New lungs please

This week’s training: 6 miles running, 12 miles walking.

Suffolk was a really wonderful break. We were blessed with dry weather although high winds did stop us doing quite as much walking as we'd have liked. I managed the two 6 miles runs I'd planned to do in addition to three walks of 7, 7 and 5 miles. I got introduced to the joys of antique stores, ate ploughman lunches, drank locally brewed beer and played an extraordinary amount of Settlers of Catan in front of an open fire. I loved every minute.

We got home on Friday and I extended the holiday feeling by meeting up with a friend from Uni days to do some kayaking on the Thames; from Chelsea to Big Ben and back. I would recommend Kayaking London to anyone. They're well organised, friendly, easy going, run small groups (we were five pairs) and offer up plenty of titbits of local knowledge. They took photos of us throughout and uploaded them to facebook within an hour of coming ashore.The only time constraints seemed to be catching the tides in the right direction, otherwise we were left to go at our own pace.

Although it didn't feel overly strenuous at the time, I have two small blisters on my hands and aching arms to show for the 2.5 hours of paddling. Totally worth it. London has never seemed so peaceful.

Unfortunately my running mileage has taken a hit this week. I was meant to be going out for my longest run yet of 14 miles, however I seem to have developed a nasty cough/cold in the last couple of days in Suffolk. It was ok-ish yesterday, not bad enough to bring me down, but today I'm hacking away like a trouper and feeling very sorry for myself. I've read that running is ok if symptoms are above the neck but that running with a cough can bring it down to the chest and prolong it. It's so frustrating as I've not missed a single training element yet and I hate sitting around doing nothing but that's pretty much what I've been reduced to. I was due to go to Body Balance tonight but I think I'll have to cancel that too as I'm just coughing too much to enjoy it or be around other people really. This is going to impact next weeks training plans too. I'm on the verge of panicking about loss of fitness etc etc but the only sensible thing to do is rest, take the meds and not push too early to get back into my routine. I'll still be fine for Paris and the Marathon is far enough away that it shouldn't be a problem either... so really, I shouldn't be worried at all.

Just frustrated!