Wednesday 2 December 2009

Grounded!

I've tried my best to train with this chest infection, however, last night things came to a head. I was just setting off on my 3rd session of the day, a short 3 mile run back home, when I all of a sudden had a shortness of breath. I'd hardly gone a 1/4 mile when I felt as if the flow of air through my lungs was severely restricted. It was so bad that I walked the rest of the way home!

It's not like me to go to the doctors but after a couple of people suggested that I should go I made the trip to the Walk In Centre in Newcastle. What a brilliant service! I was in and out within 30 minutes and came away with a prescription for antibiotics and a recommendation to rest for 7 days.

I'll be taking this advice and I'm gutted that I'll be missing out on a few runs but especially gutted to be missing 2 training sessions with Mark Fleming, David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp and, of course, the now traditional Sunday morning run across the 6 Tyne Bridges.

As soon as this chest infection is over, though, I'll be starting the next major cycle in my training. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the next stage of training is all about building up big mileage and doing it day after day. By the end of March I hope to be able to comfortably run 31 miles one day and then do it all again the next. The target after this, is to run 31 miles per day for 7 days. I hope to achieve this by the end of August 2010.

Given, all of the running I've done so far, and the support and encouragement I'm getting from so many people, I'm pretty confident of reaching the next major target in August 2010. The margin for error next year, though, is so very small. I've got away with making a lot of bad decisions this year. Next year is a completely different ball game. The scope for missing runs is virtually non existent. I've got to sort my nutrition out once and for all. Finally, choosing the right time to rest is very important too.

There are challenging times ahead for sure. For the next 7 days, however, it's all about resting and taking antibiotics!