Tough Training

I feel like for every step forward I take, it is followed by 2 steps back. So many things keep coming up against my training. Between the weather and my health this winter, it really has been a struggle.

A few weeks ago I had a chest cold and I was fighting a sinus thing. Last week my left ear was really bothering me, but I thought I was over it when I felt better last weekend. Then I this week I was out of work a day and a half with an ear infection. I forgot how much those hurt!!

I barely get sick! I haven't had an earache since I was a kid. It is just frustrating when I want to train and I keep getting sick. I think it was just one cold that I never fully got over for the past month. Being on medication now, hopefully I will be completely over it and I won't need to deal with this anymore.

But this week was hard for training again. After the half marathon I was knocked out and missed running on Monday. Tuesday night I did get in a mile at the pool but after I got home is when the ear infection got really bad. I didn't run on Wednesday. Thursday I stayed home from work but started to feel better around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I went to the pool with a couple of friends to do the kickboard for an hour (no putting my head under water with the ear infection!).

Today I am heading to my parents house so I won't have time for a long run. I am putting it off until tomorrow. Yesterday rained and snowed and right now it is somewhere in the 20's. Running outside, with possible black ice, is a bit of a challenge. Tomorrow it is going to snow again too!

I've heard a lot about adding in walking breaks for my long runs and different ways to add them in. I am thinking about doing the rest of my training that way. Still not sure if I want to just run for as long as I can solid, then start the breaks or if I build them into the training and do a 30 second walking break every mile. If I do that, it will be like the marathon, when I take my water breaks at each mile marker water station.

But tomorrow is a 12 mile run. Either way, I'm running for over 2 hours tomorrow. That's a long time! I never thought training for a marathon would be easy and it isn't!

Now if I can just stay healthy for the next 2 months, that will be one more thing going my way and helping me have more success.