I’ve been trying to get back into the training mode that I had before the Marine Corps Marathon. From Spring through the Fall I was training six days each week in order to prepare for my first Ironman 70.3 and then my first full marathon. By the end, I admit, I was a bit burnt out. I needed a break, and I took one.

I’ve been working my way back up over the past couple of months, with increased running distances and some pretty killer and fun bike workouts. I’m not back to the level that I was at the end of October, but I am slowly getting there. This week, though, I got a cold. Ugh. I really didn’t want to lose the momentum I was just getting back. I started randomly losing my voice on Tuesday, but I wasn’t sure why. I did a really fun 30×30 bike workout on Tuesday evening (30 seconds of super hard intense, followed by 30 seconds of moderate work in four-minute cycles). It turns out that was not such a good idea. By Wednesday morning, I had a full-blown cold. I had more workouts to do and a 10-mile run scheduled for Saturday morning!

I put things in perspective, took stock of how I was feeling and my lack of energy (which is, nicely enough, a rarity for me since I got my nutrition on point almost four years ago), and just took it easy the rest of the week. No more biking or running for me. I went to bed early, drank some tea with honey, used my Immune Boost in my shakes daily, and began to feel better.

This morning in Framingham was an incredible 65 degrees. I was still tired, but not totally drained. I couldn’t pass up a January run in a t-shirt. I did run, and it was beautiful. There were times when I was definitely huffing and puffing more than I should have been. Instead of getting upset with that, I took the cue from my recovering body and I slowed down. It’s so important to listen to your body, and take a break when you need one – no matter how much you want to keep going.