Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug

Being sick is no fun.   Three days ago on Thursday morning, I woke up with a sore throat.   Me being the only member of a four person household who had somehow escaped being hamstrung with a nasty virus that has been making the rounds, I certainly had fears that I was vulnerable and this could really take me out.

Generally, when I get sick, I stay sick for a couple of weeks.   Being that the Philadelphia Half is on September 18, I really felt like I needed to stop this bug in its tracks.    I was proactive, and this was how I combated it:

Thai Soup:  2 courses.  One on Friday, and one on Saturday.   I love this stuff.  Loaded with salt, and spicy Thai chili sauce, I figure anything that makes the nose run has gotta be good.  Couple that with two batches of Monica's delicious Chicken soup and well, I feel like I'm living on a liquid diet for the past few days.   

Vitamins (really didn't deviate from what I've been doing, namely taking my liquid organic multi after running, and taking a dose of Hammer Nutrition Anti-Oxidants at the end of the day).   Also I've been taking liquid Vitamin D on a mostly regular basis.  I've been sure not to miss my daily dose.

Sleep.   I mean a lot of sleep.  I've been lousy at getting naps in the past 15 weeks, but the past 3 days I got three naps in.    Yesterday, I slept 11 hours.   I think this helped a lot.

Easy Runs.  It is not uncommon for my easy pace to drop down under 6:15 pace.   I made sure that the past three days, my heart rate stayed under 125 for easy runs, and for several of them, this meant running at 7:15 pace or slower.  Also, the past few days, I've done all my runs on the treadmill.   This gives me an escape parachute in case I'm really not feeling well, and want to quit on my run early.

Today, I finally felt like all my vitality had returned, although warming up for my Tempo-Long-Tempo workout, I had my doubts.   I told myself if things were bad (HR high, or general lousy feeling), I could pull the plug.   After my first Tempo mile, I really didn't feel good, but rationalized that I could make it through the 2 miles of Tempo, then evaluate how I felt.   I ended up feeling better and better, and can now hang my hat not only on a "Keystone" workout, but also a "Keystone" week.    Considering I ran Lost Lake 1 week ago, and had a very solid workout on Wednesday(17 miles w/ 2x3miles Tempo in 5:07 pace), this has been a very productive 8 days (128 miles with 3 great quality days).

Workout today:  

2 miles easy 14:41

2 miles of strides 13:07

2 x 2 miles Tempo (400 jog between): 10:20 - 10:18

6 miles easy (6:27 pace)

3 miles Tempo 15:20 (5:10 - 4:58 pace)

1 mile easy 7:27

I'm the windshield again.