Well, this past week was pretty much a bust. But in keeping with tradition, I’m recapping what little there is to recap. In last week’s training recap, I mentioned that I was feeling alright Sunday morning but by Sunday evening I was feeling pretty sick. The truth of it is that by Sunday evening I felt like I’d been hit by a truck: my whole body hurt, I felt exhausted, I had chills, a headache, and a bad cough. As it turns out, I had come down with the flu. I missed an entire week of work and my entire week of training. So this recap barely qualifies for the Weekly Wrap linkup, hosted by HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin’, since the point of the link up is to recap something active you did. Here’s what I’ve got….

Monday – Friday: Rest. I was battling the flu the whole week and basically spent my entire week sleeping and resting. I also developed a sinus infection on top of the flu on Thursday, but I went to the doctor and am on antibiotics for that now. My biggest accomplishment these five days was taking a shower, and that didn’t even happen every day.

My fever broke by Thursday morning, thank goodness. And a lot of the exhaustion and aches were gone by Friday. My doctor said I could start easing back into things on Saturday but that I needed to pay attention to how I was feeling and not push it.

Saturday – 25 minute walk/run on the treadmill (1 minute run/2 minute walk intervals), followed by 5 minutes of walking at incline for about two miles total. A far cry from the 16 miles I had on my schedule, but it’s going to take a bit of time to get back into things. It felt really good to get my legs moving, but I was so tired after my workout I needed a nap and then slept for nearly 12 hours Saturday night.

Sunday – 30 minute walk/run on the treadmill (2 minute run/2 minute walk intervals), followed by 5 minutes of walking at incline. This time I was able to get in just over 2.5 miles. I originally had 10 miles scheduled. I did find that a run followed by a hot shower helps with congestion.

As of this morning I’m almost back to normal. I’m still dealing with a lot of chest and sinus congestion, but my energy levels are returning. This coming week of training is going to be about easing back into things and working my way back to a normal routine. I still plan to do my 10 mile trail race on Saturday, but I don’t know yet what my approach will be. My overall goal at this point is just to get back into the regular swing of things hopefully by the end of next week. Unfortunately, there can often be lingering lung effects from the flu, so I’m just going to have to take things day by day and see how it goes.

Have you ever had the flu during training? How was your recovery?
Tell me something good from your week.