All last week I spent my days frustrated with injury and uncertainty with my training of how to go forward with biking and running.  Things were made worse by a cold that kept me suffering from Wednesday of two weeks ago to last Thursday.  Just over a week where I tried in the beginning to run and ride through it, and then finally gave in and spent Monday and Tuesday resting at home with very little activity.  Finally Wednesday I went on an afternoon bike ride that was probably one of the best rides I’ve gone on since I arrived, just from the fact that I could breath and didn’t feel like my head was going to explode.  I don’t know how I caught this cold, whether it was from my friend’s baby who has been sick for a couple weeks or from “getting cold from wind” which is what Italians really like to pinpoint illness to.  It is possible that when I went to a friends house and jumped in the pool and got out just when a storm was arriving and the air was cooling off where my body was caught off-guard and some virus that was already brewing got a hold on my immune system.
 Either way, in the midst of fighting this cold I debated whether to do a road race on Friday (8th) that at the time I thought was not in the best interest of my training and body overall, but still wanted to do it.

I decided to do this road race, The Jackpot Run which was about 45 min away, instead of doing a local community race that would have been more of just relaxing and having fun then actually running.  I’m glad I chose the other race because it turned out to be raining in my town all evening and made the run pretty miserable.  The Jackpot Run on the other hand was about 200 people (50 women) all registered by local teams running 2 loops on street, dirt road and track.  It was a 5.7 km race where if the first man could break the record from the previous year (16:13) would win 500euro, and the women to do the same (record 19:17) would win 400euro.  The first man won in 16:09 and the first woman was 19:25.  Sucks for that lady since she was so close… I know if I were in shape, trying, and hadn’t been sick all the previous week I could have broke the record…. oh well.
My race went pretty well though despite..

Final Results:
1° Marzena Michalska (Fiamme Oro) 19’25″
2° Claudia Gelsomino (Atl. Palzola) 20’33″

4° Maria Cecilia D’Andrea (ARC Busto) 22’14″
5° Lorena Strozzi (Atl. Casorate) 22’26″
6° Paola Gobbo (Atl. Casorate) 22’31″

Its amazing how much energy you can waist just by swerving around people in the first couple kms to move up in the group.  After this period of people passing I settled in behind an older man in a red uniform that ended up pulling me through to the end.  Since 2km into the race I got an AWFUL stomach ache where I wanted to stop and throw-up every step of the way.  But this guy was encouraged me to catch the 2nd woman since she was only about 20 seconds ahead.  But considering, I was happy enough that I didn’t slow down even more and just hung on to his pace till the end.
After not racing for more then a month and only twice in the past year of training it was great to reignite my excitement and passion for running and racing.  Doing this road race released so much tension and frustration that had been building up and breaking me down over the past few weeks of injury and illness.  It got me excited to do more road races and not worry so much about track races and speed workouts that were the reason for my aggravated calf muscles and shin pain.  Even though I didn’t win, I tested my fitness and ability to be competitive that I know will be better next time and I will push myself more to be at the front.  I was attentive during this race and uncertain as how my right shin/calf would feel with this faster pace and effort, so I resisted any surges or extra strain on my legs (which I guess in some way the stomach ache was a good thing, because that way I wasn’t even able to pick it up and push the pace).

This week I will be focusing on getting some solid training in on the bike and running.  Doing some long easy rides in the morning and then heading to the track (but running on the grass) in the evening.  It’s getting pretty hot out here with temperatures reaching 31 degrees C (88 degrees F) and supposed to keep getting warmer, and humid during the day, but I’m able to get my work done in the morning and evening so it’s not too bad.
As of now I’m planning on doing another road race this Friday near Bergamo which is pretty far away but it’s part of a circuit of 6 races that the coach of my team suggested to do, so it could be good.