Some training weeks give you numbers. Others give you perspective. This one gave me both. I finished the week with 102 miles in 12 hours and 36 minutes of running, which breaks down to an average of 7 minutes and 24 seconds per mile. Those numbers sound impressive on paper, but the mileage wasn’t the real story. The real story was everything that happened around it and everything I learned from it.
The week started perfectly. Legs felt fresh, motivation high. Then Friday hit and I woke up with a fever. I still took five miles easy because I wanted to see how my body reacted. Saturday morning came and I wasn’t any better. Still sick. Still no appetite. Still no taste. Still no energy. Getting sick in the middle of a big block is never convenient, but if ultras have taught me anything, it’s that the race never waits for you to feel perfect.
I just came off a sixty mile recovery week and had planned to push hard until December twentieth. I need to hit around one hundred thirty miles to build the strength I lacked in my previous race, so taking more time off wasn’t in my playbook. I listened to my body, adjusted the intensity, and kept moving in a controlled, intelligent way. Training while sick isn’t something I promote for everyone, especially with a fever, but there is a reason I sometimes keep going. You can wake up sick on race day. You can start an ultra feeling flat or heavy. If you have never experienced that sensation in training, you won’t know how to mentally or physically handle it.
People think training while sick is about being a tough guy. It isn’t. It’s about education. It’s about learning your body under stress. It’s about teaching yourself how to respond when the plan gets messy. A lot of athletes only know how to perform under perfect conditions. Then life hits them, and they fall apart. I refuse to be that athlete.
There is real physiology behind this. When you are sick, your heart rate rises even at easy paces. Glycogen drains faster. Perceived effort spikes from the same intensity. Your immune system pulls energy from your muscles because fighting the illness comes first. When you do controlled sessions during a mild sickness, you learn how to pace when your heart rate is lying to you. You learn how to breathe when your rhythm is off. You learn how to fuel without appetite. You learn how to settle your mind when everything feels harder than it should. These are not training days. These are race-simulation days.
Even with the sickness, the work got done. I finished the week with eleven workouts including three double days. Saturday was the anchor of the week. Ten miles in the morning at 8:15 to 8:30 pace. Ten miles at around 6:05 pace which was a solid negative split. Then an eight mile night run with two miles easy followed by six miles at 7:10ish. Two separate gears in one day and one final run to settle into the fatigue and understand it. I ended up with six speed sessions, two recovery days, two easy runs, and one strong Zone 4 effort. The training was intentional and honest. Unfortunately, no HR since mu HR monitory is broken, although in October my average around a 7:20 pace was 120-129BPM. So, until Black Friday hits…NO HR!
What surprised me was how smooth the entire week felt. The week before was sixty miles coming off a ninety mile week that included a fifty kilometer race and then a one hundred mile effort. Recovering that quickly shows how much my aerobic system has grown. It shows how well my nutrition, sleep, and structure are working. It shows that my body is adapting to a level I have never experienced before. One thing im working on which I may not…getting ride of my muscle. I went from 6 bodybuilding style workouts down to 3 only, still the same weight so i’m not sure how Nick Bare or Truett do it. Yes, it takes time so we will see.
I didn’t do it all alone. I logged miles with Marcus, someone whose work ethic and intelligence I respect deeply. It was good seeing him back after months down. I ran with Erik too and pushed him in a way he needed. The other nine sessions were solo and silent. Someone on TikTok asked if I ever get bored running. I honestly can’t remember the last time I ever thought that. I live in Zone 3 for most of my work. It is my thinking space. My creative space. My therapy. My meditation. Running is where I visualize everything I want to become.
Nutrition stayed locked in except for the days I couldn’t taste anything, but discipline carried me through. The next two weeks will depend on how quickly the sickness clears. If I feel normal, most of the work will shift toward hills. If I’m still off, then it will be high volume easy running with more food and more time on feet. Either direction builds fitness. Either direction keeps me moving forward. My goal is to hit between one hundred fifteen and one hundred twenty miles this coming week, but I will always listen to my body before I listen to my ego.
This week reminded me that perfection isn’t what creates progress. Awareness does. Consistency does. Adaptation does. Anyone can train when they feel one hundred percent. But the athletes who rise are the ones who keep going when things get messy, inconvenient, painful, or uncertain. This is where character forms. This is where identity is built. This is where belief comes from.
And that brings me back to where this story started. Some training weeks give you numbers. Others give you perspective. This one gave me both. But more than that, it gave me proof. Proof that I can adapt. Proof that I can adjust. Proof that no matter what the week throws at me, I will still find a way to show up. And that is exactly why I train. Because every time I show up under pressure, the next version of me steps forward. Will be back next week with week 2 which will be more structured since i’m back to 100 mile weeks.