Too little, too soon.

Last week is better forgotten.

After a very good week previous to it, I started to get a nasty cold on Monday. An early start at work meant I was happy to take it as a rest day and hopefully allow the body to fight the cold.
It didn't really work, and Tuesday I felt worse, and slept very little Monday night.
The weather was pretty miserable, and I skipped Tuesday as well, planning on the big comeback on Wednesday. The big comeback didn't happen Wednesday either, as with little sleep over the previous two days, still swallowing plenty of mucus, and a long late day in the office, I could just not muster the energy to face the cold night.
On Thursday I headed out in the morning before work. Three days off had me feeling like the mitchelan Man. The plan was a descent tempo, the weather had much improved. One mile warmup, and into a planned 9 miles at 6:40 pace.
The first two were ok, but from 3 on I struggled big time. The energy just was not there, it was as if my battery was flat and I knew I was in trouble. Obviously I had not recovered from the cold fully, and I could not do any more than 6 miles tempo, just inside the 6:40 avg pace. Even the cool down mile was a struggle home with 8.5 in total.
Friday was an easy 6 miles, and even though it was easy, I did feel a bit stronger than the day before.

Saturday was off to the states, with a 5am start at the airport, 18 hours of travel, and no run.
This was a bit of an extended trip with an extra day, so i brought plenty of running gear with me.
On Sunday morning, 5am I hit the gym. 7 miles at 7:30 pace, and I had to stop, a soaked top and boredom of a treadmill. However, I tried again later that afternoon at 5 pm, with 5 additional miles and a nice weights session for 12 miles in total.

So a fairly pathetic 26 miles for the week which was pretty disappointing.
Monday I had hoped to get a session in before I departed for home, but it didn't happen. In any event, for some reason my calls were very stiff after the treadmill miles.
Landing on Tuesday afternoon, my priority for the evening was time with family, so no run again.

Today was a bit of a test. A tempo planned before work. The usual one mile warmup, and off at 6:40 pace. Only 6 planned due time constraints, and they went very well. I felt much stronger than last week, and finished at 6:36 average at a fairly steady pace throughout, with a mile cool down.
With the Bohermeen half marathon just a couple of weeks away, I will have to change the plan around a bit to try and increase the distance over the tempo pace. I will have to combine it with some slower miles, but either way the mileage needs to drastically improve in time for Boston.