Th3 Core

How you all doing?  This season I've gotten sick a lot, nothing serious, but it seems to be the year I keep getting head colds.  I've probably missed ten workouts in the last six months.  I have a cold right now and I'm skipped the gym once this week so far and likely only going on Sunday again, so that will only be 2/4.

I've been tracking on a spreadsheet since the end of last year. My goal is at least four "training" hours a week. I want to hit 400 hours for the year (eight average), but figure I'll make up for lost time when the days get longer. So far, managing about 5.5 on average.

400 hours of running or endurance training is a rough "weekend warrior" output. People like Kilian Journet log upwards of 1400 hours per year. They spend as much time running as I spend at work!

it seems to be the year I keep getting head colds.

Last couple years for me. Recently, I had the beginnings of a cold and backed off and thought I beat it. Then I went out for a 90-minute run and the next day... sore throat and runny nose.

I have been generally inspired by Scott Johnston's books (Training for the New Alpinism and Training for Uphill Athletes). He is a former World Cup XC skier and has been a  coach to World Cup XC skiers and top alpinists for many years. His rule for elite athletes is to stop training at the *first* sign of illness.

He says the biggest mistake is to tough it out and train through illness and the second biggest mistake, which is the one I made, is to jump back in to it right after symptoms are gone. He says the next few days after cold symptoms are gone, you need to go very easy.

Here is one of Scott Johnston's forum answers to someone coming back from a cold
https://www.uphillathlete.com/forums/topic/recovering-from-illness/#post-3621 (second answer in the thread)

Some other threads
https://www.uphillathlete.com/forums/topic/training-after-illness-common-cold/

I've been totally off the "exercise" wagon, but doing five days a week of construction work the last three weeks. Tore the cabinets and ceiling off my downstairs, added soundproofing and am putting the ceilings back up. Just need to tape, mud, paint, put the cabinets back and clean up and I'm done!

I had a serious cold at the start anyway, so it was probably better not to be running in the cold.

Oh yeah. I've been pretty tired. That's why I put it in quotes that I've been off the wagon. In a similar vein, I've often found that a hard day of hauling and burning brush is one of the best workouts there is.

A couple of things that I make do with sometimes
 - a wheelbarrow loaded up with a 200 to 300 pounds. Do short uphill sprints of 5 to 20 seconds. Adjust the weight according to the steepness of the hill and the length of the sprint.
 - move big rocks if you have any.

I haven't done it, but I know some people do some great workouts with 4" PVC pipe with water, but less than full, so it sloshes. So you do overhead squats, for example and have to stabilize as the water moves. Apparently really good and less than $20 for the pipe and caps.

also a backpack with weight in it (gallon jugs or dumbells) is good for weighted pushups