Week 39: 21–27 September

Run: 0h 27m (2.5 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 33m | Gym: 0h 00m

Exercise this week has been almost entirely dog-walking, whilst waiting for the cough to clear and trying not to make a bad situation worse.

By Friday I was still coughing, although less than earlier in the week, and still hadn’t managed a test run. With Chester getting very close, I’ve more or less accepted that it is no longer going to be the sub-three-hour attempt I had been training towards. That’s frustrating after putting together a decent block through the summer, but there isn’t much point pretending the last couple of weeks haven’t happened.

The thinking now is that Chester may end up being an extended easy run rather than a race. If I get there feeling reasonably healthy, one option is to run the first half very conservatively and then pick things up if everything feels good. More importantly, everything from here starts to feed into London in April. There is probably more value in arriving at that training block healthy than trying to rescue a marathon performance from a fortnight disrupted by illness.

I did at least get back in the pool this week. I’m still rushing the stroke, particularly on the left side, and struggling to get enough air in. The focus is on keeping my head flatter in the water and rotating sideways rather than lifting it to breathe, with a little more rotation to get my mouth properly clear. It remains one of those things that sounds very straightforward when somebody explains it from the side of the pool.

Sunday finally brought a very tentative 2.5-mile test run. There was no headache, nausea or anything concerning in the chest, which was encouraging. My throat is still noticeable painful when swallowing, though, and the hamstrings felt surprisingly tight after the lay-off. Heart rate was also much higher than I would normally expect for the pace, although after nearly two weeks without running while fighting off a virus that probably isn’t especially surprising.

So, 2.5 miles is hardly the triumphant return I might have imagined at this point in a marathon plan, but at least it is a start. I’ll try another short and easy run tomorrow and see whether the heart rate and general feel begin to settle. There is certainly no mileage to be made up now.