Forums >General Running>Help with Training Plan Sick Two Weeks Before First Half
Hi Everyone
I'm hoping for a little advice I've been following Hal Higdon's training plan for novice half marathon. My first one EVER is coming up on February 14th the A1A half marathon in Fort Lauderdale. I ended up catching bronchitis about a week ago which means my last complete run series was 4.5, 4.5, 7miles. My next run before getting sick was a long run of 8 miles followed by 2 short runs of 5 and a long run of 9 which should have been yesterday. So essentially I've missed 8 and 9 of the long run training. This week is supposed to be 5 5 and a long run of 10. Next week is 4,3,2 and then two rest days before the sunday run. I'm a little weak and still have a mild cough. I attempted to run last night and really couldn't go far without coughing.
My question is do I just move forward this week with the 5 5 10? Go back to the 4.5 4.5, 8 and never run the 10 before race day? Any suggestions would be really appreciated. I'm a very beginner newbie runner if you couldn't tell!
Thank you!
an amazing likeness
First thing, first is to get healthy and recovered. Then fit in training runs around that goal. It is better to toe the starting line healthy and undertrained, rather than sort of healthy (or still sick) and exhausted from trying to squeeze in a bunch of last-minute training.
Get healthy and step back into the plan when you are. Don't try to cram in a bunch of runs to "make up" what you missed -- those days and miles are gone.
You will probably not need to do as much "tapering" as Higdon has in the plan, since you didn't make it to the peak miles, so maybe push up the mid-week distances a few miles if you can.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
I'm a little weak and still have a mild cough. I attempted to run last night and really couldn't go far without coughing.
As Milktruck stated it is better to get to the starting line healthy and under trained than not at all. If your coughing is interfering with your running, then you should not be out running. Since you are now within two weeks of the half, none of your training runs are going to add to your fitness. They will just maintain your current fitness. So any runs you do should be easy runs of 3 to 5 miles. You should focus on getting rest and getting healthy.
Consistently Slow
+2
Run until the trail runs out.
SCHEDULE 2016--
The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
http://bkclay.blogspot.com/
I'm glad this was posted. I needed to read these responses. I'm 1.5 weeks from a half (not my first, fortunately) and have been dealing with a similar illness. I pushed through last week and got in my miles, and I'm paying for it this week with an even worse cough, poor sleep, etc.
Thanks for the reminder that healthy/undertrained is better than sick/overtired. I'll do what feels good for the next week. Even if that's just 4 miles, an extra long hot shower, and a bourbon/honey!
Good luck, and feel better ecollum
I rationalize it in my mind as residual fitness. I've ran a half dozen marathons, a handful of ultras, and a bunch of others. I've never nailed a taper. I've pretty much ran too little in ever taper I've ever done for one reason or another. This includes sickness, bruised ribs, and even a double lung surgery while training and tapering for a 24 hour event.
Trust that your version of reality is stronger than reality itself. Trust that you'll be fine. When the starting gun goes off, start with a reasonable pace and run according to your state of mind and body. From there, trust the signals your body gives you and enjoy the run.
You'll be awesome!
Don't screw around with bronchitis. You're likely to end up with a chronic condition (chronic bronchitis is no fun - I dealt with that for several months since I was too pig headed to allow myself to get healthy), pneumonia, or...
Yeah, mine has moved on to coughing-until-puking, bruised ribs, and five different Rx's. No half marathon next weekend. I have two redemption races in mind.
Funky kicks 2019
How did the half go ecollum? Did you run it?