A few days after the half marathon, I developed a nice case of shingles. On Tuesday, it was just a small rash, which I chalked up to a heat rash (because I had to run on a treadmill at the stuffy gym on Tuesday). By Friday, I was at the Urgent Care. Yup, shingles.

While I could probably still run (I did on Thursday, before I knew and before it got this bad), I'm just not sure if that's wise for recuperation. I did miss the eight-miler on Saturday, because I didn't want to push it and because I didn't want the blisters to break at mile 5 or something. [shudder]

I did some online looking around, and the consensus seems to be to take it easy until the rash (or at least the blisters) goes away. If I take Advil, the pain is better.

My worry is that all this time off will affect my training. I already missed Saturday, and now will likely miss my M/Tu runs this week. Eleven miles seems pretty daunting after that. What should I do?

Thanks!
J.

Jen,
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Shingles are very painful and not fun at all. You should definitely be resting. If the shingles are allowed to continue and not heal they can cause permanent neuralgia. You should also be taking anti-viral medication like acylovir... You are probably going to need two week of recovery. At this point focus on healing and worry about the training after you get better.
I hope all goes well.
Dr Jake

Jen,

That kinda sucks. If it's any consolation, I took 2 weeks off due to an injury and ran 1 4 miler the thursday before the last 11 mile and it went really well. Carbs on Friday night and a Gu during and I managed to keep my regular pace.

Hope you get better quickly!

J

You have my sympathy... I had shingles last year (too much stress) and it was pure hell. Rest up and get better!

Thank you for all the support, everyone. I am starting to feel a whole lot better this week; I didn't even have to take Advil yesterday! I hope that by midweek next week that I can -- slowly -- get back into the swing of things.

j