Not so hyped today...

[Reading_Sarah]

So, I was planning on doing run 2 of week 3 today. And then my partner's covid test was positive. So we decided to quarantine. Now, we are waiting for the results of the pcr test. If that is positive too, I will probably have to stay indoors for at least a week. Man, I really hope this doesn't throw me back too far. Time is slowly running out until the 5k run in June and I'm getting nervous, thinking I might not be able to get to 5k until then...not to mention the fact that I did have a few cigarettes yesterday and today, so quitting that is being really hard atm as well and that will definitely NOT help with my running, but that's my own stupidity...meh... just meh.

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

I know a guy who gets to the end of parkrun and immediately after getting his barcodes scanned lights a cigarette… he’s unusual for sure, but he’s faster than me 🤣. While I’m not advocating smoking, your two journeys are not as conjoined as they may seem… nicotine is even something WADA are concerned about athletes using for an advantage! If you have a week indoors, it’s a good opportunity to work on that journey to smoke free.

You won’t lose any noticeable amount of fitness in a week, and for the first couple of nights the body is going to still be repairing and strengthening from your last effort. You may feel better on your next run with well rested stronger legs… just go nice and slowly and see what you can do.

June is still far enough away for you to be ready… but if you could only run 4k by then, would it be so bad to have a couple of short walk breaks planned?

Hope you both get through this without much or any impact from symptoms.

[Reading_Sarah in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Thank you for your response. I did think that smoking even for 2 days might have a really bad effect on my condition, seeing as running out of breath is one of my worst problems when I'm out jogging I did not know it might not be that bad, that gives me hope! So far, we both feel relatively fine, thank you very much! Hope I can get back on track real soon!

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to Reading_Sarah]

One thing you can do to help, either as a current smoker (or better still recent quitter) is to do some breathing exercises. When we inhale deeply through our noses, we use more of our lungs than we do through our mouths. As I’ve yet to meet anybody who smokes through their nose 🤣 this technique will give you more oxygen on the run.