I worked my tookus off during pregnancy to stay in shape. I dragged my tired butt out of bed at 5:30 am all pregnancy so I could get in a run. The year before I got pregnant I was really making some fitness gains and I didnt want to lose them all. I had high hopes for this running season and it started off really well. 3 months after ds was born I matched my own PR for a 10K.

I have been sick now and have barely been able to work out for 5 weeks. Everytime I start again, a new illness wipes out the family. I dont even have the energy to do the physical therapy I am supposed to be doing for my shinsplints.

I am just getting really really frustrated and depressed. I had a great weekend and a really nice run yesterday morning and during my yoga class last night I could feel the cold that dh had this weekend coming on and by the time I got home I had a fever.

During my runs this weekend I can feel that I have lost a lot of endurance. I recruited a few friends to do a half marathon with me mothers day weekend and now I barely have time to ramp up safely to that distance.

I am so pissed, so depressed. (did I mention that without running I probably should be on anti-depressants)

Top it off the only nice weather we have had this month has been when I am too sick to leave the house. Most of the days I have gotten out have been miserable cold soggy downpour. Today it is 65 and sunny and I am tucked in on the couch.

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

I'm worried that if I dont get better soon I will injure myself trying to ramp up too fast to still do my half in may and my marathon in october.

Oh man, do I feel your pain....my partner keeps bringing something home one time after another, before my immune system has recovered from the first one, and I'm getting sick again as well. All I can say is hang in there and know you're not alone in being frustrated with illness/lack of ability to go to the gym.

I'm really sorry to hear that sickness is getting in the way of your exercise aspirations. It's really great that you are so determined to keep up with it all. Having dark weather is such a downer, have you looked into 'happy bulbs' or certain light projectors which send out the same sort of light that the sun does to boost people's moods?

If you're stuck on the couch instead of outside running where you want to be, why not try some sort of exercise to keep your muscles in motion. I'm not suggesting anything remotely strenuous but sometimes when I'm sick and get "sick and tired or being sick and tired" I will lay on the couch and do leg lifts or similar things.

Also, if it's in your budget (it's sorta expensive is all) Cold FX is really supposed to help. Lots of NHL hockey players swear by it and my mom and step dad do as well. My step dad takes one a day as a preventitive measure because he has really high stress levels which make it easier to get sick.

I hope you feel better soon.

Don't get too depressed. This has been one of THE worst winters for illnesses. No matter how much vitamin C and ecchinacea(sp?) I popped while hubby and son had one flu after another, I STILL ended up sick for a week. Just got out of the house today for the first time and exercised again yesterday for the first time. Some people are more succeptiple. I was determined NOT to get sick, and did everything humanly possible to stave it off, yet still....

But the bad weather is getting behind us and you have the whole Spring and Summer to ramp back up. Maybe next winter won't be as hard with viruses.

ennay, I feel your pain. My training log from last year had 60+ days where I wrote nothing but SICK on that day. That didn't count days I was sick and tried anyway, or days I was to sick (or depressed) to write anything. I'm guessing about 90 days altogether. Not good.

Nothing helped, and it was terrible, and it was one cold right after the other, and I think I had about 10 courses of antibiotics for everything from bronchitis to sinus infections to strep throat, and yep even pinkeye. And my training stank and my races stank. I tried more sleep, more vitamins, better nutrition, more coffee, and although I didn't wean DD for that reason I hoped it would help me get stronger. NOTHING worked. I was at my end. I kept trying and getting nowhere.

And then somehow it all passed, and I kept trying and started getting somewhere. I could train more consistently, my races were decent if not great, and it just felt better.

So you have my permission to wallow in it, to feel full of self-pity and frustration, to nap rather than to run, and to shout at the world. I actually think that is a healthy reaction. But hang in there for when it does turn around.



Anne

I hope you feel better!

It must be a REALLY bad season, becuase you can add me to that list... I've been "out" with bronchitis for a few weeks, went to the gym anyway a few times but I'm just getting back into the swing. It sucks to be out of commission.

Awww, ennay ... I can't add to the encouragement the others gave you but hang in there, this too shall pass

Maybe you need to give yourself permission to lie on the couch for a week? I think that pushing through without giving your body due time to heal can make you more likely to get the next virus flying around.

Take a break, take some chicken soup, some fluffy slippers and a big big blankie and hog the couch for at least an afternoon!

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents. My kids are now 16, 13, and 10. When they were little (especially from when my oldest started pre-school up until about three years ago) someone was always sick with something in this house. Always. Bronchitits, strep (egads the girls in this house are strep magnets!!), ear infections, flu, bad colds, etc. When natural gas prices jumped a few years back, I was determined not to let PECO get any more of our money. So I went about incrimentally lowering the thermostat in the winter. We used to keep it at 70 degrees most of the time. I lowered it 1 degree for about 7 weeks, then another degree. It took some adjusting too but not that much. Last year gas was very expensive but I kept the temp in the house during the day around 64/65 degrees. No, we're not cold and if we do get chilly we just put on a sweater. We turn it up to 66 or maybe 67 (if it's really windy and cold) at dinner time. We set it for 62 during sleeping at night. We also purchased Levelor Honeycomb shades for the LR/DR and bedrooms (bedrooms have a blackout liner -- superb!!) Lowes, about $40 or so, they cut to fit your windows. On the cold, windy days I keep them all down and always keep them down at night. They do a great job insulating (our windows are complete crap). Also great keeping out the heat in the summer.

No one in our house has been sick for the past three years. Maybe a cold here or there but nothing major at all. Seriously. It could just be coincidence that they are bigger but I think lowering the heat had something to do w/it. My kids also are hand washers and I clean with Clorox Clean Up Spray (bleach = dead germs!). I'm big on washing doorknobs, phones, fridge and kitchen handles and the keyboard/mouse. Eeek, am I turning into my mother??

Just thought I'd throw this out there -- for what it's worth! Hope you're feeling better soon!


Jo

Yeah I tried that for 3 weeks...

I found that as my kids got older DH and I got less sick plus I work in the schools and never take a flu shot and I am rarely sick... (this comment better not bite me in the butt by making me sick )