Gearing Up For Base...Again

I am hoping that my major accomplishment for 2007 will be the Leadville Trail 100. That’s right, a 100-mile trail run averaging around 12,500ft, starting out at the highest incorporated town in the United States. I will have to complete 2-3 more marathons and a 50-miler before then, as well as, of course, train my ass off. Gregory and my crowd of tri friends already think I am insane. (That’s okay, in my opinion, they are crazy, I am only doing one type of activity for an absurd distance while they all do three.)

Fortunately this race is not until August so I have lots of time to prepare myself physically and, most importantly, mentally.

I am a bit frustrated right now because my training has been sidelined by a horrible bout of bronchitis. Hacking cough and drippy sinuses and wheezing and fatigue. I finally ran a fever and went to the doctor. Took the weekend off from my 2nd job so I could focus on getting well and now just trying to get all of the crap out of my chest. I am still coughing so much that it seems a bit daft to try to incorporate running into my daily life right now. I am not happy about this. I had one perfect week of training and then it all went to shit when Jack got sick and I started taking care of him. While I’m perfectly aware that this was all entirely my decision and therefore, the illness I sustained was also my choice, I got sick the following week and now, two weeks later, am just beginning to feel normal enough to start running again soon. Hopefully I will be able to complete my long run scheduled for Saturday as a start to get back into it. It will be slow for sure but I really want to jump back in again. I was all set to start building my base on November 1 and did well for that first week. Then, as terrible luck would have it got sidelined the Tuesday following my first week with a sick neighbor/boyfriend who I care for deeply and won’t ignore for the sake of my training or, apparently, my health. My friend and sort-of coach Tom warned me, “You have to be selfish about this stuff.” I know he’s right, but I’m too much a caretaker. I can’t walk away when someone I love is sick. Pathetic though that is. So I pay the consequences.

Right now my training schedule is as follows:

Sunday: short run (3-6 miles)
Monday: REST
Tuesday: short run (3-6)
Wednesday: mid-distance run (6-10)
Thursday: strength training (weights, core, etc.)
Friday: cross-training (swim, bike, Bikram’s)
Saturday: LONG run (10-15)

Tom looked it over & thought it was pretty good. Tom’s exactly the kind of coach I need: a person who will harass me at the office about whether or not I am following my training plan, who will look over my schedule for me and hound me about it, but who won’t be crunching numbers for me or yelling at me every mile during my training runs (unbelievably, some endurance athletes actually have a life), who has done a couple of ultras so has great experience but knows I’m not out to conquer the ultra world so won’t be a jerk. I do appreciate the getting on my case at work…it really does help.

Now the only way to deal with my training frustrations is to go out and do my program…hopefully that will not be more easily said than done!

Happy training…