Welcome to the Weekly Rundown. Recapping Chicago Marathon training week 11.  Alternative title: The week with the eye ulcer.  Yikes.  Linking up with hosts Deborah and Kim for this weekly training recap.

Monday 8/19

Run: Strength + Easy.  Started the morning with another Corebata class.  This time there were 7 core exercises that we did 8x each, 20s on, 10s off.  I followed up class with an easy 5 mile run.

Tuesday 8/20

Run: Speed.  This was not great.  The workout was supposed to be a crescendo: first set all at 10k pace, second set all at 5k pace.  As I’ve been mentioning on the blog for the past month, my speed and running seems to have dropped off a cliff after such a confidence boosting June.  As I missed my splits yet again, the question  “Why am I doing this?”  popped into my head.   My response was silence, perhaps the scariest response of all.  I couldn’t think of a reason.  Going to have to ponder THAT revelation for a while and figure out what it means and what I’ll do.  Coaching Sprint Tuesday after put me in higher spirits.

Other: Chiro follow-up.  Saw Dr. Ryan for another chiro appointment.  Last time he went HARD on my calf muscles and left me bruised for days.  This time they were not as tight, but my adductor and hamstring were.  If it’s not one thing, it’s another.  Yeesh.  He worked his magic and I left feeling more mobile.

Wednesday 8/21

Run: Strength + Easy.  Ran an easy 3 miles before strength class.  Yay cutback weeks!

Other:  Eye.  When I got to work, my eye started to water and sting.  I had to apologize to the teachers that I was training because I kept blinking, wiping my eye and covering it with my hand.  As the day went on, my eye progressively got worse and hurt so bad.  It started to swell a bit too.  I removed the contact in that eye and tried to keep it closed, but that didn’t alleviate anything of the stinging.  Then, I started to get a headache from having one contact in and one out.  A mess.

Luckily, after work I was able to get to an eye doctor.  Turns out I have a corneal ulcer (what a scary sounding name!).  She gave me eye drops to take every 3 hours and even told me I had to wake up at night to take them.  She said that we had to be aggressive so that it didn’t progress into surgery territory.  SURGERY? Gaaaahhh.  So no contacts for a while, meaning I had to dig through my apartment to find my glasses.  I have worn them maybe five times since high school, and they’re one prescription behind.  But it’s better than nothing!

Thursday 8/22

Run: Missed Tempo.  I was exhausted from getting up for the eye drops, plus my body just felt off.  My eye was still watering and a bit swollen from the irritation.  Since I can’t wear contacts, and my glasses don’t quite fit right, I decided to push my tempo off until Friday.  If I was going to have to run with questionable vision, I wanted to feel a bit better before attempting.  Instead, I did a mini strength and resistance band routine with Robyn at Coach’s Kitchen.

Friday 8/23

Run: Tempo.  After a day and a half of eye drops, I felt much better.  My eye was not watering as much, nor as irritated.  I felt good enough to attempt a run.  No contacts and no glasses.  LUCKILY, my prescription is not that bad, and I can still see enough to be able to safely run outside.  Distance is blurry, but I can tell when people, cars, etc are approaching me.  Just can’t quite make out details until they’re about five feet away.  I stayed close to home, just in case, and ran circles around a park.  The run felt okay – 4x 1 mile progressions to marathon pace.  I left the day feeling much better than Tuesday.  Although.  Still no sense of Why…

Saturday 8/24

Run: Long Run.  A cutback week meant another trail run for me!  14 miles, all aerobic pace.  Knowing that my vision was probably not good enough to attempt a single track adventure like last week, I went to Swallow Cliff and did loops on the wide multi-track path.  By now, I know these trails like the back of my hand and probably could run completely blind on them.   The run felt good – the fabulous fall-like weather helped! – and I left feeling content.

Other:  Cubs Game.  Met my parents in the afternoon for a Cubs game.  They lost, whomp whomp, but I still had a great time.  We had the recurring debate, “Who does Becca resemble more?” What do you think?

Sunday 8/25

Run: Rest.  My schedule called for 4 miles, but I was already at my total mileage for the week.  Decided it would be smarter to take a rest day today.  So instead, I spent my morning cheering for the Chicago Triathlon.  A few November Project and EDGE friends were competing and I love spectating any athletic event.  The currents in Lake Michigan were so intense they cancelled the swim, and turned it into a duathlon instead (bike and run).  As we watched the race, I found myself thinking, “I could do a duathlon….” Ha!  Let’s finish one training cycle before thinking about future ones, ok Becca?

And that’s a wrap!  Chicago Marathon training week 11 in the books.  It was another recovery week – I feel like I’ve been having a lot more of those than normal.  I totaled 38 miles for the week, even with the crazy corneal ulcer that popped out of nowhere.  I head back to the doctor on Monday to see what the next steps are for the ulcer.  Hopefully, the drops worked (which they seem to have) and I don’t need surgery or anything drastic like that.  Let me tell ya, WebMD rabbit holes are scary places.

How was your week?  Have you every had a corneal ulcer?  Let’s stay in touch!  Follow me on Instagram or Facebook for more food/fitness related posts.  

Happy running,

Becca