DAY 36

I've just gotten through three incredibly tough days, which meant I managed to complete 7 training days this week before the fourth-week summary.

These 3 days took a toll on me, partly because I went for a run that a normal person wouldn't attempt, especially not in -3 degrees Celsius. If my goal at the beginning of the week was to exhaust myself, then I can say I largely succeeded. But what's most infuriating is that I think I caught the flu and seem to be getting sick, as last night my bedfellows were a sore throat, a runny nose, and such sweating that usually precedes a serious illness. As I write this post, I'm feeling better; my only luck is that I have 2 rest days coming up.

I'm incredibly annoyed with myself because I overdid it in the middle of an already demanding program, and I went to the proverbial other side of the horses. Let this be an example for everyone embarking on a longer training period, because no matter how good the workouts feel, no matter how great you feel, do not radically increase the planned workouts, as the principle of "less is more" seems to be proving true again. I had gone 20 days without training before starting this 64-day period; that was my record. Now I'm on day 36, exploring uncharted territories day after day. Unfortunately, this means I have to learn from my own mistakes, so you, hopefully, won't encounter such obstacles.

On day 33, I did weights; on day 34, I ran; and on day 35, I had another shoulder-triceps workout, which concluded my suicidal week. I can't say anything special about the weight training, except that I could barely lift my arms at the end of the session. I'd rather quickly move on to my run, which was the run of all "ests." Longest distance on the hardest route, which I ran with the best average, and of course, the biggest screw-up. I felt like I was on top of the world, and obviously, a face-plant was mandatory at that point, which, by necessity, had to happen. I think this is where my body also gave in, opening the way for the flu, although I suspect I caught this crap from my grandma when I visited her in the hospital.

12.35 km, -3 degrees Celsius.

From Heroes' Square, along Andrássy Avenue, across the Chain Bridge up to the Castle, down the other side—Tabán, Liberty Bridge—Kálvin Square—Astoria—through Deák back to Heroes' Square.

At Kálvin Square, I felt things starting to get rough; running was already difficult here, and there was still 2.5 km to the finish line. Astoria is completely torn up, so from Astoria to Deák, I ran entirely on planks, between dug-up mounds and concrete slabs. This was exactly what I needed at the end, a nice little trail run. I tried to weave in a bit of Demszky-bashing into the story somehow, but it just wouldn't come together, so I solved it this way. This section really took a toll on me, to the point where my body couldn't recover anymore. This was the first harbinger of getting sick. I did another weight training session the next day, and that evening, my throat started to hurt. My whole body was worn out from the run and the entire week. I felt a general weakness, malaise, but I was truly scared when a cool sex scene from "Gangster Princess" was on HBO, and I didn't react to it. That's when I knew there were problems.

I'm a huge idiot, and this could easily have been avoided because my body is very strong. It gets vitamins and all the necessary nutrients, but with my underfed, 6 km run on Monday after only 2 hours of sleep, I had already paved the way for this damn flu. So, I can only blame myself, but I'm telling you, learn from this. I have no idea what's going to happen; I have 2 rest days coming up. If I don't recover, I'll have to suspend my training because unrecovered illnesses can cause a lot of trouble. I'm currently balancing on the edge of illness. I should take a day off, but I'm already behind on work as it is + I have a meeting tonight. We'll see about the rest.

If anyone is training and finds themselves facing a similar problem, because if I read correctly, there are currently 3 types of active epidemics, although H1N1 is not serious, so no one should despair if life throws crap at them, because this is just a training plan, and things can always get worse. Some people are in much bigger trouble, I'm thinking of Winona Ryder's Hungarian equivalent, Bakáts "salami" Tibi.

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UPDATE: Oh damn, I forgot to post the picture of the city I took during the castle run.