Recovering from flu...

Well that should read "recovered" if I'm honest.... I say flu.... I think it was that or some other virus ...yes I had a fever, yes I did barf, yes I did ache and no there was little to no snot.. And i ended up with a nasty dry chesty type cough... Suffice to say I did not have a simple cold.....

I knew whilst I was throwing up at 2am that the standard "having a cold" protocol whilst training (ie ok to train easy Z1 when you have symptoms above the throat and no fever), was out the window... And I knew whilst sweating later that night I was looking at complete rest for at least a week.... I was quite accepting of this as I knew it was what it was, and better to recover properly.

My temperature went with 48hours and my appetite came back in 72, but that was way too late for me to be able to do the cycle Sportive I had entered, not that I had any energy for that anyway.... So a week after the worst bit I went out for a nervous jog, just to see how I reacted.... 15 mins in z1 left me wheezing and frankly knackered.... So I knew then that I was still in the midst of the lurgy, the fact I sounded like I smoked 40 a day and spoke several octaves lower then normal should have given it away.

My coach had already said to me not to panic, my "A" race after all it is not until November, and I know from my own scary experience that if you get a virus you have to rest and recover properly before embarking on full training, as the risks of not doing so are far greater then the rewards of getting back on it 5 days too soon.

Still.... It is frustrating....

With a flutter of energy I resumed some effort of training last week, two weeks after it all started.... I did an easy 45min last Monday and happily told my coach I was back..... Ahhh but he is WISE! I woke up to my weekly programme and thought it looked quite light, then I stood up and felt washed out! Wisely my coach had given me a recovery kind of week which was just what the doctor (ok Doris) ordered. So I did a 30min easy swim on Tuesday, which felt ok but tired after. Same for the gym (row and XT) session on Wednesday, with the power of stato I could see my HR was marginally up compared to the same efforts several weeks before... Telling me I was still recovering... A 40min run Thursday and then a 1.5th turbo with intervals Friday, some massage school at the weekend and an easy, building to effort hot run for 35 mins Sunday saw the end of the week... And me fairly knackered from it but HR zones more or less back to normal, even if perceived exertion was up!

I rested up yesterday to check for my reactions and FINALLY fully 3 weeks after I began to feel ill I think I am better! And about time too....

Now I know my race is weeks, no months away (although there is the small matter of a half marathon in 2.5 weeks!), but this has put me back, not just by the 3 weeks of full training I've missed but back probably the same number of weeks before I was ill (in terms of training load and fitness etc)... So realistically i'm back at the beginning of May in terms of fitness!

I'm fortunate though that this hit me now, so early in my training cycle. And I'm fortunate i'm not doing IM Austria this coming weekend unlike my good friend Jules (so excited about going to watch him lose his IM cherry.... So to speak )

Focus for the next few weeks is consistency. Would like to start building my swim times up, rebuild my bike and run. I entered Little Woody (half ironman distance) which is at the end of August, which is far enough away to be ready for but near enough to get excited about ... Hurrah!


Footnote: my coach is telepathic.... Next few weeks programme has arrived with guess what... Endurance swims!! Ha ha .... Yippppeeeee!

... You can call me Dory...

... On that note I'd better get on with some exercise!


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