Training Interrupted: When the Flu Strikes

I have not run in a week.

Okay, that is a lie. I had a miserable 2 miles on Monday and equally if not more so miserable 3 miles on Wednesday.

I can't remember the last time I went 2 days without running, I have been in my version of hell this week.

I know I love running, but take it away and I realize JUST HOW MUCH it is a part of my life.

I knew that I was getting sick last Friday. I struggled through 13 miles on Saturday and was literally down for the count for the next 2 days. I took off of work on Monday (didn't have OFF OFF hello broadcast 24/7 TV) and attempted to sweat it out.

BIG FAIL. Tuesday I made it through a miserable half day of work before calling it quits and stubbornly tried to sweat it out yet again; since that worked so well the first time (what is the definition of stupidity...?). Yeah I could barely get my pace under 10 min/miles and threw in the towel and did some cross training.

Wednesday again did some cross training in the morning and temporarily felt better but within a couple hours at work knew it was a done deal and went home.

Thursday morning contacted the doctor finally...and well yes this moron has the flu. And down for the count the rest of the week.

You know, the fever, night sweats, inability to eat, difficulty breathing and such should have been a bit of a clue. But I am always more of a deal with it and tough it out kind of person...bad decision.

Perhaps if I had taken it easy at the beginning of the week I would have started to mend sooner but hind sight is 20/20, right?

So now we have it, I missed basically a full week of runs. Including today's 20 miler.

Not freaking out (total, blatant, bold-faced lie).

I haven't had a decent long run in a couple weeks now...and have two weeks of long runs left before I begin to taper.

I felt remarkably better today when I awoke and had a minor marathon in the gym but tomorrow will be the first time I lace up feeling better (fingers crossed I am only improving from here!) and see how the running goes.

I am definitely not stupid enough to have any illusions of a LONG LONG run but am hoping I can get some moderate easy distance on my legs. It will be a true test of just how recovered I will be and if I can dive back in full force with the training. The last thing that I want is to do too much too soon and wind up back where I have been all week long.

But I can't help but think that this training interruption is a bad bad thing for my 4 hour marathon goals. I have told myself it is a wait and see I would be lying if I said it didn't have me nervous.

I think if I had been having spectacular long runs all along I wouldn't be quite as concerned. But I have been hitting my week day workouts, intervals, repeats etc very well and the long runs have been sucking.

Only time will tell.

Apologies if a lot of this is just my rambling, but my mind is racing - and my legs itching to just run!

Anyone else been in this situation? Sidelined for a significant amount of time close to your race?