STATS:
Swimming: 7,200yds in 2 session
Cycling: 57 mi in 1 session
Running: 6 mi in 1 session
Maintenance: 30 mins
Total: 6.4 hrs

GOALS FOR LAST WEEK:
Last week was supposed to be my first week back training but I got sick on Tuesday night and didn't get to train the rest of the week.  My plan was to get in some good volume last week and keep the intensity really low.

* Get back into a routine.
* Try to start working out earlier in the morning.  I think the PM workouts are causing my sleep problems due to going to bed dehydrated.
* Three strength sessions.
* Swim 14K, Bike 250 mi, Run 36 mi

RECAP:
The week started off as planned but on Tuesday night I got a sore throat and was sick from Wednesday through Sunday and didn't work out AT ALL for 5 days in a row.  It looks like my two week mid season break just got extended to three.  Since there isn't really much training news to talk about I will talk about my thoughts on training while sick.  I've tried it different ways while sick........train lightly, no training, train through it......and I think what really matters is hydration.  I don't have any scientific basing for this and I haven't taken the time (yet) to do any searching on the subject but from my own personal experience I typically get sick when I'm dehydrated and seem to get better quicker when pounding fluids.  Why do you think they always say to have soup when you are sick?  It has fluids and sodium (in soup and crackers) and the sodium helps to absorb the fluids.  The body must use a lot of fluids to fight the virus and without the fluids it must not be able to do it's job as quickly.  All that being said, I didn't do the best job of hydrating during those five days and I think that increased the duration of my illness.  I also think sleep is overly important to get well quicker and for some reason I couldn't sleep AT ALL while I was sick.  One night I woke up at midnight and didn't get back to sleep until 5:30am.  That didn't help.  Needless to say, I didn't do the best job of executing my "Sickness Plan".  I did watch some movies and a lot of TV over the weekend though.

GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK:
Simply put, my goals for next week will be nearly the same as they were for last week.  The volume will be ramping back up and the intensity will be very, very low.

* Get back into a routine.
* Try to start working out earlier in the morning.  I think the PM workouts are causing my sleep problems due to going to bed dehydrated.
* Three strength sessions.
* Swim 14K, Bike 280 mi, Run 36 mi

THOUGHTS:
I wasn't really expecting to take last week off when planning out the back half of the season.  I've got Augusta 70.3 coming up in 5 weeks and since my break was extended to 3 weeks with a bunch of days completely off I will need to spend more time building my base back up if I want to have a great race at Clearwater.  I'm leaning towards not racing at Augusta because I think if I did I would end up rushing my base and I would sacrifice my Clearwater race and end up with two mediocre races.  I'd rather build up properly for Clearwater and have a great day there instead.  I think getting my volume back up for an extended period over the next couple of months will also set me up better for next year instead of dropping volume, racing, recovering, etc. for Augusta.  Who knows though, in 5 weeks I could be in great shape strictly off of base and end up racing Augusta as well.  Right now I'm just not so sure and will make a decision the week of the race.