sick; x-train; 8K!

I have been very sick this past week. I started feeling bad last Thursday, and though I was hoping I'd feel better over the weekend, I didn't. After Saturday's 3K race, I was wiped. I slept a bunch later in the day and then my big activity was attending Calvin's soccer game. #71 is Calvin; not sure why he picked that number, but he did :).

Sunday morning I told Kelly I'd try to walk with her a bit. I did try...but it was pretty sad. I was only able to go 20 min with her and then pretty much crashed. I had committed to play the piano for church so made it through that and went to my Weight Watchers meeting (only up 1.4lb from the cruise; I had hoped not to gain but that's not too awful) and then crashed HARD. I slept 3 hr, woke, ate a small dinner (no appetite - weird for me, even when sick) and then back to bed. I had to go to work on Monday because two grad students in another lab had basically cleared their schedules to teach me how to inject Drosophila embryos (fruit fly; 35 embryos in a line to left of pencil eraser, below). I barely made it through the day, and I felt so terrible. Obviously I didn't even try to work out on Monday, or Tuesday either. 

Halfway through the day on Tuesday I actually started to feel better, for which I am enormously grateful. I was worried that maybe the mystery illness was back and was causing my problems, although I did know that it was likely to be just a virus, as I had a sore throat, congestion, runny nose, coughing, and fatigue, not just fatigue alone. Still, hard not to worry when you're coming off something like I have been. I truly appreciate days of good health much more. 

Wednesday I had the energy and desire to cross-train, so I did 25 min elliptical at the gym, reading the paper on my Kindle (my usual habit at the gym; subscribed to the paper on the Kindle a few months back and have really enjoyed that). I followed that up with cycling to work, and my legs felt really good and pretty fresh. The rest of me was still a bit tired, but I made it through the day well, happily. 

Today coach suggested 8K. I got up, grabbed the dog, and went out the door. After 2K I wasn't sure I'd do all right, since I was feeling a tiny bit weak/wobbly, but while I didn't have my usual strength, I felt passable. I really enjoyed being out in the perfect morning weather (about 66F; 19C), which won't be around much longer. It's supposed to get to 90F today - a little Indian summer before fall sets in, I suppose. Anyway, I was doing 6:15/km through 6km and then the last 2km uphill dropped my time to 6:19/km (ave HR 151; 50:36 for 8K). My legs feel good now (an hour later) and I am actually thinking to enjoy the weather a bit more and ride my bike in to work. I'm thankful for health and wholeness today!

Edited to add: Garmin data here for 8K.