Having the lurgy sucks. Having the lurgy when it’s only 10 weeks to London Marathon really sucks. To run or not to run, that is the question? I had to answer this on Sunday morning for which I’d planned a 12 miler.
I’d done Parkrun the day before. I’d woken up with a bit of a tingle at the back of my throat but was otherwise feeling fine. And it was a good run – faster than training pace. After the routine mocha/hot chocolate with my running buddy, Mary, I headed home. I mooched about in the afternoon, did core and rolling and felt OK. By about 7pm, I felt like rubbish. My throat was on fire, the glands on the side of my neck were swollen and I ached all over.
Waking up on Sunday morning, I thought about putting on those shoes and getting out the door but commonsense slapped me around the head. I had a few images of how the run would go. The main one was that by mile 3 I’d either be sitting on the footpath crying and shivering or unconscious. Not a good image to have before heading out the door. So I did the sensible thing and went back to bed.
Now I know this is sounding overly dramatic. So what if I’m sick for a few days and miss a few runs?
This is my second marathon. I know a few days out does not mean game over. But training for a marathon sends many of us into a bit of a tailspin – any illness, even if very short lived, or niggles and pains, feels like it could be the end of days!
To have gone out would have been stupid. There’s the rub – the conflict between the pragmatic and the emotional bits in my brain – it would have been an awful run but I felt awful for not running.
I decided I would try a run on Tuesday. My aim was 12 miles. This was to be my long slow run (LSR) of the week – the backbone of marathon training. Now I’ve had many runs that suck, this is a normal part of training. The first 5 miles were great and by that point I got to run along the Thames, spot to Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and meander down along Southbank down towards Tower Bridge. By mile 9 I was really starting to hurt and not in that long run, I’m getting tired, sort of way. Do I just power through?
I don’t like cutting a run short, even those long runs where towards the end all I want to do is cry. This one I did, at 9 ½ miles with the pragmatic part of my brain winning out. It was time to go home and rest! I spent an hour or so feeling sorry for myself then got over it – this is all part of the training experience, the good and the bad. 10 weeks to go to London Marathon!
Training Recap – 10 weeks to London Marathon
Saturday – 3.4 miles including Parkrun. Rolling and core.
Sunday – stayed in bed
Monday – rolling and core and a wander
Tuesday – 9.5 miles, rolling and core and a Pilates class
Wednesday – rolling and core and a wander
Thursday – aimed to run 5 miles at an even plodding pace, ended up doing 6.2 because it felt good. It was damp and cold and took me about an hour to defrost once home. Rolling and core.
Friday – some walking and rolling and core.
Total – 19.1 miles all at training pace
(February 2017)
I had the same issue a few weeks ago. A bad cold had me in bed for a week and I was stressing so much. We all know it makes sense to rest up when ill – until we are training for a marathon and then it is like the end of the world. Martin Yelling said it right at Meet the Experts last weekend – if you are ill there is no point in training. Rest, get better and come back fighting. I feel better for it and you will too. Keep it up!
Cheers Gemma, and so true. It’s very easy to overdramatise when marathon training! So many of us do it and it all seems a little silly in hindsight. All better now and glad you are too. Happy training!
Thanks really good post, hope you don’t mind I posted it on my page too.
Thanks so much Jo, and more than happy for you to!
Funny isn’t it how a simple cold can become a big dilemma. Every sneeze sends me scampering. Nice format by the way, very readable and nice for me as we are at similar stages in training.
Hope you don’t mind me borrowing your weekly training recap structure…I have a terrible habit of over complicating things.
Darren, more than happy for you to use the same structure! And on the lurgy – I think it strikes fear into all runners when training for a specific goal…here’s to being lurgy free! And I like your blog – looking to do some trail running post London Marathon. Cheers!
Thanks Sophie. You should definitely give it a go…very different and be prepared for less consistent times but nothing like been out in the country. To been lurgy free!
Will do! Thinking of starting with the London Loop over the summer spread over many many weeks!