Road Tripping for Dummies: Don't let it affect your training!
I just got back to my parents' place in the Downriver suburbs of Detroit, following a whirlwind tour of Chicago and Muskegon with my brother Mark. We had a lot of fun, and crammed a lot of visits into a few short days, but apparently I've pushed myself a little too hard in the last few days because my immune system is starting to break down. Fortunately, I'm able to recognize this feeling earlier than in previous seasons, and can make myself take the rest that I need in order to turn the situation around.
After three days of waking up with a sore throat and elevated heart rate, I decided to take a couple of days off from training. Yesterday was my first day off, and I already feel better today, but I won't resume training until tomorrow, just to be sure.
Though Mark and I had to cram a lot of traveling into a couple of days, it didn't have to affect me as much as it did, and I know exactly where I went wrong in my planning. It all came down to straying from my ideal energy balance by not eating frequently enough. I didn't want to eat Power Bars on the drive to Chicago, because I was kind of sick of them, but I also refused to take any extra time to get food along the way.
By the time I had picked up my brother in downtown Chicago, drove to his neighborhood on the north side, found parking (what a nightmare!!) and we sat down to dinner, it was 10 PM and my stomach was cramping with hunger. Of course, I then proceeded to stuff myself so full that I couldn't sleep all night, and the exhaustion just snowballed from there. I could kick myself for being so stupid.
Still, I'm glad we got the chance to visit some people and places we haven't seen for a while. After an early dinner with our aunt and uncle in Highland Park on Saturday, we looped back around the southern end of Lake Michigan and headed up the coast to Muskegon, where we had lived from 1985 to 1993. It was in Muskegon that I had started speedskating with the West Michigan Speedskating Club in 1988.
We arrived in Muskegon by midnight and crashed in a hotel by the airport. The next morning, we drove out to Lake Harbor Park for a run on the beach. We ran along the shore of the lake, and through the wooded trails that used to lead right up to the backyard of our old house. Though the current owners wouldn't be able to go all the way through the woods to the beach because of new construction, it was still a beautiful place to live. As I thought of my parents' current home, located right off the freeway and under the high power lines in a not-very-special suburb of Detroit, I found myself wishing that Muskegon was still home.
We spent the rest of the morning driving around the town, visiting our old haunts and taking pictures. We even went to my old high school, Mona Shores, "Home of the Sailors", where I had spent two years- the longest time I had been at any of the 4 high schools I had attended.
In the afternoon, we visited with my 6th-grade social studies teacher, Joan Majeski, who has been following my speedskating career ever since she had me as a student. Then, we had dinner downtown with Mark Jastrzembski and Tom Cole of the West Michigan Speedskating Club. Mark was the one who initiated the formation of our speedskating club in 1988, and I was one of the original 6 members. Tom is a nationally competitive Masters skater in both short and long track, and he is planning to stay at my house in Utah this summer to do some hard-core training on the Utah Olympic Oval.
My brother and I got back to Detroit Sunday night, and after that he only had a day and a half to recover before having to fly back to Chicago. He had to be back at work by Wednesday morning. I returned to my hard training right away, but that didn't turn out to be such a good idea. Hopefully, I'll be ready to go again by tomorrow.
I just got back to my parents' place in the Downriver suburbs of Detroit, following a whirlwind tour of Chicago and Muskegon with my brother Mark. We had a lot of fun, and crammed a lot of visits into a few short days, but apparently I've pushed myself a little too hard in the last few days because my immune system is starting to break down. Fortunately, I'm able to recognize this feeling earlier than in previous seasons, and can make myself take the rest that I need in order to turn the situation around.
After three days of waking up with a sore throat and elevated heart rate, I decided to take a couple of days off from training. Yesterday was my first day off, and I already feel better today, but I won't resume training until tomorrow, just to be sure.
Though Mark and I had to cram a lot of traveling into a couple of days, it didn't have to affect me as much as it did, and I know exactly where I went wrong in my planning. It all came down to straying from my ideal energy balance by not eating frequently enough. I didn't want to eat Power Bars on the drive to Chicago, because I was kind of sick of them, but I also refused to take any extra time to get food along the way.
By the time I had picked up my brother in downtown Chicago, drove to his neighborhood on the north side, found parking (what a nightmare!!) and we sat down to dinner, it was 10 PM and my stomach was cramping with hunger. Of course, I then proceeded to stuff myself so full that I couldn't sleep all night, and the exhaustion just snowballed from there. I could kick myself for being so stupid.
Still, I'm glad we got the chance to visit some people and places we haven't seen for a while. After an early dinner with our aunt and uncle in Highland Park on Saturday, we looped back around the southern end of Lake Michigan and headed up the coast to Muskegon, where we had lived from 1985 to 1993. It was in Muskegon that I had started speedskating with the West Michigan Speedskating Club in 1988.
We arrived in Muskegon by midnight and crashed in a hotel by the airport. The next morning, we drove out to Lake Harbor Park for a run on the beach. We ran along the shore of the lake, and through the wooded trails that used to lead right up to the backyard of our old house. Though the current owners wouldn't be able to go all the way through the woods to the beach because of new construction, it was still a beautiful place to live. As I thought of my parents' current home, located right off the freeway and under the high power lines in a not-very-special suburb of Detroit, I found myself wishing that Muskegon was still home.
We spent the rest of the morning driving around the town, visiting our old haunts and taking pictures. We even went to my old high school, Mona Shores, "Home of the Sailors", where I had spent two years- the longest time I had been at any of the 4 high schools I had attended.
In the afternoon, we visited with my 6th-grade social studies teacher, Joan Majeski, who has been following my speedskating career ever since she had me as a student. Then, we had dinner downtown with Mark Jastrzembski and Tom Cole of the West Michigan Speedskating Club. Mark was the one who initiated the formation of our speedskating club in 1988, and I was one of the original 6 members. Tom is a nationally competitive Masters skater in both short and long track, and he is planning to stay at my house in Utah this summer to do some hard-core training on the Utah Olympic Oval.
My brother and I got back to Detroit Sunday night, and after that he only had a day and a half to recover before having to fly back to Chicago. He had to be back at work by Wednesday morning. I returned to my hard training right away, but that didn't turn out to be such a good idea. Hopefully, I'll be ready to go again by tomorrow.
posted by Eva at 7:36 AM
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