Tunnel Vision

The last week has been a bit of a car crash, as far as running and training is concerned. Gaining entry to the track in Kyoto Tamba on Monday after work, I did a 400M repetition session. It was a struggle as I had a bit of a cough. By the following day, it had developed into a full blown chest infection. As a result, I didn’t get many runs in this week.

I read about the ‘neck rule’. If you have a virus or infection centred above the neck, then you can still train. If, however, the problem is below the neck, then you should lay off running until you’re on the mend. I took two days off. By Thursday, I was bored, so popped out for an easy couple of miles. After 3 miles, I had real trouble with my breathing, so stopped. I started to retch, and then vomited onto the trail that I was stood on. Nice.

I have been sick only once before whilst out running. I went out for a run with a former member of the Swedish Winter Olympic team in the summer of 2000 whilst working in Maryland, USA. I knew little about running at the time, only doing a couple of jogs a week. Bjorn suggested that we did a hill session, and chose a monster of a hill to do it on. We ran hard from the bottom to the top of the hill, and then jogged slowly down, before repeating numerous times. Anyway, I vomited sometime near the end of the session. It’s so rare an event, it’s memorable. 

A few days of enforced rest were in order. Yesterday, much of Japan was covered by a heavy blanket of snow. It is difficult getting out for runs in these conditions. You have to balance the desire to train consistently with the risk of falling over and picking up a serious injury. Helpfully, the infrastructure of modern living provides a solution. I have read about runners who train in multi-storey car parks when there is heavy snow and ice. There are no such buildings in Sonobe - the rural town where I live. Road or pedestrian tunnels offer another alternative.

When I lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I used to train in the Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel. It took about 60 seconds, running hard, to cross from one side of the River Tyne to the other.  Charlie Spedding, who won a Bronze medal in the men’s Marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, is said to have likewise trained under the Tyne. I believe that it is currently closed for repairs; it did look like it needed a face lift.

Luckily for me there is 598 Metre long tunnel through a mountain, about half a mile from my apartment in Sonobe. I struggled up to it through several inches of snow earlier this evening and did a few easy laps. At least the snowy vista from the tunnel entrance looked nice.

The chest infection is not completely gone, but I am on the mend. A few more days of easy running are needed before I can start training again.