7 Week Half Marathon Training | Beginners Running Blog | Week 4

After a fun-filled weekend in London last weekend to watch Britney Spears on her Piece of Me tour, this week is a stark contrast. I can’t even take it through day by day on what I got up to running-wise because I’ve been sick all week.

I always say that I’d love to live in London for around a year for the experience, however, I feel like this weekend proved to me that I’m not cut out for the big city life and I’m much more of a country girl than I realised.

Monday was a bank holiday (hooray) and I was so looking forward to a lovely break after the hectic weekend but I felt exhausted all day and didn’t do anything on my to-do list. On Tuesday I started to feel like I had an adorable drippy nose, which is just what your colleagues want to be around. By Wednesday, my cold had fully set in and I worked from home all day and tried to have a bit of a rest at the same time. Thursday and Friday were just awful. I’ve always been one to get up, get dressed and I usually feel better for it. I managed to drag my drippy-nosed butt into work but had to come home shortly afterwards. Several colleagues told me how awful I looked and it wasn’t even a lie… I did look awful… can’t even deny it haha.

This is what working from home looks like when you have a house bunny. He loves to jump across the keys and type random things

Saturday and Sunday didn’t look much better as my cold progressed into a glorious cough and sore throat.

I have to admit, I am the worst sick person ever. I go through the stages of feeling sorry for myself through to being angry that I’m sick. We’re right into week 4 out of 7 of my half marathon training schedule and I’ve lost this entire week.

This is a question that I often find myself asking when I’m sick. Am I too sick to run? Do I need to rest or will the exercise do me good? Honestly, I’m usually so drained from being ill that no amount of willpower in the world will get me out pounding those pavements. However, I’ve been sick 3 times already this year, once with the flu, another with a mild cold and now this. I think you get a feel for whether you should actually work out or not.

There was no way I could have run when I had the flu, I could barely get out of bed and I was lucky to have a furry four-legged Labrador to keep me company when I didn’t see people for days (everyone stayed away, quite rightly!).

My last sickness, I felt pretty good. I’d been eating pretty healthily and I am 100% sure that this helped my recovery. I definitely decided that I was well enough to exercise during this period. A slight runny nose was not going to stop me this time around.

And today, again, no chance that I could work out. When I was looking back at last week, I think perhaps I was primed to get sick. I was really tired all week so I should have seen it coming. Coupled with a heck ton of germs in London, I didn’t stand a chance.

From my understanding, if you’re feeling sick ‘from the neck up’ you’re ok to exert yourself. But if you feel weak or you have sickness in your chest, you definitely shouldn’t work out. However, on my running Instagram, the people I’m following frequently get sick and usually run through it no matter what. As I mentioned earlier, I’m such a pathetic sick person I just want to lie down and not get up until I’m better again!

Evidently, I’m not cut out for the London, fast-paced, life but more suited to staying indoors with the occasional escapade running outdoors.

Everyone needs a sick buddy, here’s mine!

I am absolutely in awe of people who run marathons, Ironmans and other gruelling sports competitions while suffering from serious illnesses. These people are so inspirational they blow my mind. Here I am talking about having a little bit of a cold and being able to just about manage to lift the TV remote, and there are people out there who are suffering and in pain every day of their lives and yet still manage to put their bodies through extraordinary feats.

Colds and other minor illnesses though, I believe, are usually prolonged by physical exertion so sometimes an extra day or two rest may help you recover quicker than if you didn’t rest. As long as you’ve been consistently sticking to your training plan, having a week off isn’t going to do much harm in the long run.

So, I’m going into week 5 still sick and I have a race on Sunday. Send help…

I’d be interested to hear your take on running when you’re sick and whether you push through or whether you choose to rest (I know many of you runners are the opposite to me, you motivated goal diggers you).