Never in my life have I been sick as often as I have since we moved to Geneva. Three episodes of food poisoning, two colds, iron deficiency and toxoplasmosis diagnosis later I’m ready to be healthy! After dealing with three days of sneezing, itchy eyes, and runny nose cold last week, I was thankful to land in Venice feeling much better. 

By 4am Saturday morning it was clear that my body had other plans and I’ve spent the subsequent days fighting either a stomach bug or food poisoning.  Luckily almost 72 hours later, I’m finally feeling better! Just to be sure that my body is doing okay, I’m going back to the doctor this week to have my blood work taken so they can check my iron levels.

So, based on this verbose introduction, you can imagine that my training last week was less than stellar. Jess said more than once over the past week that training healthy is more important than anything else. This means knowing when to rest and knowing when to push.

Last week, was a week when my sick body called for lots of healthy eating, sleep, water and rest. The below training plan is proof that I’ve finally learned how to listen to my body!

Monday: I started the week feeling great. I pushed myself during the 60 minute yoga class, striving to get deeper into the poses than I have during previous classes. The hardest pose or move for me continues to be my splits. It’s humorous how inflexible I am when it comes to this move versus all other yoga moves I’ve attempted thus far. WHY?!

Tuesday: My schedule required me to hop on the treadmill for this week’s speed workout (1.5 mile warm-up, 4 x 800 meters speed, 400 recovery, 1 mile cool down). I entertained myself with an episode of Scandal and pushed through the four repeats at 8:20, 8:20, 8:13 and 8:20. Definitely not the fastest speed workout I’ve done but far better than I expected due to my cold.

Wednesday: I barely left my bed on Wednesday, working while curled up in a blanket and sipping tea.

Thursday: I woke up after ten hours sleep ready to conquer the world! I texted Mary, hoping she’d still join me for 4.5 easy miles. My body felt a bit “rusty” due to the cold but it still felt good to get out and move.

Friday: I texted back and forth with Jess Thursday night as I realized that I didn’t have the energy for Friday’s long run. I was feeling better but still not 100% and I feared that doing too much too soon would be pushing it. She agreed and suggested taking another rest day then using Venice as an opportunity to do my long run with Bo.

Saturday: After spending half the night in the bathroom, I hoped that whatever was in my system was out and that a banana before our run and few sips of Powerade would leave me feeling great. I’m crazy. Luckily my husband realizes this and after 3 miles we switched our “long run” into a long walk with multiple bathroom stops. In between two naps back at the hotel we logged around 5 miles of walking for the day in addition to a few bathroom sprints. While Bo tried to convince me to just rest at the hotel, I refused to miss out on seeing and experiencing Venice. I’m just thankful that I wasn’t completely bed ridden and could walk and sightsee, though far slower than normal.

Sunday: Since I only ate two bananas and some crackers on Saturday I woke up Sunday morning ravenous. I could tell that my stomach was still queasy so I started things off with some scrambled eggs, peppermint tea and half a croissant. We walked slowly during the day, taking in as many sights as possible, with frequent pauses to sit and rest.

This week, I can’t wait to dive into some fun workouts with friends including morning yoga, running, skiing and spin.