Bah humbug

I'm a bid fed up, I have to say. No sooner did I post that my training had been unaffected by my cold up until that moment in time, than I found my performance noticeably effected during what should have been an easy run. I decided to take the next day off training and to see what the doctor had to say. The good news is that it hasn't gone down into my lungs but I didn't get the go ahead to keep on training either. Unfortunately she seemed to be one of those doctors (who are more common in my experience) who is the opposite of holistic (separatist?). Of course, if I wrap myself up in a bubble and never leave the house, my cold will probably get better but I will also go mad. Specifically, she said that, as my nose was blocked, I would be breathing cold air into my lungs through my mouth and that could make things a good deal worse. When I suggested running indoors she simply said that it was up to me but if she were me, she would lay off all exercise...

Today I did exactly the opposite. I went to the gym to see how I would fare with the one quality workout I had planned for this week: 4-5 x 1,600m @ 16 kph + 4 x 200m @ 19 kph. Coming from the workouts I have been doing over the last few weeks, this should have been a doddle. The gym was fairly empty today, as you can imagine, so it wasn't quite as hot as it usually gets or, at least, I don't think it was. Even so, by the third set my heart rate was starting to go above my anaerobic threshold by the end; the same happened just two minutes into the fourth set, so I decided to cut it short (although I did finish the sets of 200m without problems). I could have struggled through but then I would have been doing a very different workout from the one I had planned - not a good idea only a few days before the race with a head cold. I could also have reduced the speed but I thought that this would just be demoralising and, after all, little I do now can positively effect my performance on Monday, only negatively.

The point is that, unless this cold clears up in the next few days, I think it is unlikely that I will be able to go for a personal best time. Of course I will try, anyway, but if I see that my pulse rate is getting too high too soon, I will have to make do with finishing in a reasonable time - with any luck, it will be less than 38 minutes, thereby qualifying me for next year's International San Silvestre.