Yep. That sums up my week of workouts…or non-workouts. This was a week of nothing. Although, unlike Office Space, I didn’t do this simply because I didn’t want to do anything. It was a week of nothing due to illness.

Here’s the deal. On Wednesday, it was National Running Day. So, after taking the usual Monday off for rest after a busy weekend of running the Rock n Roll San Diego 5K and Half Marathon, I decided to take Tuesday off as well. I did this with the total intention of running on Wednesday instead. That way I could take part in National Running Day with all my fellow runners out there. In retrospect, it would have worked out better for me to do my usual 4 miles before work on Tuesday and a shorter distance on Wednesday just to take part in this day for runners. The reason I say this is because on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, I got massively congested in the head. By the time I woke up on Wednesday morning, my head felt like a big bowling ball. So, I called out sick from work and rest up. It was a big bummer to watch all my friends post of their runs for the day knowing I couldn’t join them.

Thursday morning, I was feeling even worse than Wednesday. I tried to get ready for work (after missing a run), but had absolutely no energy and my head was massively congested. So, I called out for a second consecutive day. I was so exhausted that I went back to sleep after calling out and slept for another 4 hours straight! So, I did a whole lot of nothing on Thursday in hopes I could at least make it back to work on Friday (which I did).

Friday, I made it back to work. I made it through the day pretty well. However, the endurance was not there. During the afternoon, I made the decision to skip my weekend workouts/runs. The thought I had was I didn’t want to push myself into some sort of upper respiratory infection that would wipe out another week of training. So, it would be better to skip this week and live to fight another.

As I rested this week, I had lots of time to think about where my life is at the moment and where I want it to go. Chances are that you’ll notice, I’ve changed up the banner of this page to be more of a reflection of the present. I also had the opportunity to update the “Races and Results” tab, “Race Bling” tab, and “Virtual Disney Trips” tab. In short, everything on this blog has been brought up to date. In addition to the updates, I’ve decided that I need to pull the reigns on blogging for the summer. What that means is I will be posting blogs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the summer. So, I’ll only be posting 3 times a week vs. 5 times a week. The reason I’m doing this is that I feel the need to grow as a runner. In order to do that, I will need to take the time to read more. I’ve started Meb for Mortals and love it. However, I don’t always have the kind of time I will need to truly learn from the book.

My training plan is now focused on the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 11th. I believe that I have a sub 6 hour marathon in me and want to accomplish this in Chicago. So, I’m going to up my game in the training department. I’ll put in some of the Yasso 800’s and making sure to put in some Galloway Magic Miles to help me chart my progress. I know that I can finish 26.2 miles. I now want to have a finish time with a 5 at the beginning of it. Bart Yasso talks about how each run should have a purpose. I’m going to take the time I am not blogging to work on realizing what each run means as I get ready. Preparing to complete 26.2 needs to involve both the physical and the mental sides. It is my hope that this summer, I’ll be able to do both. After the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend, I’ll evaluate how the three times a week blogging is working and decide where to do after that.

While this wasn’t a planned week off from training, it was beneficial to do so. I trust that as this week moves along, I’ll be glad I took the week off. I’ve got a few things I’m mulling to add to the blog in the future. The plan, starting this week is for the blog posts to be along the following format:

Monday – Week in Review

Wednesday – Words of Wisdom Wednesday and/or Training Related Posts

Friday – Virtual Disney posts (I will be finishing Walt Disney Studios this coming Friday. Also, we still haven’t visited Tokyo Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland yet.), Disney trip reports, and Disney related news.

See you all on Wednesday!