Paris Marathon training: Week 7

It was inevitable that I would get struck down by a office bug at some point. As the winter draws in, the air conditioning at work gets turned to the kind of temperature that allows germs to fester, and a cough at one end of the building is sucked up into the ventilation system like Bruce Willis in Die Hard and rained down on every individual in the building. And so, when I woke up on Sunday morning, feeling a little sniffly a couple of hours before a big race, I made for the Lemsip…

Truth be told, once I’d got into the mindset of racing for the Andy Reading 10k and had done my warm up, I felt fairly ready to go. I’d stopped feeling ill and was simply focusing on trying not to set out too fast, reigning back my desire to go cantering off down the pavement to get closer to the front of the pack. So, by the time I’d managed to secure a sparkly new PB, I was feeling good and as if I might be out of the woods in terms of coming down with the dreaded illness.

Monday’s scheduled rest day rolled round, and even though I felt like going out for a run and wasn’t stiff from the previous day’s race, I kept it as a rest. However, Tuesday dawned with a horribly sore throat, which worsened on Wednesday and diversified into a full-on head cold. This cancelled out any running.

By Thursday I was feeling on the mend. I wasn’t right, but my throat had stopped being sore and my head seemed to be clearing. I decided that I would go for a relatively slow jog around Abingdon to stretch my legs and see how I felt. It actually felt okay – I was far from being at the top of my game, and I wouldn’t have liked to go any further, but I wasn’t as slow as I feared and I felt relatively strong. It was cold though (we had snow in the morning, and some of it was still settled that evening), and I’m sure that didn’t help my lungs that much.

Friday and Saturday both became rest days (although Saturday’s Christmas shopping surely can’t qualify as a rest day), and so my distance this week is paltry. I guess it’s better to get over the cold, though, than prolong or antagonise it through further exercise. In the meantime, I’m sitting in, getting itchy feet, wanting to get back out for the long runs before too long.

Sunday: 10km @ 3:52 per km

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Sore throat-induced rest

Wednesday: Head cold-induced rest

Thursday: 11.5km @ 4:31 per km

Friday: Revenge of the head cold-induced rest

Saturday: Still a bit ill, but just about up to Christmas shopping

If you’re wondering why I’m not just sitting in front of an open fire cooking chestnuts and being quintessentially Christmassy in my groggy state, it’s because I’m running the Paris Marathon in April 2010 to raise money for The Stroke Association. If you think I’m suffering for a good cause and still have a bit of cash left over from the Christmas splurge, please head on over to http://www.justgiving.com/lewis-birchon and show your support. Thank you!