Not in a Good Place

I set out in July 2017 with a grand plan to arrive at 20th May 2018 fit, healthy and uninjured. Spreadsheets and trackers prepared and a training programme that delivered a 5% per week increase in distance from the 5km I was running up to the 21.09km required on the day.

My first target was the Wilmslow 10k in November '17 which went well; then in December I started to build steadily from 5k. I am lucky to have time to train in the day and gradually moved up to a routine involving 3 activities per week; a 30-40 minute treadmill run followed by 20 min swim; a road run of around 30 min; and a long run which increased each week.

This all worked fine until about 4 weeks ago when as an minor hamstring issue was clearing, I was delighted to reach almost 9 miles on my long run. During this run I started to have pain outside and below my right knee which I was to learn was IT band related. This meant I had to back off training and give it a rest but then, as I started again I contracted an awful cold which went to my chest. I was living on Lemsip for a week and after 3 weeks am still 'clogged up'.

So, the crux of the matter is, 33 days to go and I'm back down at 3km! Hopefully, as the chest clears all the previous hard work will let me get back on target but I now have to increase distances at far more than 10% per week to make it. I know adrenalin will push me on the day but I do not want to end up injured and spoil my summer.