Distance: 10.2 kilometers (6.35 miles)
Time: 50 minutes
Comments: Hugely disappointing week but not necessarily from a running standpoint. I came down with a flu on Wednesday and didn't feel even close to human again until today. Needless to say, I wasn't about to take the scheduled long run and, instead, opted for an additional rest day to recover my strength a bit.
The meltdown of my immune sytem late in the week confirmed my concerns about it during my early week runs. While my performance was fine and the runs went well, it was clear I was dragging for some reason. This is the second time my training has been derailed by illness and it is damn frustrating.
Despite the letdown I have to admit it is not a real setback training-wise since I was looking at doing this race more to establish a baseline than anything else. My plan is to scrap my running plan and treat next week as a normal training week leading up to a 1 hour long run on Sunday.
After the disappointment of last week's illness abreviated workouts I have to reassess my plan to prepare for the 10K race next Sunday. An hope of making it a banner effort has completely evaporated and it will, instead, be a measure of what exactly do I have in the tank.
It isn't a question of "Am I strong enough to finish the thing?", because I clearly am. But rather, the more pertinant inquiry is "How will I hold up under race conditions?" It looks like this one is going to be a real baseline for my work over the next six months - which is what I intended, just not to this degree.
Anyhow, I think I am going to do an easy run today and a bit more tomorrow if I feel OK (the last thing I want is a relapse and the Lima weather is not being very cooperative). I will take a day off and do two longer runs on Wednesday and Thursday. Then I will sit tight until the race.