WRD: Rest Week (apparently)
What a strange week it’s been. I am not generally worried about getting sick, in fact I rarely am sick (flu, bad colds, that sort of thing) so I don’t even get a flu shot. I think I may have had the flu 6 or 7 years ago and even then I was recovered in a couple of days.
However… the corona virus is here in the Netherlands – I knew it would happen anyway, it was just a matter of time – as of this writing 188 cases, 13 in my province, 1 in my city and 4 other cases near me (including 1 in the tiny village that Ron is from). There are quite some factors that bother me at the moment – the onset happened during Carnival, celebrated mostly in the south of the country, and during school holidays. Dutch people love to travel and they love to have their winter vacation somewhere on the ski slopes in Europe, including Italy where a huge outbreak has happened.
So of course; it’s cold/flu season anyway, Carnival is happening (huge groups of people together), people are coming back from Italy; we were bound to get it. At work everyone around me is coughing and sneezing and that finally played into my own paranoia.
Hence why the weekly run down this week is basically about rest for me.
Deborah and Kim are the amazing hosts for the Weekly Run Down! Feel free to join in as well to wrap up your week in fitness!
Monday: Very busy day at work, literally everyone was sneezing and coughing and I even started feeling like I was coming down with something. Worked until 6:30PM, so definitely missed Pilates. I did manage to get up early (5:15) to at least prepare my lunch and snacks.
Tuesday: I did try to get up early but only managed 6am instead of 5am. It was another very busy day, plus meetings, plus team dinner. Only got home at 9:30PM.
Wednesday: Set my alarm for 5 and promptly turned it off. The theme of the work week is stress it seems. Finally the colleague who sits closest to me went home sick (she’s had a cold since last week). The government advise is, stay home if you are sick. People are so stubborn though! No one wants to stay home if they are not “that” ill. Was going to go to pilates this evening, but again had to work late.
Thursday: Did not even try to get up early today. At least this week has been consistent. More stress. More overtime. I thought I might go to the gym but actually really don’t feel like it since it could potentially be a giant space of bacteria.
Friday: Day off. Finally went and got off my bum. I needed to go to the park again to check how much signage we may need for our parkrun. I did a 1KM warmup of walking, then 3 KM running to Sonsbeek. I then walked the first round of parkrun (2.5 KM) to “count” out the signs, most of which are directional arrows. Then I ran 5KM home.
Friday was our anniversary as well so Ron was home a bit early and then we went out to a dinner and to a movie. Was a very nice evening and I only thought about the corona virus 17 times , give or take (Ha!).
By the way, we went to see The Lighthouse. Has anyone seen it? Bizarre!
Saturday: parkrun day! I was planning on running (in Nijmegen) but the Event Director asked me if I wanted to volunteer – it was also International Women’s Day so they wanted to have the team to reflect that. My first official volunteering! I did the Newcomer’s briefing and the timing. Was actually really fun and nice to see that at the second event they still had almost 40 participants. Also nice to see my husband running like he was going for olympic trials on the first round and coming in second at the end, only seconds behind the first guy.
Sunday: Got to sleep in quite a bit. REALLY needed that! I waited around quite a bit to go run since it was supposed to be raining until around 2pm. Finally left the house around 2:30 with a plan to do 10 – 12KM.
I thought I might challenge myself a little bit and run over the John Frost bridge, over to Meinerswijk and then back over the Nelson Mandela. At that point I would be around 10KM and could take on another couple if I was feeling like I could manage it.
I was actually done at 10KM and the last couple were kind of hard (that’s ok!) but I really enjoyed being outside even though the weather was odd. And, wow, the water level is pretty high, at one point the path was under water so there was no escape from getting my feet wet.
And… I got to see the wild horses again and super cute fluffy cows. Always makes me happy! Being in what feels like the wilderness when I’m still in the city!
Coming up Next Week
The Plan
- Monday – pilates … although, not 100% sure because it’s a small class and I don’t want to get ill…
- Tuesday – RPM Sprint and RPM “regular”
- Wednesday – Run 40 minutes easy
- Thursday – RPM @home AM, massage clients PM
- Friday – 10 mins easy, (6x1k at target 10k race pace with 2 mins recovery jog/walk) 10 mins easy
- Saturday – test run for our parkrun (next 3 weeks)
- Sunday – Run 90 min (approx 14KM)
I’ll have to see how work goes Monday and if I’m feeling less paranoid about being in close quarters with people in my pilates class. Some of them HAVE been to Italy for ski holidays a couple weeks ago. Not everyone is being smart and staying home to protect other people.
Friday I go to the Homeopathic Center in Utrecht to speak to a women’s health specialist. I wanted to make an appt with my doctor this week, but with covid-19 I guess I felt like my GP might be busier with other things at the moment.
A little explanation about parkrun
The events that went live last week, including the one in Nijmegen, are not MY parkrun. We don’t go live for another few weeks… next week I can tell you exactly when. I live in Arnhem and Nijmegen is the closest (bigger) city to me. I’ve had the pleasure of working with the Nijmegen team for several months now; they’ve been super helpful and a few have come out to run our course (as a test) with us so we in turn wanted to run the very first event last week with them. Since we are not live yet in Arnhem, it also made sense for me to volunteer this week as I’ll need the experience soon at home!
I hope that we’ll have our materials this week (signage, flags, tokens, etc) so that we can test next Saturday, but if not, we’ll at least use the test tokens that the Eindhoven team gave us when we went down there a few weeks ago.
It’s kind of surreal to appreciate and be a part of a huge community and then set up your own parkrun in the city you live in. I could not have done this without Dafne, whom I actually found via Twitter, and Ron who didn’t really want to be a part of the core team, but has jumped in wherever needed without hesitation. It’s a big deal but I can finally say “I did this!” Because I did!! Ok, horn tooting over.
Last but not least, the MRI result
I have to still get a copy of the MRI so I can fully understand, but it appears that I have loads of fluid in my ankle and that the tendons that run under the foot are also very angry and inflamed and these of course are links to the toes that don’t want to move half of the time. The big toe joint is also very angry (well we knew that). Right now, because of Chicago on the horizon, I’m not doing anything yet, however, they do want to operate. I had a phone appointment and don’t understand everything that was said, so I’m ordering a copy of the MRI and will go to a (better) physio to have a better idea of what I can do in the meantime. One of the reasons I had some issues with my ankle and shin/calf about a year ago has everything to do with the fluid in my ankle. Balance has also been a big issue and that is part of it as well.
To be continued.
That’s a wrap!
How was your week? Are you concerned about the corona virus? Have you seen any really weird movies lately? How’s running going? Did you race?
15 Comments
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Happy belated anniversary!
I can relate to what you mean about worries about the coronavirus. I haven’t changed up my routine yet as far as work and the gym, but I think that my job eventually may ask us to work exclusively from home. They have already banned all non-essential travel and told us we are not to register for any conferences that require travel.
I’m not worried about the virus. Maybe I should be.
Sad about your foot and ankle.
You are as stubborn as I am. So I bet you do run Chicago.
Fingers crossed.
I wish we had park run in the US. Sounds great.
It is really scary w all the hype of the virus. I can understand why you are a little leery of going to the gym. Running or walking outside helps me destress. Wish we had all these parkrun events here. Hope you have a less stressful week. Thanks for linking up today!
My work is very supportive of working from home when we are sick, and I’m sure that’s a good part of the reason why I’ve had fewer colds since I started working there. At the job I had before that the only thing they cared about was long hours and I was constantly sick as long as I worked there. So frustrating that your company is in the dark ages about sick days. With that said, we’re not especially worried about corona, I mean it’s inevitable that it will spread to where I live, but what can we do, except, you know, wash our hands and stay home when we’re sick? I’m curious to see the Lighthouse, it sounds a lot like an old British movie, The Phantom Light and I’m curious if there’s a connection.
I’m worried enough to be washing my hands all.the.time using Purell as soon as I get back in my car from wherever (which I never did) and using cleaning wipes at work. Probably the riskiest class I go to is Orangetheory because we use different equipment throughout class, but I love it so much …. I would think Pilates would be low risk if you can wipe down your equipment unless the class is crowded. Running outside seems safest though! Your weekend runs looked great anyway!
I’m not especially concerned about the virus…yet. I do want to roll my eyes when one of my co-workers walks into the office, coughing profusely first thing in the morning, though. I am also a lot more aware of all the things I touch without realizing how many others have already touched them before me..the grocery carts, food scales (at the stores), ATM’s/debit card scanners. It’s been so fun (I know I say this frequently) watching all the progress you’ve made with Parkrun. Well done!!
Understand being leery of the gym! Gyms have always been a germ zone…I feel like it no longer a matter of if I get the virus, but when.. :(
On a brighter note, happy belated anniversary! Sounds like a fun week otherwise and excited for your park run!
We’ve just been on holiday and the Friday before we went, Matthew’s work banned all work travel (he’d come back from work travel the day before!) and also said he has to work from home for 14 days after having our holiday. But not self-isolate. Everything’s all screwy like that, as obviously he can just catch it in the supermarket and take it to work afterwards! I am pretty sure we will get it (but be OK) but it’s a worry with some friends with lung conditions etc. And if there’s a lockdown … well, we have a cross-trainer I can unearth from Matthew’s study and there’s always Kim’s stair workouts … Hope all stays OK there for you. Thank goodness for social media and blogs to keep us all connected, right?!
I do think all the hysteria is way overblown, but with 2 elderly parents (one mine, the other Mr. Judy’s), well, you worry. In fact, tomorrow is my mom’s birthday & I had plans to go down. She can still come out — but we can’t go in. Which makes pretty much no sense at all.
I hope it’s a smoother week for you this week & you stay nice & healthy!
Ugh, I hate when people come to work sick :( Keep those germs to yourself, people! Sorry about all the stress last week. Hope this week is better!
I am starting to get a little paranoid too. I’m trying to just be smart but its stressful when you’re around people who are sick. I was supposed to fly with my son this week to visit my sister but we canceled. Its too hard to keep a 1 year old from touching everything (and putting everything in his mouth!)
<3 I know you've been so stressed about this and I hate that for you. We are just watching and waiting right now. We are taking all the Vitamin C and washing our hands, but I touch my face all the time and I know little man does. Our Spring Break is next week and we are just seeing what the next move is.
Happiest anniversary to you both and really. Your ParkRun is amazing.You should be so SO proud of what you built.
I hope they can solve the issue of the fluid in your ankle.
I don’t think about the coronavirus all that much, but I have the same worries…basically that people will spread it by ignoring advice and being stubborn about going places when they are sick. We have not had any cases near us yet though. Hoping all the spring break travel doesn’t change that.
I am trying not to panic but it seems like everyone else is panicking so I panic too. I really don’t understand they whole deal with the toilet paper. I went to get some because I am running out and there is NONE. Still no running for me. Not sure what is going on but not motivated to run. Maybe tomorrow morning? Happy Belated Anniversary!!
Happy belated anniversary to you and Ron! I love seeing your wedding photos on FB – so beautiful!
Three days ago I would have told you that I wasn’t overly concerned about the virus, but now that everything is shutting down, it’s getting much more real. Out of an abundance of caution, we canceled our trip to visit my mom this weekend just in case either of us had come in contact with someone with the virus at work. I did not want to risk infecting her.
I always get the flu shot and as a result my case of the flu was much milder. I can’t believe how long it’s taking me to get my strength back, though. I feel fine, yet exhausted most of the time and I’m really trying to catch up on sleep. Since I’d canceled all appointments for today because of expected travel, I was able to sleep in this morning. Exhausted, I’d gone to bed last night at 8:30 and slept 11 hours and 23 minutes (according to my Fitbit). Wow, just wow!
Have a great weekend and stay healthy!