The art of rest

Refusing to get floored by a cold might seem tough, but it's not always the best approach

Trying to outrun my cold this week

I’ve been fighting off a cold all week. With such an extreme goal ahead of me - the Self-Transcendence 3100 - it feels like things are going to be tough enough already, without illness or injury getting in the way. I simply can’t afford to spend weeks dealing with lingering coughs and colds. Each training week is key in the build-up to the next one, as I gradually crank up the miles, the intensity, the consistency, week by week. The months will fly by, I know it, and in a flash I’ll be staring down the barrel of 60 miles a day and praying that I’ve done enough training to be able to cope.

So this pesky sore throat and cough can bloody well do one. I have runs to get through. I have miles to rack up.

Of course, in reality, it doesn’t quite work like that.

Growing up, I was always told that illness was a sign of weakness. So if I was ever ill, or feeling under the weather, I’d simply pretend that I wasn’t.

“Have you got a cough?”

“No!” I’d say, smothering an obvious cough. “It’s nothing. Just a tickle in my throat. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”