After just holding off whatever illness it was that was trying to bring me down long enough to race Leeds reasonably well I finally succumbed & had a couple of weeks operating well below par!Week commencing 24/11

We had a week in an apartment in Darley Abbey from the 23rd so had planned on getting a good high mileage week in & enjoying some quality running in daylight. I struggled from Tuesday onwards & running got gradually worse until Sunday’s run was just 4 miles that felt like a lifetime. No quality all week & the grand total of 58.6 miles.

I felt particularly bad on Friday & I don’t expect standing in the cold supporting the world cyclo-cross on the Saturday improved my health but it was a fun day nonetheless!

Week commencing 1/12

The next week got even worse & on top of the cold & flu like symptoms that had knocked me back last week I now got viral gastroenteritis & was barely able to get out of bed until Wednesday evening. I managed a short easy run with Jo on the Thursday, took the Friday off & started to feel better & eventually run properly by Sunday although I could still only manage an hour max as I could tell it was going to wipe me out. 21 miles for the week! My first days off since our holiday in August.

Having looked back over the year I got ill just before Manchester 10K in May with a chest infection & had an awful run there. Since then I’ve constantly felt like I’ve been unable to get back to full health. I knew since Cardiff in early October that I was fighting to hold off a cold & with the lack of sleep catching up with me together with the exertion of racing Leeds it all came out with a bang! I’m hoping that’s it out the way now & I can start the new year in full health.

Some quality sleep & better recovery will definitely help  I’ll certainly be able to get sorted while we’re away at Christmas if not before.