Pneumonia 2 weeks before race - how to prepare??
Four weeks out from my B race (HIM) I got pneumonia
. Rested for one week then did 2 long rides and a swim. Pneumonia came back with a vengeance. So I did not train at all for another week. These two weeks were Weeks 4 and 3 prior to race, so they were critical. I missed my Race Rehearsal and some of the most importat pre-taper workouts. Now I am exactly 2 weeks from my race and I am starting to get over the illness. Looking for thoughts from the team on how to prepare for the race?? Jump right back in with the plan? What about expectations for the race- should I assume I have lost fitness and need to dial back the race paces? Thanks for any help!!
John
P.S. I am ignoring the bad luck/irony/fate thing...
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Comments
I would post to the Medical Help Forum for advice.
John- Quite seriously, I think you need to scrap the race. With pneumonia, I am guessing you were on antibiotics and may be on an inhaler. Lungs are extremely finicky. You could race and set yourself back for a lot longer. Not that the pneumonia would return, but that the fatigue would be pervasive and ANY workout would be difficult. I do not say this lightly. If you have already been setback by working out, you are not on pace to have a good day or recovery. If your A-race is coming up, you may not be able to train for it.
How much are you coughing? You might not be bringing anything up, but you may still have inflamed lung tissue.
If you won't sit it out, then it consider an aqua-bike to avoid the extreme stress that running places on the body. And go EASY.
Michelle - Thanks for the reply. Definitely not what I wanted to hear. Admittedly, I did not even ask my doctor yet because I was afraid of the answer. I am still coughing a lot but feel much better. So is there any way to know if I COULD do the race? Is the risk just more damage to lungs?
John
Background: late-Aug HIM, starting in early June came down with upper respiratory & double ear infection. Took maybe 3 days off training and pushed it as usual. Then in July diagnosed with bronchitis. Again, took maybe 3-4 days off, back to the grind. Beginning to mid-August noticed I had zero power w/ sky high heart rates and just felt like crud. Went to doctor (herself a BQ marathoner) 10 days out and was told I had pneumonia. She said, "Your lungs sound horrific! How are you not in the hospital?!" I told her about upcoming race. She lectured me to NOT do the race. But then she said she knew I would likely go ahead and do it and told me to take it easy, basically as a long training day, and be prepared to bail if I got worse. Medicated me and off I went.
Between then and race day absolutely no training. Day before went for a light swim/bike/jog. Felt tired. Race day, got out of water about 8 minutes slower than anticipated. Coughed up such a large "furball" of flem coming into T1 that race medics told me to stop the race. I ignored them. Got on bike and settled into my zone HR and looked down and I'm doing 4 MPH slower than expected. I had no power whatsoever. Got off bike 20-25 min behind target. At that point I'm a zombie but gonna finish the darn thing! Began my shuffle which was all I could do. Ended up "run" about 45 min behind target. Overall "race" was more than hour behind projections. But doggone it I finished.
Recovery took me weeks ... seriously. I was wiped out and just felt like crud for what seems like forever. Basically skipped all of September and didn't get back on wagon for about 6 weeks. When I did I swear my lungs felt different - hard to explain but the run in particular was hard for me. Kinda had a raspiness to my breathing. I think (no medical diagnosis) that I must have scarred the lung tissue or something. Wasn't able to compete in the marathon I had targeted that winter because of the set-backs from racing HIM.
So, all of this to say that while you'll have a cool story ("Yeah, I'm tough, I raced a HIM with pneumonia!") its NOT worth it. If you're like me it'll mess up several months of your season because its harder on your body than you (or I) realize. Of course, N=1 and YMMV. Hope this helps.
Wow, Tommy, that was a really helpful and unfortunate story. I (think) I really appreciate your thoughts. Your story and timing of the pneumonia and the HIM are almost identical to mine - I feel like I am looking into the future. Of course, it is also really disappointing to think about bailing on this race after months of training. But I made the mistake of reading this post to my wife and now I think she would literally tackle me if I toe the line in 2 weeks. I am going to consult with my doc tomorrow to just get a last minute opinion and then probably cancel my reservations. I still have my A race in September so I guess my focus will turn to that. Thanks again for your help and I hope you have recovered yourself.
John