(On Running) #14 Jinx!
Jinx!
This week, I was the victim of a jinx. In other words, a self-fulfilling prophecy gone wrong. After recording a 60 mile week, including an intense long run workout, it felt as though my training was peaking at the right time. I am two weeks out from the Tree House Half Marathon, and was planning to push towards a 65 mile week. Then, I woke up Sunday morning with a slightly sore throat, and knew I was in trouble.
The last time I have been truly sick was nearly a year ago, the week I ran the 2025 Summit Run 5K in September. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have ran at all—especially not straight up a mountain access road for five kilometers. After the race, a paramedic had to check on me at the finish line. It became clear that running while sick could be dangerous, especially at high intensities.
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| Fall is approaching |
Ever since, I have seemingly been able to avoid illness through maintaining good sleep, nutrition, and exercise. Every time I have felt symptoms coming on, I have been able to run through it. I developed the belief that running was actually preventing illness onset directly.
This week, I put my ill-founded theory to the test. Monday morning I woke up feeling much worse than the day before, with a nasty sore throat. Despite this, I ran 8.25 miles, in the hilly areas of my hometown. I did not feel significantly better after the run, but the run itself felt surprisingly good, given the hills.
By Tuesday, I knew this was a viral infection of some kind. I imagined it was the common cold, or whatever illness always seems to manifest around this time of year in Amherst. I thought about calling out of work, but it was my first day back. I pushed through again, running 7 miles when I got home.
Wednesday is when I seriously debated whether running was putting myself at risk. I had planned to do a hill sprint workout, but had learned my lesson from the Summit Run a year ago. Instead, I headed out for eight miles at an easy, almost lethargic, pace.
The first four miles had felt so good that I decided to extend the run to 10 miles. I still was maintaining the belief that I could run 65 miles on the week, despite being sick. All I had to was extend the out and back by a mile both ways, and I would still be on track.
On the way back, around Mile 6, I began to feel significant chest tightness. Despite running around 9:00/mile pace, I actually had to sit down and stop on a nearby bench to recover. After a minute or two, I soldiered on, reaching my 10 mile goal. Despite this, I knew this was my sign to ease off training.
On Thursday morning, I developed a new symptom—a mucus-filled cough. This prompted me to take a rapid COVID test, which was thankfully negative. However, I made the decision that I needed to rest. I called out of my school counseling internship hours, which was disappointing as it was the first day of school. I didn't run, and instead made a nice cup of "sick" tea (my third of the week), and caught up on things I needed to do before Sunday.
My self-care day paid off, and I woke up on Friday feeling a lot better. My symptoms had progressed to a runny nose and a dry cough, which I knew was a sign of the illness leaving my body. I happened to have my physical that morning, and my doctor tested for COVID and the flu, which were both negative. When I asked him about when I should start running again, he advised me to wait until I had no symptoms.
That day, I debated whether I could afford to take two more days off. I wouldn't lose significant fitness if I did, but I would fall out of the habit of running. I knew I could manage short, slow, runs.
I ended up running 4 miles on Friday, and 5 miles on Saturday. It was nice to have a slow weekend, where running and recovering from my running wasn't paramount. When I had decided it is time to lock-in, by body decided it was time to slow down.
Week 10: Training Summary (Baystate 2026)
34.5 miles | 4h 46 min workout | 2,057 ft elevation gain
(E) = Easy
Monday (E): 8.25 miles | 7:28/mi | 771 ft elevation gain | 7:59 AM
In retrospect, this was a higher effort run than I had planned. Definitely didn't help me recover from my developing cold.
Tuesday (E): 7.03 miles | 8:25/mi | 328 ft elevation gain | 5:38 PM
This is when my body first showed signs of slowing down. I planned to run slow, but not this slow.
Wednesday (E): 10 miles | 8:59/mi | 354 ft elevation gain | 8:50 AM
Pushed my body to the limit, despite the slow pace. I am oddly proud of this one.
Friday (E): 4.22 miles | 8:16/mi | 243 ft elevation gain | 12:06 PM
Body was beginning to feel a lot better, as reflected in the pace dropping slightly. Didn't want to push it, though.
Saturday (E): 5 miles | 8:07/mi | 361 ft elevation gain | 8:46 AM
A relaxing Saturday run? What a joy this was. Knew I was on the backend of my recovery, and didn't spend the rest of the day depleted from my run.
Insights on Improvement
I try to look on the bright side, especially when setbacks occur. Developing a cold may have forced me into five easy runs at a pivotal point in my training, but maybe that was for the best.
Now, instead of pushing myself to 65-70 mile weeks, I plan to maintain my current fitness ahead of my half marathon. This will allow me to confidently attempt a sub 1:21 half, which seems a reasonable goal. My legs feel fresh, and I have found clarity on what the rest of the block will look like.
I jinxed myself in more ways than one last week. After dismissing AI use for future training decisions, I ended up using it a good amount when debating whether to run by telling it my symptoms. It consistently said that as long as they were "above the neck" symptoms, I was good to go. This is why I was hesitant when I had mucus in my cough.
With newfound free time, I also ended up connecting my Strava to Claude. Immediately, I asked it to map out a realistic final seven weeks of the training block, given the unexpected cold recovery, based on what I had already accomplished this block. I had to sign up for a Strava free trial to do it, which I am debating whether I will keep (the student plan is tempting). Nonetheless, it seems to be really helpful for making data-informed training decisions.
So, while I do aspire to "run by feel" as I decided last week, I am not discounting AI's usefulness in analyzing training data and compiling a realistic plan to attempt sub 2:48 at Baystate in seven weeks.
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