For the last two weeks I've been on a two-week break from any scheduled training, it's a nice little transition my coach builds into my schedule between each training cycle. I've been running when I feel like it, spending some time at the gym and getting outside to hike with my kiddos, including a solo sunrise hike with my girl last weekend.

I just finished up the last race in the NE-USATF Mountain Running Series (I ended up finishing fourth in the series) and will head into an off-season next week where my runs will be fluid and up to me to determine and the focus will be on strength training.

For the past few weeks I've had a lot of fun playing around with different runs. I've run about every other day with a trail run and a fun "how much climbing can I get close to my house" run. I also threw in a few hill repeats this Tuesday and was planning on heading to the track on yesterday, but Tuesday after my run I felt off: my chest felt heavy and my lungs sore. I opted instead to rest and the Wednesday night woke up with a fever and chills. Yesterday I laid in bed all day, full on body aches, head throbbing and dry coughing. My chest and lungs are still sore and I feel so wiped out. I haven't been this sick in two years.

Ugh.

So there went my plans for some fun around the track. I'm hoping if I rest Friday I'll be up for a trail run on Saturday, but I have no idea how long this sickness is going to linger.

Next Season

I've started mapping out my runs for 2018 and I'm starting to get really excited about some of the races I'll be targeting. It'll be more hills and mountains and a few longer races, which will bring back the long run-which I've been missing a bit.

Racing

Even though the next few months will be relatively low key in terms of racing I'll still be participating in the CHaD Hero Event on October 22nd and running the Seacoast Half Marathon with Rise.Run.Retreat. on November 12th. I'm super exited about both events and can't wait to give out more details about Rise.Run.Retreat!! Even though we're not hosting our traditional retreat, the weekend-long event is shaping up to be super fun!