This week I got sick. Not like "I'm on my death bed puking my guts out" sick - just simple head cold sick. But it wouldn't go away - still hasn't gone away. I'm still sick. I blow my nose every 15 minutes, cough up snot and I can feel it in my chest.
So it started on Tuesday. Drainage in my throat. Paul thought it was case of allergies (he was feeling it on Monday) so I went ahead and ran that night. FAIL! I woke up Wednesday with a full-blown head cold. Fever, chills, achy - the works.
Okay. No biggie. I'll go home, rest up and drink lots o'fluids. Worst case scenario, I'll miss all my pre-race workouts but should still be able to race on Saturday. A quick consult with coach and she agreed - though she gave me a warning: "if you are not 100% on Friday morning, I would not race on Saturday".
Friday morning I was worried. I was still sick. Again, not miserable, but I could feel my breathing was labored and my resting HR a little higher than usual. I thought I could still race though. I mean, it's just a SPRINT! Another consult with coach and she gave me permission to do it, but I could tell she didn't think it was a good idea.
Saturday morning, I did the race and it was horrible. I could tell that it would be when I went to warm-up. I was standing in transition afterwards and my HR would not recover. I felt dizzy and lightheaded. Well, what was I going to do now? DNS? I gave it a go and the results were less than stellar - in fact, I was 3 minutes slower than last year!! My arms felt like they were going to fall off in the swim, my legs would not fire on the bike, and the run was ... UGLY.
So, lesson learned. DO NOT RACE WHEN YOU ARE SICK. It's not worth it.
However, I needed to learn that lesson for myself. If I had not raced, I would have wondered all weekend - "what if ?" Now I know. Know better.
Whining time is over and yesterday is just a scratch on the race record. Chalk it up to a training day. Time to get better and kick this shit for good. Time to focus on the next big thing. On ward and up ward!
