Lake Placid Training - Sick in week 16 - ideas?
I'm training for Lake Placid and am in week 16. I just finished the camp weekend (solo) which went well. By Sunday night I was coming down with flu like symptoms. By Monday I was very sick. I've been in bed for a couple of days and missed training Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and today (Friday). I'm feeling better today but still somewhat weak. I hope to resume training sometime this weekend or by Monday (slowly). I don't expect to be able to jump back in 100% though. I'm hoping that essentially losing a week of training doesn't drop my fitness too horribly much. Can you provide some recommendations on how to proceed over the next week or so to get back on the plan / schedule for Lake Placid? Any special considerations or should I just ease back in and hopefully be back on the regular plan in the next few days? I put this in my coach forum but would be interested in experiences, thoughts and tips from the team as a whole. Thanks in advance!
Comments
In 2017, the same thing happened to me after camp weekend. I also lost a week and I progressed back slowly. I did a big weekend in week 18 which went well and then pr'd at Lake Placid. I did lose some fitness and my bike ride at the race was a bit more conservative then had I not been sick. Worrying will not helped. Progress as tolerated.
I've been there as well (I'm there now) and was very concerned about losing a week of training and my fitness going to zero. Actually, you'll lose very little fitness and will quickly bounce back as long as you give your body enough time to fight off the sickness. Also, don't look at it as losing a week of training but rather you gained a week of additional rest/recovery, which is giving your muscles time to recover and get stronger. Getting sick after a couple days of big training could have resulted from a weakened immune system caused by being in a state of over-training. Wait for your energy levels to return and feeling like you're 90% better, then and ease back into the current training week.
As Derrek says, getting sick like this is your body's way of forcing a stand down in the face of over-training. You will benefit from the rest, consolidating the work you've done up to now. Just as it takes a few weeks to get fit, it also takes longer than we imagine to lose that fitness. My rule of thumb is to ramp up over the same number of days you were forced to stand down. The key will be: being ready for the final race rehearsal, and any long runs you still have scheduled. Those are the key ones at this point. Shorter, more intense ones can be backed off in either time or intensity. Like, instead of doing track intervals, just do more strides towards the end of a shorter run.
@Al Truscott , @Derrek Sanks , @Robert Sabo thanks so much for the well thought out advice. Makes me feel better knowing you guys have done this and came out ok on the other side!
Ok... I followed everyones advice... took it easy until I was ready... and today went out and rode for an hour. I didn't plan the ride... just got on the bike and went. It felt great to get back out. I was able to hold power and did a few strong bursts just to wake up the muscle fibers. It was a good first step. I'm going to follow your rule of thumb @Al Truscott and ramp back up over the next 4-5 days. Tomorrow I normally had a 2 hour run scheduled. If I feel solid tomorrow I might try to go ahead and split that run... hour in the morning and hour in the evening. If I'm not ready then I'll just hit the hour in the morning. Anyway, thanks again everyone, I'm encouraged by your feedback and taking first steps to get back on track!
@Al Truscott , @Derrek Sanks , @Robert Sabo I'm doing my first camp ever (IMChoo) next month - now you all have me worried about getting sick afterward a camp. I got sick exactly 6 weeks before both my last two IM races, and I got REALLY sick (for 8 weeks) after Kona last year. I want to know how to AVOID getting sick after doing a big camp or a big race. Advice?
@Sue DeJesus
there are no guarantees number one
ther are some ways to reduce your chances though.
Dont go into camp week over stressed. Make sure you have gotten some extra rest prior and your Eating well and getting 1/2 to 1 hour more sleep. The same for during and after the camp/race. Travel(plane) also high risk when immune system is low