February 16, 2014

What a sorry lot we are.

As I’ve blogged about before in my post Sick?   I have placed all sorts of good reminders to myself, and others, on what to do when we are sick. What I didn’t address is how Endurance Athletes are really bad about ADMITTING they are sick even when the signs are right there in their face.

For me lately, I’ve been working crazy hours, involved with a ton of kid events, and trying to keep up with my training for Rev3 Knoxville.

So when I was tired and DYING for RED MEAT Wed I really didn’t give it a second thought. Working with my Eating Coach I just assumed it was one more rebellion by my body against what has been much cleaner eating.  I had a burger (which I have to tell you was HEAVENLY) and moved on. Tired before Masters but that’s pretty normal. Masters Swim that night was tough, like usual, and I got home late (9:45pm?) and slept HARD.

Thursday morning came too soon and by 9am I was STARVING again. Not just Hungry, but FREAKIN STARVIN. Tired too. So I put a bunch of healthy food down my gullet and moved on. But by noon? STARVING again and craving RED MEAT again. Ok, that is weird. I had a steak at lunch and a bunch of healthy food. But by 2pm I was SO TIRED. Barely functional. I assumed it was the fat from the steak or something and dismissed it. I wanted to get my run in and had kid stuff that evening. Man, I’m so annoyed, I will probably miss my workout… and did.  I barely made it until 10 before I passed out hard.

Friday morning I have the sniffles. Uh, oh. Where did THAT come from? I never saw it coming! Am I fighting off a bug? (you’re probably laughing right now, the clues were there since Wed) and MAN I was tired. Decided that I should probably skip today’s workout if I am fighting a bug, got the boy to school and off I went downtown for work. Once I got there, I realized I had (2) appointments in the suburbs, which I had just missed. CRAP!  Oh, and yeah I an freaking STARVING.  Third day in a row.  And my throat is a tiny bit sore. You see the pattern?

Sat AM I wake up and I feel like I have the Martian death plague. Snot everywhere and I cannot speak and my throat hurts. DANGIT !!! I’m dying! Ok, 10min later and I cough and blow and otherwise evacuate this snot invasion and I’m doing fine – but I can no longer avoid it… I’m sick.  Sick uniform in place: PJ Bottoms, Sweatshirt, and socks (That is like 500% more clothes than I would prefer to wear around the house… shorts and tshirt is ALL I would rather have). I’m officially grounded for the weekend. BOO!

So you see the pattern here…

1. I was exceptionally tired – but I run tired all the time lately so I couldn’t tell the difference between normal tired and abnormal tired.

2. I was craving RED MEAT. For me, this is also not unusual, but lately with all the clean eating for 5 weeks – this is greatly reduced. So this IS new with me eating this way.

3. I probably had some aches and pains. This one is also normal during a training cycle… so I doubt I’ll ever pick up on that!

So what are YOUR clues you are getting sick? We are each different but there are signals that, if you pay attention to them, you can use to tailor your training and allow you to boost your defenses – IF you pay attention to them.

In my case, I simply wasn’t acknowledging them.

No matter how critical my workouts were for this weekend, they are in the past now. I’m going to have to skip Sunday as well and re-evaluate for Monday.