Blindsided

There must be something about this first week of January that does something to my immune system.  This week last year, just as I started my #Mingsanity training, I got sick.  It was my sinuses.  This year, the same thing happened, only it was way worse.  I actually had a sinus infection which completely knocked me off my feet.  I'm still not 100% but I'm definitely feeling better.  I'm on antibiotics which have definitely helped.  Unfortunately they don't agree with my stomach but what can you do.

Of course, this kept me sidelined for most of the week.  I was out of the pool for almost two weeks and I took 10 days off running.  I ran New Year's Day and that was the start of my decline.  Not the best way to kick off the new year.   I started to feel better on Thursday so I slowly got back into the swing of things.  I had been itching to run so despite the frigid temperatures on Saturday, I went out and ran 10km, which is the longest run I've done in almost 3 months.  It seems so weird to say that.  I've gone from a marathoner to someone who can barely eke out 10km without being sore the next day, ha ha.  Oh well.  It's my new reality right now and that's ok.  Usually my quads would be sore but this time around it was my glutes and hamstrings.  Which proves that I am actually using these muscles.  That, my friends, is huge. 

You know it's cold when the mask comes out.

You know it's REALLY cold when Lake Ontario freezes.

I know I"m not totally 100% because I can't really push things.  Easy aerobic efforts are about all I can do without feeling completely exhausted.  I know this because yesterday's ride was a hard one and I had to have a nap afterwards I was so wiped out.  And my Garmin told me that I worked maybe a little too hard so I'm going to back things off this week and just go easy. 

This is how my last week unfolded:

Monday:  OFF
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday:  35 minute easy ride
Friday: 2000m swim
Saturday:  10km run + 20 minutes core & upper body
Sunday:  1h 35 minute computrainer ride.

Total time:  4h 43 minutes. 

I'm looking forward to getting back into the gym this week.  We booked a trip to Punta Cana in February so it's time to get this body of mine into bikini shape.  That means dedicated gym time as well as cleaning up my diet.  I spent Saturday afternoon and a few hours on Sunday meal planning and prepping like a boss.  I've got a weeks worth of good healthy food so there's no need for take out which is something we've been guilty of a little too often these last couple of weeks.  No more.

There are a few exciting things happening this week.  Wednesday night I have an MRI scheduled for my left knee.  It was supposed to be January 30th but they bumped me up.  YAY!  My knees are almost 100% but I still have a bit of lingering pain in my left one upon extension.  My sports doc humored me and scheduled this so we could see if there are any other issues, other than simple maltracking of the patella. 

The other exciting thing is my NCCP Triathlon coaching course is this weekend!  I'm pretty darn excited about that.  I'm looking forward to learning a whole lot more about the sport that I love.

How was your week?  Who else is running away somewhere hot?