Fashion Update/Listening to My Body

It's winter, and it's the time of year when I typically catch a cold, most likely from training hard and not taking rest days and blah, blah, blah.

So Thursday morning I just didn't feel up to running, but I figured I could at least do a walking hill workout on Hal. I did 35' and then felt like running and ran for 10'. A few hours later, I could feel a tickle in the left side of my throat. I took note and pondered whether I should get on the bike or not.

I did get on the bike, and actually worked pretty hard for 1:15, but I figured that was enough (I only left off :15 of the designated workout). As soon as I got off the bike, I felt like I had jelly legs, but later on I went ahead and fixed 6 hours worth of Infinit for a 2.5 hour swim Friday and 2.75 hour ride Saturday plus a run afterwards. I did not load the coffee pot for the next morning as I usually do.

Friday when I woke up, the sort throat was gone, but extreme fatigue was there. I'd slept 10 hours and wanted to go right back to bed. I notified work that I wouldn't be working, grabbed a book that I'd already read (Angeles Crest--A Memoir) and got into bed and read a lot. By noon, I was feeling like I needed to move around (because I typically feel worse with zero exercise), got up, made some coffee and eventually went to the grocery store and felt good that I got something done on a sick day. I was also letting myself indulge on more carbs (a few Fig Newtons and some crackers) than I had been for the past few weeks.

Friday night I was still fatigued, but did not want to go to sleep too early which I took as a sign of maybe I'm not really sick. I'd also checked my training schedule and realized it had been 4 weeks since my last recovery week, and the last one I'd taken I ended up doing 17.5 hours anyway so that explained a lot!

I slept really well Friday night and needed to begin training by 7AM in order to make a massage appointment at 12:15. I decided to get on the bike with only Gatorade in case I really was sick and I didn't want to risk not being able to fall asleep later because I'd ingested too much caffeine. I decided to ride easy, and managed to get in my full 2:45 ride. Towards the end, I pondered whether I wanted to, could or should run afterward. I ended up getting on Hal and actually feeling pretty good! But I kept the running to z1/z2 so I wouldn't tax myself too much. I got in :35 and was pretty much OK with it.

The massage was great as always, and after that I wasn't good for much, so I just took it easy and hoped that I would feel OK today. I ended up sleeping almost 12 hours last night! I made a note to myself that maybe I should cut back my caffeine intake and sleep another :15-:30 a night, even though I am finally averaging 9 hours/night again. But another :15-:30 nightly would make a huge difference.

This morning I felt a little sluggish from sleeping so much I guess, but no runny nose, no cough, no shortness of breath, no sore throat, so it was time to go for a run at the Y. I gave myself the option to just run easy and to cut it short if I didn't feel up for it, but as it turns out, I felt pretty good and managed 15 miles! How about that! I stretched a bit and then hit the pool, but didn't feel like spending too much time in there so I only did 1000 yards. So what--this week I didn't swim much.

I just did an analysis of what I am typically eating on a weekday and it looks like I'm not eating enough carbs. I did notice this week that I was starting to crave more carbs but not feeling particularly extra hungry, but at least this confirms it. I am more or less down to my race weight (109), and I'm starting to bike a bit more and running a decent amount, so it makes sense that I'd be craving more carbs. I think it just means I need to add more starch at dinner time. My protein and fat numbers (20% of calories) are right on the money, but I need to boost those carbs. As much as I would like to just grab a few bags of candy, I am going to hold off for another few weeks, and then I will let myself just go for it.

I honestly think that if more athletes took a hard look at what they are eating, how much they are sleeping, and bumping that against their training, they'd see where things need adjusting in order to feel better. For me, it's a constant effort to track things so that I can look and see where I might be slacking. There's a fine line between not enough carbs and too many, and since my training is constantly changing, I need to monitor that because either way is bad.

My hope is that tomorrow I will wake up after about 9 hours of sleep feeling refreshed and ready to go. I have 4 more hard weeks and then Gasparilla and a scheduled rest week which will be sorely needed. Even though I skipped Friday's swim, I still got in 15.5 hours of training this past week, which is rest-Y for me, but next week is another 17 hours scheduled.

Oh well at least I get to have fun chowing down on more carbs!