Training was all going well, then I got a cold, plenty of sneezing and the like. Not suspecting that anything untoward, I ploughed on with training, albeit at a slightly reduced level of intensity, but nevertheless completing nearly 12 miles on my Sunday run.
Come Monday, the sneezes had stopped, I didn't feel 100% but felt well enough to go out for a gentle jog. 4k later I had to call it a day, I was pooped. I passed on my regular Tuesday lunchtime run with the folks from work for the first time in weeks, barely able to scale the stairs without losing breath.
Wednesday morning, nothing had improved and I figured it should have, so I took myself to the doctor's. I got a veiled ticking off for not listening to my body and trying to run my way through it and instructed that the only cure was complete rest. So that's what I've been up to for the last few days, sleeping mainly and not even contemplating going for a run.
It's just reinforced that when you're training for months for a big event, you have to factor in something going wrong. If you start out assuming you will be able to train week in week out, you'll be disappointed. In 4-6 months of preparation, you will miss some sessions, some will be planned/reduced, due to the constraints of a holiday for example, others won't be planned and will be because of injury or illness of some kind. It's the facts. The odds are stacked against you, an average person will have 2 colds per year, I think the trick is to not let it get you down and to keep your goals realistic. So much for that sub-3:00 marathon then...;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment