A different sort of race report

[Race reports generally include a combination of rationalization, overanalysis, and self-justification.  This one is no different.]

So, I competed in the annual "congestionachessorethroatsleepy 5k (at least)" this week.  You'll note the distance isn't entirely determined -- that's because the damn symptoms have lasted at least 4 days, aka 5760 minutes. 

I prepped pretty well for this one.  Felt achy, stiff, and sore on Saturday (mostly shoulders, oddly enough), but figured it was allergies.  Sneezed umpteen times, but had to be allergies. Couldn't sleep on Saturday night, but figured that maybe it was because I was racing on Sunday.

Showed up for 10K race on Sunday.  Felt cold, but figured that was because it was cold.  Felt very achy and sneezing a lot, but figured it was allergies.  So I raced.  And then decided to be lazy and not change out of my sweaty soaked racing clothes right after.  And then decided to push through what just felt like exceptional post-race fatigue and jog an easy 6 miles that afternoon.

Prep was perfect.

The cold itself started out pretty promising, with major congestion, low grade fever (99.1 -- my normal temp is generally in the low 97s), sore throat, and the inability to do anything requiring upper body strength.  Unfortunately, from there I faded, with the throat and congestion lessening with each day.  In retrospect, I could have prolonged this thing a lot longer if I had forced myself to do a 10 mile run on Monday, followed by ice bath.  I'll do better next time.

Splits:
Day 1: hours spent sleeping: 4; hours spent awake in bed: 4; hours spent awake but useless on couch watching on-line horse show - 12.
Day 2: hours spent sleeping: 8; hours spent awake but useless on couch watching on-line horse show - 10.
Day 3: hours spent sleeping: 8; hours spent attempting to work: 8; hours spent awake but useless on couch watching on-line horse show: 4.
Day 4: hours spent sleeping: 8.  Hours spent attempting to work versus being awake but useless -- TBD.

I thought I handled my nutrition pretty well here.  Consumption included:

• 14 Cold-eeze zinc lozenges 
• 1 tub Whole Foods Turkey and White Bean Chili
• 2 pints Vanilla Coconut Milk Ice Cream
• 2 pints Vanilla Coconut Mile yogurt
• Too much Vitamin Water to describe

Other notes:  Used Neti Pot and washed pillow cases compulsively.  Gargled massive amounts of Listerine.  Skipped tissue paper in favor of generic paper towels, which seem to hold up more effectively to the unique force of my sneezing.  Took minimum of 3 hot showers per day.  Ran space heater 12+ hours per day (can't wait to see my power bill).  Tripped fuse at least twice each day by failure to recall that I can't run the space heater and make tea in the microwave simultaneously.  Discovered to my frustration that snooze function on alarm clock doesn't work.  Knocked alarm clock off of bed side table thrice while discovering this.  Knocked cat off of bed side table once while wrestling with alarm clock.

Achoo.

[/whine]