Flu mid way through HIM plan

SuperGob

 Hi RnP and everyone else in the Haus,

I've just joined EN and still finding my way through the site.  I'm registered for the Singapore 70.30 on March 21, 2010 (my first HIM) and have been solidly following the HIM intermediate plan and feeling really strong.

Today is Thursday of week 6 and i am laid up with the flu that started on Tues. I went for a short 30 min ride on Wed morning thinking that it was just a head cold that i could shake  but now its a full on body ache, head hurts when i cough type of flu.

Help......Is there enough time for me to recover and get back to training and to do the HIM?  And how to i re-enter the plan?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice and experience with this.

 

Brian MVIP

I'm in the same boat.  I'm going on 2wks+ of mild cold-->bronchitis-->walking pneumonia.  When I'm ready to re-enter the OS, my plan is to obviously ease into it.  While others may already be hitting 2x15', 2x20's or VO2 work, I'm going back to 2x6' or 2x8' and just build as my body allows.  In my experience, you'll be surprised at how quickly your body bounces back.  Within 2-3 weeks, you'll be back on schedule. 

Carrie Chavez

I agree with Brian. Rest, recover and get back in slowly and you will be fine.

Nemo Brauch

Ditto- don't stress yourself over loosing a little time right now. You'll be better off by standing down hard and then coming back as your body allows. You'll be ready for race day- don't worry.

Kitboo

What everyone said about the rest... Also, don't forget to really hydrate. You can lose alot of fluid coughing, having a fever, runny nose. Drink non-caffeinated liquids until your urine is clear. Make sure you're getting enough calories. It's tempting to cut back on calories because you may not have an appetite with the flu and you're not training as much. But your body needs those calories (especially protein calories) to heal.

SuperGob

 Thanks all for the responses above. another days rests and i reckon i'll ease into the plan again.

As i'm now entering week 7 of 12, allowing 2-3 weeks to get back up to speed puts me at tapering time. What I'm thinking is that this week i missed my first 2hr run in the plan and if i'm easing back into things, i will miss next weeks 2 hour also, after which the plan's long runs get shorter. Should i be modifying anything else?

Many thanks for your views

Nemo Brauch

Grant- I'd run this by R&P in the "Macro" thread, but I'd consider shortening your taper and doing that 2 hour run as your last long run 2 weeks before the race. Does that give you enough time to ramp back up? Also- how much distance would you actually cover in a 2 hour run if you were back at 100%? You might not really need 2 full hours if that actually puts you over 13 miles anyway.

SuperGob

Thanks Nemo I will do that.

 

 

SuperGob

Thanks everyone above for jumping in with advice.



If anyone finds themselves in a similar predicament (flu during race prep) and stumbles across this thread, there is no big reason for concern unless perhaps if it us quite close to the race.



To recap I started to get the sniffles on Tuesday of week 7 of 12 and by Wednesday I quickly realised that I had full blown flu. Taking advice from above I stood down hard, drank load of water and took plenty of rest sleeping 9-10 hours most nights. For two days i was bed ridden, sleeping some of the day also. The only medication i took was an expectorant to help expel the phlegm from my chest.



Coach P suggested that I get back to training as soon as i felt able so on Monday of week 8 I did a 30 min ride followed by a 15 min brick run both at normal training effort. Still feeling weak I took Tuesday off. By Wednesday I was back on the plan with coughing and spluttering which subsided over the following few days. 



Next week I will be picking up the RR's that I missed. In all i skipped a week of training and in under 2 weeks I am back to 100% training effort. Exactly 5 more weeks to race day.



I hope that this account can help someone in the future.



Grant

Nemo Brauch

Thanks for the follow up Grant! I'm glad to hear you have recovered and are back in the saddle again! A great example for others who fall into this same problem in the future!