Training problems

So I'm beginning Week 3 of 6 for my 8k race in Virginia Beach on March 17. This training has been incredibly challenging, one of the toughest I have ever attempted. Now I've run two 8ks before. But my health has really struggled.

I'd been running casually for a couple of weeks leading up to my six week training regimen. When I say casually, it is to say I did not have a strict schedule, but I would go 25 or 30 minutes at a time. It wasn't casual jogging, I was going pretty hard. For this race, I had a pre-fuel supplement to give me some extra endurance, I really believed I was getting into good shape. I felt pretty ready.

At the beginning of Week 1, I tore a layer of skin off of the instep of my right foot. Immediately, I knew I was going to have to run through discomfort. I could always put on a blister bandage for a little bit of extra support, but it was only going to help so much. I may wind up investing in athletic supports.

I was able to endure, running five times between Feb 3 and Feb 10. On my first run, I was able to hit five miles in just under 40 minutes, so I knew I was starting from a good place. But then the blister slowed me down.

The on Sunday February 12, the flu hit me and it would wipe out a week of my training. I tried jogging on Wednesday, but my mouth was so dry and swallowing hurt so much, that I felt I needed to recover. Maybe I should have been tougher or something by running through the illness, but I chose not to. The one good thing about my illness is my foot has had a chance to heal up.

Unfortunately, my conditioning is not in a good place right now. I tried to get back into my workouts tonight with a 20 minute tempo run. I ran 10 minutes at 7.3 mph and then I tried 20 minutes at 7.8. I could not get through it. I actually stopped at the 13 minute mark and powerwalked for three minutes before completing the workout. It took me 31 minutes to run four miles. That may not sound that bad, but for the last five minutes, it was a struggle to keep going. Twice I grabbed onto the hand rail for extra help. And I never ever do that.

I definitely want to finish this race in under 40 minutes. I've done a race of this distance in under 37 minutes on two occasions. I don't know what I'll be able to do. I think I need to work on getting my endurance back. Then whatever speed I can get back, I get back.

Tomorrow I have cross training and I am definitely going to put in at least 40 minutes on the elliptical. Then Wednesday is an interval run, which is one of the toughest workouts in the program. Thursday I can take a day off before running Friday and Saturday.

It's a big week for me to re-establish my endurance. Today was not an easy one. But I do have time to make the best of it.