Week 8 of marathon training got seriously derailed by a horrible bout of the stomach flu. It took out our whole family, except for Cam. Brinley got it, Teya got it, Taber got it, and after cleaning up everyone's puke and taking care of them when they were sick, I knew it was only a matter of time before I got it too.
I went to bed on Thursday night feeling a little queasy, and a few hours later I woke up and starting hurling. I rarely get sick and when I do I never puke. I seriously think the last time I threw up was when I was 10 years old. So yeah, It must've been a pretty bad bug to get me to throw up like that. I thought I had emptied out my stomach but around 4 am I was up for another round of it. For 24 hours I couldn't even look at food and could barely even drink water. I sucked on ice chips and used heating pads to help with the achy muscles. Taber stayed home for a few hours on Friday morning and then my friends took the kids in the afternoon so I could rest. I slept, A LOT. And by Saturday I was up and moving again, although when I stepped on the scale I had lost 8 lbs since the puking/loss of appetite began.
Unless you're on the Biggest Loser or just gave birth to an 8 lb baby, losing 8 lbs that fast is not cool. I knew some of it was water weight but I also knew that my clothes were noticeably looser. Taber, (who usually doesn't notice these kinds of things) even made the comment that I looked super skinny. I felt horrible and had no energy. My appetite still wasn't back but I was concerned by my weight loss so I just forced myself to eat whatever my stomach would tolerate. yogurt, plain cheerios, toast, banana and a little bit of soup. Once I had some food in my belly I started perking up more. I knew a long run wasn't going to happen but I wanted to do something since I hadn't run since Wednesday. I hopped on the treadmill and just took it nice and easy thinking maybe I would do 6 miles, but 4 was all I could handle. I wasn't going fast but I still felt queasy afterwards.
By Monday I was up and running like normal again but man, what a bummer week for marathon training. I was supposed to run 30 miles and instead I did 15 : ( I hope it doesn't set me back too bad.
Here's what week 8 in training looked like:
Monday: 4 mile recovery run on the treadmill (legs were still tired from Saturday's 15 miler) avg pace: 8:35
Wednesday: The bright spot in a dark week of training: Ran 7 miles on the treadmill at an 8:04 pace. The best thing about this run was that I felt amazing and strong the whole time. Sometimes I'm killing myself for an 8 min pace but on this day I was just flying.
Saturday: 4 miles on the treadmill after a weekend of the stomach flu. Avg. pace: 8:49
it seems like lots of people are getting the stomach flu lately :( sorry you had to catch it. w/ marathon training, a week of low mileage isn't the worst. sometimes it can actually help b/c it gives your body time to recover. i have a feeling you'll come back stronger. glad you're feeling better -
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better! That sounds awful! I always joked that chemo is the best weight loss tool, but your flu seems to rival that.
ReplyDeleteooof, not cool at all. hope you are feeling better!
ReplyDeleteOh man that Saturday 4 miler does not sound fun. Stomach bugs are seriously the worst. I'm glad you are feeling better now!
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