Goals: Continue ramping up volume, with potential 50km run at the end of the week
- 2 x Zone 2
- Distance: 38.23 km (+8.91 km / 30%)
- Time: 3h 42min (+49 / 28%)
- Load: 198 (+6 / 3%)
- Calories: 3391 (+831 / 32%)
- Elevation gain: 348m (+96m / 38%)
I had a big goal for the week, to run an ultra during the weekend. It ended with disappointment by Tuesday when I realized I had become sick. Again. Another cold.
But I got two great runs in before it hit. Another run in the beautiful wintery landscape north of Stockholm, doing 17km along quiet and cold rural roads. It was the second run in my stock insoles, and the plantar fascia didn’t complain one bit. The blistering in the arches continued, as expected. But that was it. Very happy with the outcome.
On Tuesday I headed out for another urban Stockholm half early in the morning. The blister in my right arch made itself aware pretty much immediately, and I ended up doubling up on tape around the 8km mark. Was a little worried about it, but it ended up holding up just fine. My legs got real fatigued at around 10km, and the last 2-3 km was harder than I’ve felt in a long time at that stage. I would normally not struggle much at all during halves. Maybe some slushy conditions contributed, but I feel that can’t be all there was.
By Tuesday afternoon it was clear I was sick again, and it was just downhill from there. I was going on a cruise to Helsinki Tues/Wedn/Thur. I slept pretty terribly onboard, which didn’t help with fighting off the cold. The original plan was to pick the running back up on Thursday, and run a 50k on Saturday or Sunday. But obviously, that was now off the table.
By Sunday I still had symptoms that made me not want to run. A reason to not head out the door at the tailend of the cold was my looming 24h return flight to Victoria on Tuesday which likely will put a massive strain on my body. Instead my revised plan is to let my body recharge as much as possible before then, and then try to get back to running as quickly as possible once back in Victoria.
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