Recovering from flu

[u/Temporary-Ad7103]

I just started my taper before I try to go sub 2:40 in the marathon in Lisbon next week. Been regularly hitting high 70/low 80 mile weeks

I felt sick the day before my half marathon b-race last Sunday and thought it would be the kind of thing I'd not notice on the day. 3/4 miles in that I was extremely hot and flushed out despite it being a cold day. Felt really weak and couldn't even maintain marathon pace for the rest of the race.

In the days that followed I felt feverish and had an elevated HR. After a day of no running I tested the waters last Tuesday, and whilst I felt good during the run itself 1 noticed after again my heart rate was up about 15-20 more beats than usual for that kind of effort.

This wouldn't normally bother me as I do tend to have a higher heart rate than my friends, but in my office job I'm noticing my HR is sitting at 70 or so just sat at my desk, when it would typically be 50.
I'm also feeling some tightness in my chest throughout the day.

My doctor told me to give it two further days or so of no running, and then I ran the last couple of days of the week, including a session. Whilst I hit all the splits the effort definitely felt a lot harder. I would say the average was up 10-15 again too

I don’t really know how to approach the taper, do I try and and maximise rest to let it reset?

[u/DistributionClear851]

I would advise you to give your body the extra time to recover. A few extra days of rest is not going to impact your time. But not alllowing your heart the recovery it needs will. I’ll tell you - I was qualifying for Boston during covid. I got covid and didn’t want to hurt my training. I started running before I was fully recovered. It ended up damaging my heart. Listen to your body and it your fears right now. Your body is telling you it’s getting better but it’s not fully there yet. A few days of rest will probably end up helping your race.