Just when I thought I was blessed with an injury free and illness free 2018, in February just a few days after coming back from holiday in Italy, I twisted my left ankle when wearing my new shoes I bought from Italy. Then a few days later, another setback had hit my running. I suffered from a very nasty chest infection.
John got ill right after Italy. Then I managed to pick up the bug from him. My chest was so sore and I kept coughing. I couldn’t breathe let alone running. I was sent home from work by my boss because I was so poorly. I missed my hygienist appointment and loss £28 non-refundable deposit. I also missed the Comets AGM. Ciao Bella is one of my favourite restaurants. I was gutted I was too ill to attend.
What’s frustrating is that February and March are usually my peak training months in the run up of the Marathon and my immune system chose to be at a low ebb and didn’t bother to fight against the virus. Once the virus has won over my lungs, I had to stop running completely until my immune system wins over the virus. This time it took me 2 and half weeks to recover. During this time, I slept a lot just to let my body rest. I missed out several events such as Hemel 17 miler, Regents Park 10k and Harpenden Half Marathon.
I only went back training about 10 days before the Hemel 20 miler. I did 3 short runs only covering 7 miles. The week before the Hemel 20 miler, I did 5 hours walk. That’s all.
I went to do the Hemel 20 miler on my own as John said he is still not fit enough after his “man-flu” to endure 20 miles hilly course. I had never done 20 miles in 2019. I just wanted to see whether I could complete the distance without stopping to catch my breath. I did finish but in a very slow time of 3 hours 45 minutes. I want to say a big thank you to our club chair Alan Johnson who ran from home to the start to send me off. Your encouragement really boosted my spirit and meant so much to me.
My initial target of finishing the Milton Keynes Half Marathon in sub 5 hours seems very unlikely now – even if I start training very long distance this coming weekend, that only gives me 3 weeks of preparation (ie: only 3 long runs) before the taper starts 2 weeks before the race day on 6th May.
Due to my current fitness, I will have to start from a low pace, that would make the Milton Marathon something of a trudge. I have now lowered my bar for 5 and half hours as it is quite impossible to finish under 5 hours considered my current state of fitness.
It is now nearly the end of March and the weather is still quite cold. It is more like winter than spring. I find the very cold air and fog aggravate my respiratory system hence I am more susceptible to chest infection and flu. When my body is weakened my lungs are the first thing to become vulnerable.
I hope my next race report will be the Milton Keynes Marathon as it means that I am able to complete the distance !
