Back from the Dead

First off, I have to say thak you all for the prayers and heart felt comments while I have been down and out. It was a tough battle, but one that I knew, in time, I would emerge from. I stayed away from medications (other than ibuprofen) as much as possible and tried to let the flu run its course. On Friday I visited the ER, and was told to hang in there. Then, 3 days later on Monday, I visited Group Health, where I was told that it still looked viral. Then again on the following Friday I went to Urgent Care after work where I was told that it looked like it had gone into a secondary bacterial infection and I was put on antibiotics. In a couple short days, I was feeling better. Over the weekend I was able to get in 2 rides and one long run. It felt good, though I was quite sore from the run since I had not run for 2 weeks…same goes for swimming. So, I am a little behind in my training, but way ahead in my recovery.

It is so important to take care of yourself when you are sick and not try to get in a little training which impedes your body from recovering. I know many of you have heard me say this, but I was told by one of my great cycling coaches back in 1986, Calvin Jones, who said, “For every day you train when you are sick, it adds on 3 more days of recovery.” Now, I don’t know how scientifically backed that is, but it seems to hold true.

So this time around, I did nothing while I was sick… not that I had a choice to. But once I was on antibiotics, I thought I might be in the clear. However, I would be lying if I did not say that I did go for one ride on my new bike at the end of my flu. I don’t think that helped at all, and I think that spawned the coughing that just would not go away and a few more days of illness... ironic huh? But I was able to ride my new steed. I was a little concerned that I would have a bad experience since I was recovering from being sick, and I would feel weak and slow. Nope… just wanted to go faster.

So now I am back in full swing, getting in all my workouts and feeling pretty good. I swam for the first time in 2 weeks today and I have to say that it did not feel all that welcoming. I did not even take splits because I did not want to know how much swimming fitness I had lost. I just did the workout and was happy to be in the pool again. Fortunately a guy, with knee length Bermuda shorts jumped in the lane next to me that kicked like a ferry boat. Needless to say, he was not going very fast, so that made me feel mentally better. Or at least I was moving faster than him.

I was able to sneak in a short run too that did not feel too great. Second run in over 2 weeks. I am still sore from my Sunday run. But that will come back eventually.

So, that is where I am. 2 weeks out from my Team Timex camp debut, missed 2 races (congrats to Ben and Michael for two amazing performances at 2 different races), and the rest of the season ahead of me. I am a little disappointed with getting sick, but that’s just a part of life. I really felt that I was making some HUGE progress in my swimming and running. And now I feel like I have lost quite a bit. But I had it once before, and I will have it again. It’s just about getting out there and doing it… and that is something that I know I can do. Well, most of the time.

Hope all of your training is going well. The race season is here. Let the fun begin.