Today I should the first day of my Christmas leave. I have booked 2weeks of annual leave, but with bank holidays I get nearly 3weeks off. Yay!!!!! I have been so looking forwards to it. One of my many plans was to run every day, or at least 5 days a week, just half an hour. I was planning a slow running boost to get me ready for new year.
instead, 3days ago I developed a chest infection, the like of which I haven’t had for years. No headcold, sore throat, sinusitis, runny nose (what I would normally get) no, this is proper bronchitis, chesty cough and would you believe it lost my voice. Yesterday the nurses at work offered to check my temperature and BP because I looked ‘pale but flushed’ and ‘a bit ropey'(medical terminology) I declined (like the old school doctor that I am) on the grounds that if the investigation wasn’t going to change the management plan (I was planning to finish the clinic) it wasn’t worth wasting time doing it.
So now I’m awake, early morning, day off and no running 😥😥😥 Not even a lie in as the coughing keeps you awake😠 I’m thinking about giving it a try, maybe wrap up warm and do a 5k walk instead but How long will it take to get better?
I do appreciate that one needs to be able to breathe in order to run, but when can I start again?
I was just getting into it routine wise with the treadmill and I don’t want to lose the momentum.
Tantrum!!!!!😩😩
I can see that I’m just going to have to man up and do some on line Christmas shopping instead.
How long would you expect a chest infection to keep you away from easy running? Please share your experience!
JULIE! you stay in bed! *wags her finger* a couple of days off is NOT going to kill you, your momentum or you fitness!
If you don’t take time to get well, long term you will feel the complications… You would be telling me this 🙂 in CAPS! 😉
Do not stress now hunny! Its the festive season, the weather is crap, your chest needs to clear up nicely, your immune system needs to catch up etc. Just take a few days to look after yourself, it will pay dividends!
Now go make a nice warm drink, wrap up warm and SHOP baby SHOP! *winks*
I know that you are right BUT 😫😫😫😭 (lies on floor kicking arms and legs). Honestly, I’m grateful not to have a serious illness because I know that this will get better and I know people who won’t, so it’s good for me to think about how that might feel. So yeah, today I’ll stay in bed , grateful that I can, and hope to feel better tomorrow😊
😘😘😘
Good advice from CeeJayKay… I’d rest until the lungs and chest feel back to normal. There’s no sense in mayking things worse, especially in this cold, winter weather. OK, maybe you’ll lose a week of good training but, hey, you still have 2 weeks after that and you’ll breeze into 2017 feeling fit and ready to take on the world ! 🙂
Good advice, thanks! But silly and trivial though it is, I missed 7-10 days of running in November just because I didn’t feel like it and I saw what it did to my stats! So if I miss another week because of this the same will happen for December. Cee Jay and I are similar in that we both like to set goals and achieve them! So although my goal is small, to increase my mileage from 7 to 10 miles per week, I was on my way to achieving that for the last 2 weeks but now I won’t make it for the month😂😂 when I write it down I see it for the trivial concern that it is😁 But there you go. 2steps forwards 1 step back!
They say that if it’s a head cold, it’s ok to run, but not if it’s a chest cold.
I came down with a virus shortly after coming home. Which has included a low grade temp. And I know that the only thing to do with that is rest. The only exercise I’m getting is walking the dogs, and I don’t even want to do that. 😦
I would say rest up now so that hopefully you can enjoy the rest of your holiday!
I remember I had a flu or infection or whatever nasty for 10 days … can check my trainingspeak if you want to know how much it cost me. FYI I didn’t go for a run because I didn’t feel like it. If your body wants you to go out, a short walk might be all that is needed. Don’t listen to your head though! Hope you feel better soon.
Lucky to be off work and have spent d the day lounging in bed! At least I ge to catch up with missed sleep which I hope will speed recovery. What will be wil be and I just need to let nature take its course.
Awwww no! Huge hugs. Sense is being spoken in the comments … You gotta rest it and not get murky winter weather in your chest
Thanks for the hugs! Day 5 today – I think my voice is coming back I hope this is a sign of improvement and not just the beginning of phase 2 😆😆
My best shot at advising you is : start running again when you feel a lot better.I tried this and it works a whole lot better than running before you’ve recovered. In the meanwhile forget anything that smacks of chores, housework etc and read The Anatomy of Violence by Adrian Raine which looks at the biological roots of aggession and challenging behaviour and The Diet Myth by top prof Tim Spector (not about dieting). I’m still getting round to sending him a sample of my poo!
The Adrian Raine book will help you to view dangerous and aggessive people much more sympathetically although you’ll still want to keep your distance from them.
Thanks for the tips. Don’t think I could run if I wanted to just now spent a lot of time in bed reading wolfed down a jack reacher novel (I had to check if the content was suitable for my 12yr old) 😋Now I’m reading ‘the organised mind’ by Daniel levitin. It’s been on my book pile since last Christmas. One of the downsides about taking up an active hobby like running is that I have lesss time for my sedentary hobbies (which are said to be bad for your Heath on top of a sedentary job – sitting is the newsmoking the media tell us) do whereas in the past I’d spend Sunday afternoon reading, now I’m running😊 So every cloud has a silver lining! I love your use of the phrase ‘top prof’ have you been reading’ the sun ‘again?😆😆 I’ll look for the books on kindle😊
Haven’t got The Organised Mind but it’s on my list. I’m just starting The Gene by Siddhartha Muukherjee which I also got last Christmas.
If you’re worried that reading is a sendentary activity, I suggest you break it up with 3-4 minute skipping sessions or other exercises (clever suggestion, eh!)
I must admit I’m a serial reader of tabloid headlines and a cliche lover. Young kids are tots, anyone over 65 is an OAP and people are always vowing or pledging to do things. Great!
OK I confess I couldn’t resist the diet myth book and it jumped the queue. Just got to the bit on human cheeses…..
Just finished the diet myth. Very interesting! I’m glad to say that my diet has definitely gone the right way this year, judging by much of the evidence presented and I’m guessing that I have changed my microbiome due to the change in things like er, ahem, reduced flatulance and not suffering from that feeling of hypoglycaemia, where you feel so hungry that you can only focus on food, and that wasn’t after a long gap without eating! So I think would be interesting to have an analysis, but I have missed the opportunity for the ‘before’ slot. I might change my toothpaste though, I think that the one I use contains ‘triclosan’ which is an antibiotic. A really good read, thanks for recommending it.
No reduced farting for me! I eat Brussels sprouts everyday.
I eat lots orf veg but not Brussels specifically! I must put it to the test! Out of scientific curiosity!
I won’t run again until the cough is gone, which is always the last to go, BUT, there’s a reason it lingers so I heed the warning. 😀
Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Hope you are better. Buddy must be missing you. X
I’m missing buddy😭😭 I’m home during the day, it’s been mild and I haven’t been out😳 Unbelievable 🤒😔
Typical! Sending healing hugs. X
Thank you! At least you won’t catch anything from a virtual hug!!
This sucks Julie! I hope you are so much better. A couple of years ago I had bronchitis for the first time ever. I continued to run but wish I hadn’t. It took two lots of steroids to get rid of it. I’ve never had it since thankfully. There’s been something going around these parts known as the 100 day cough – I know a few people who’ve had it. Basic thinking on running is if it’s above the neck it’s ok, but below and on the chest, rest up! How annoying!
Oh dear! I don’t want to end up with either steroids or a 100 day cough! I’m improving now, 8 days in, but obviously not right yet as my cough has me awake at 4am! But improving because at least I got 5 or 6 hours sleep😊. Hubs keeps telling me ‘last time you had this it took ages for the cough to go (i.e. Kept him awake at night, he has gone to spare room😷) but I’m thinking , last time? What last time ? I remember having a really bad cold Christmas 1994 – I remember it because I was on call for surgery on Christmas Eve and as I was hoarsely trying to clerk patients in they were saying “erm, actually you look worse than me, maybe I should go home?”😄😄 only professionalism stopped me from saying yes! At least being on leave gives me the opportunity to rest and recover.☺️