I've come a long way...

So, this time last week, I was happy that i'd run 1.5 miles after 3 weeks of nothing and looking forward to trying out a 2 miler the next day.

This was Me today,
and will be me forever most likley!

Fast forward a week and I have pretty much caught up! Did two and a half out of three of the training runs in the week and managed a whole 10 miles today for my long run!

This is something I really didn't envisage happening at all. I embarked on the long run with a 10 mile goal but would have been happy with 8 seeing as I've not done a long run for a while. Unsurprisingly, I went slower than a three-toed sloth in a tree covered in treacle, but I did it - I went the distance without falling over/collapsing/requiring medical attention.


Saying that, i'm sure I will be sore in the morning but it has been reassuring that all the previous training hasn't gone entirely to waste and I can get back on track for the 15 mile run scheduled for next week.  Now that will be slightly trickier because I need to arrange it around a weekend of work but its not impossible...just need a lot of inspiration to get there...

Gone with the wheeze...

Hello! I am still here and finally seem to be over that seemingly never ending cold/cough/wheezing episode.  

It has been 3 weeks now since my last proper long run and I've been getting increasingly frustrated with long nights of lots of coughing and not much sleep leading me to think that my marathon journey may be over almost as soon as it began. 

However, I am delighted to say that may not be the case now.  I finally stopped the continuous coughing earlier this week but was still a bit chesty so left it until Friday to go out for a test run.  Just a gentle 1.5 miler and it went OK, but, when I got home, the coughing and wheezing started again and I was not a happy bunny.  Yesterday I spent the day walking/clambering over rocks to beautiful deserted beaches in South Devon in which I probably covered a good few miles walking but I did feel better yesterday evening and my legs still feel strong (even when hiking up massive hills), which is encouraging.  

Today was supposed to be an 11 mile run, obviously that didn't happen, but a 2 mile run did.....so far, my lungs feel like they are pretty much back to normal with not a single cough or wheeze occurring in the 30 minutes I've been home. - woohoo!

The next step is to somehow ramp up the mileage so I can catch up with the training. The Marathon is 8 weeks today so I'm not sure how I will achieve that but i'm going to give it a good go - even if I end up running half of it then walking the rest, I AM determined to finish!

For next weekend, a 10k race is planned so I'm planning to cover all the training runs leading up to the weekend then try for a 9 or 10 mile run/walk instead to prepare me for the 15 miler planned for the following week. I will also make it my mission to avoid anyone with the slightest sniffle like the plague so if anyone with a cough or a molecule of snot on their person comes within a metre of me please don't be offended if I run away from you!

So, to get back on track I definitely need some inspiration and this week I think Albert Einstein captures my current situation quite nicely in this qoute....

Natural Disaster.

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, this week has not gone to plan in the slightest. However, as it turned out, the weather is not to blame as although it has been on the chilly side, we have remained snow and ice free so far. The problem this week has been my health or should I say lack of it. 

In my post at the beginning of the week I had a touch of the sniffles and shakes but was hoping to get going the next evening.  Unfortunately, that did not happen as the aches kept on coming, the snot kept flowing, and the cough started hacking so I took the decision to wait until I feel better before I hit the roads again. Thinking it would all be cleared up in a couple of days but oh no, this one was here to stay.  I have barely had a full nights sleep all week thanks to the non stop mucus factory that my lungs have become so have even missed today's long run which has been extremely frustrating. 

Missing a week of training is not what I want at this stage (or any stage) but its either rest up or get worse so I've just got to suck it up and hope I can get back into training soon.  Not wishing to whinge too much, but even a trip to Sainsbury's this morning to do the weekly food shop left me drained - so the 10 miler I have planned for next Sunday isn't looking too appealing at the moment.  

I guess the best thing to do is just to carry on going the distance and forgetting even more about speed and just get it done.....definitely going to need some more motivation to get through that.....