All Quiet

I skipped last week’s blog for another bout of baby-induced illness, and I thought about skipping this one because my illness kept me from running for a full week. Still, I was doing some good running before I got sick, and it might help to remind myself of that as I get back into it:

Sunday (October 5): 14 miles, with an attempted fast finish that fizzled out after a mile and a half. Better than the week before.

Monday: 7 miles, slow.

Tuesday: 8 easy, but with stomach problems. Did some strides.

Wednesday: 8 miles with 5 x Raymond (1′ hill sprints) on about 3 minutes rest. It was raining, which made it slower, but I felt pretty good. Did some split squats and calf raises.

Thursday: 8 miles and feeling fit. This week I definitely noticed that my easy runs were taking less out of my legs. That resilience is the biggest missing piece in my fitness puzzle since my son was born, so to see it coming back into place is great for confidence. A lot more miles between now and April will seal the deal.

Friday: 4 x 1 mile at tempo pace (6:02 average) with 1 minute rest. I ran this on Friday instead of Saturday to make things easier with friends flying in for the weekend, and I was glad to see this performance with one fewer day since my last workout. I started a little slow, but finished quicker than I expected. Another example of resilience on the rise.

Saturday: 8 easy, but a little hot for a recovery day (~7:45 pace). Felt a little tired.

Sunday (October 12): 14, with the last 9 or 10 uptempo (~6:55 pace). This felt great.

Unfortunately, this is my last run to date! I woke up last Monday with a fever, chills, aches, and a deep hacking cough. I drifted the halls of my home for days like a shade with a bad case of phlegm. My wife also got sick, and together we drank enough tea to go through over a pound of honey in less than a week. My son had a very low fever for two days, which he barely noticed, and is now perfectly fine.

Looking back at this week, I am trying to remind myself that this kind of fitness doesn’t go away in a week, and I’ll probably benefit from a little time to rest. At the same time, my brother-in-law talked me into a half marathon over Thanksgiving which I’d like to feel ready for. So I’m a little tense.

This Week (October 5-11): 62 miles! This is real shit! We are getting there. I’ve set a goal to hit 70 by the end of the year. Even with this latest setback, I think I can get there by December and start my block for Jersey City with a big base to build on.

Baby: My son is working on his mobility after discovering crawling a few weeks ago and is progressing quickly. He seems to be paying less attention to his words and sounds right now, but I think that’s still cooking on the back burner: we get less da-da-da these days, but a smattering of other gibberish in its place. Just don’t ask him to repeat any of it.

Last weekend, right before we all got sick, he got a very special visit from our friends. My wife’s childhood friend and maid of honor flew her family, including her two-year-old daughter, out from Chicago to meet our favorite little guy. Time with old friends is always wonderful, but to watch our children playing together was a treat. Our “niece” is a huge fan of our son thanks to the photos and videos we’ve been sending, so they became very fast friends.

After that, there was a sudden surge in visits from the grandmas, which was a bank error very much in my son’s favor. At least one of us had a good week!

Here’s hoping next week there are more than that.