The stunning scenery from the 2024 Spartan Race SoCal Beast at Lake Perris, CA
The Start Line
We kicked off the 2024 race season, and my ultramarathon training plan, with the Spartan Race SoCal Trifecta Weekend at Lake Perris, CA.
The races went pretty much as expected for me, with the VERY flat course allowing me to skate by despite my compromised (I.E. nearly non-existent) training over the preceding four months. The biggest problem was my grip for the hanging obstacles, which I completely expected both because of lack of prep and the excess body weight I was carrying going in.
Despite that, I had a great time running the Beast with my clients and friends Kelly and Steve, the Super with Kelly and his partner Amanda, and the Sprint with Kelly, Amanda and their two boys, who were partaking in their first-ever Spartan Races.
My body kind of freaked out from the wear and tear of the race and travel, and I came back from California very inflamed and retaining fluid to the tune of four pounds heavier than when I left, at 209.1 pounds on the Tuesday.
The day after returning home (Wednesday), I got right to day 3 of the training plan, having opted to count the weekend’s races in place of days 1 and 2 (which I knew I’d miss while holidaying in Disneyland and traveling back home). Things went reasonably well, though on Thursday’s Fartlek / interval training day, I was a little shocked at how hard I had to run the “hard” efforts to get my heart rate into the target zone.
By Friday, my body had flushed out all the inflammation, and I was back down to 205.1 pounds. Still, I was glad to be back to an easy Zone 2 run for Friday’s training, and was looking forward to returning to the trails on Saturday for a longer effort.
Uh-Oh…
I was out for the evening Friday with my sister, and something just didn’t feel right. I had started feeling some mild head-cold type symptoms (nothing really - just a bit congested and “foggy”) in the afternoon following my run, but as the evening went on I started to get a sore throat as well, and it just got progressively worse as the evening went on.
Thinking it was “just a cold”, I opted to continue with the plan to meet up with some of The BTG Spartan Team and other clients for Saturday morning’s trail run. Things actually felt quite a bit better out on the trail, though I was again surprised at how hard I had to push to get my heart rate up into my Zone 2 target range given the amount of elevation / incline we were covering. Not sure if it was just erroneous readings from my Garmin ForeRunner 45’s built in sensor or what - I plan to use the chest strap instead in future.
Anyway, the run went reasonably well, but by the time I got home, I started to feel really unwell. My sore throat flared right up, my sinuses filled up, and I started to just ache all over and get really tired. By later in the afternoon, I was sure this was no longer “just a cold”, so I took a COVID rapid test, and sure enough it was positive.
As with the one other time I was COVID positive, it really put me on my ass. The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday were both a total write-off, and I was barely functional. As I write this, it’s late Monday evening, and I’m still struggling with it. While the full-body aches have passed and the sore throat has eased off a bit, the congestion is still pretty bad, I constantly feel like I have to sneeze, and my head is in a fog.
The Obstacle Is The Way
Sometimes, shit happens, and you just have to roll with it.
I’ve cancelled all my training clients for the week, and I opted to skip today’s planned “Fast Finish Run” workout.
I briefly thought about doing it earlier in the day, but decided that this is an ultra-marathon, not a sprint, and that I should be smart and give my body more time so that I don’t turn this into some kind of bronchiitis on top of COVID. With it being so early in the 18-week training program, I don’t feel like it’s that big a disaster to go off-plan for a week.
My plan is to not “run” again until at least Friday’s “Foundation” or Saturday’s “Endurance” run (both Zone 2), even if I’m feeling OK. I certainly don’t feel that Thursday’s planned Zone 5 hill repeats will be a good idea…LOL.
That said, I’m going super stir-crazy isolating myself to just my office and living room, and I am a firm believer that our bodies are not meant to just lay around, even when recovering from illness.
So between now and Friday or Saturday, I’m going to aim to get out for a walk every day.
Hopefully, I’ll be feeling pretty near back to normal by the weekend, and can get back on track with the training plan next week.