillion times before but this was one of the worst. I needed about a minute to walk it off. The other ladies were wonderful and didn't leave me even though I told them to keep going. I was able to finish my run without pain so I thought all was good. My ankle was inflamed the rest of the day. When I got home, I iced it and took some ibuprofen. All was good after that. The following day was a rest day so I knew I'd be fine (what I didn't know is that I would develop flu-like symptoms later that day!).  My ankle has been completely fine since the incident!
  

  

  This is how you ice your ankle on the road while working.
   

• I skipped my speed workout this week. UGH!!! They are always my favorite workouts! I had no choice. I was SO SICK on Tuesday and knew there was no way I could get up at 3:30 to prep for it. I had 10 miles total including 6x800s at 6:45 pace in the second half of the run. NOT HAPPENIN'! I knew I would want to get my miles even if they weren't as fast. I opted to split my 10 miles into two workouts. I did 4 miles on Wednesday afternoon at a faster pace (8:13 average) and did the other 6 on Friday morning at an easy pace (9:30).
  

  

  Post 4 miler. It was a gorgeous day! I just wish I hadn't been recovering from that weird flu thing!
   

• My mid-week 8 miler. Although I was thrilled to run with Felicia and catch up on life, I felt like total crap the entire time. My GERD was full force. I ate half of a granola bar before the run and it felt like it was stuck in my throat. I was burping the entire run. I was also having some lower GI rumbling. I dropped the mother load when I got home. It was awful.
  

  

  Random pic. I know it's hard to see but I used my sidewalk chalk skills to draw me (the tall blue girl) outrunning another person (the yellow girl). James always makes me draw things and I was running out of ideas. ;)

 

HIGHS:

• Trail Race a.k.a. my long run and hilly Sunday all rolled into one. As you guys are aware, I ran the Hocking Hills Indian Run on Saturday. It was a 40k (nearly 25 miles) and I had 26 miles planned for the weekend: 16 for my long run and 10 for hilly Sunday. I don't need to recap the awesomeness of this race...just click the link. I think I earned that extra 1.?? miles that I missed over the weekend! I was so thankful I felt better on Friday going into the weekend. There is no way I'd be able to handle this course feeling the way I felt earlier in the week!

  

  Pre-Indian Run Fun

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Even though the start to my week was ROUGH, it ended with one of my most memorable racing experiences thus far. What's next? The hubs is traveling for a few days this week so my schedule is a little weird. I have just 48 miles this week and jump to my highest mileage the following week including a 22 miler! If I can run Hocking Hills, that 22 miler doesn't scare me.