A little advice and perspective needed please

I'm hoping to get some honest advice as I've signed up to do the Amsterdam marathon in October.

I had to have emergency surgery for appendicitis two weeks ago over the Jubilee weekend and because it burst and sepsis had crept in I'm set to be sidelined until mid July - but my doctor said I can start 'conservative training' i.e. cycling etc from the beginning of July if I feel up to it/depending on progress.

I still want to do the Amsterdam marathon but I'm worried as that will only give me 12 weeks to train properly (mid July until taper) but I don't know whether I should write it off, do an autumn half marathon and enter a spring marathon instead. In terms of fitness pre surgery I did the London Marathon and my final long run was 12 miles (a few days before it all kicked off). The only benefit is that I've been doing back to back races cycling, triathlon, running etc and haven't had a proper break from doing anything for years - and I had been running with a few niggles so hopefully I can get a bit of benefit from the rest and recovery.

Hi Marmalade - firstly - OUCH and hope you are on the road to recovery.

Your doctor has said you can do 'conservative training' so I am assuming he can see you are fit and well.

I think it depends on what you are hoping to do at Amsterdam. If you are looking to get a good time then i think you should not take the chance as you probably would be running hard and fast.  If you are looking to do it just to have some fun (yes, marathon running CAN be fun...lol) then I do think you have time to get yourself to that level to run the 26.2 miles.

Sounds like you are pretty fit anyway and you will still have some of that in you. It all boils down to how your body has reacted to being under the knife as anaesthetic is a funny old thing. Also your wound is in a place that would be affected by running on the hard. Abdominal muscles are pretty important to maintain a run for such a length of time and distance.

I'm waffling now but what I guess I'm saying is that is not beyond the realms of possibility and as long as you are fit and recovered, I don't think it would be daft........just wait to see how you cope with running on the hard flat and what that jolting and pounding does to your body.

Take a nice long break, it'll do you the world of good.

You've been poisoned and you've been butchered. Your body has been through some serious trauma there and it could take a long while to recover. You could also recover surprisingly quickly. I'm with Rob here, take a break, rest, recuperate. Play it by ear, but whatever you do, when you start back training again, start gently.

Don't do it: You've had surgery, and the time left for training isn't optimal, the chances are you may harm yourself.

There are so many races out there. Give yourself the time to recover and you'll feel a lot better for it. I broke a toe in the middle of training for Brighton this year. I could have tried running it anyway but decided to defer. It wasn't an easy decision but looking back it was the right one. I would have had a horrible day not to mention the potential damage I could have done.

Thanks everyone! I kind of felt the same but didn't want to just 'give up'.

Yep there are loads of marathons and Amsterdam is one of the easier ones to get a place, so I really have nothing to lose by taking a proper break- and I know I can never be trusted to ever do a race for run ;)

And yes racing would have been a huge risk and at least I can start with some low impact stuff like cycling and rowing first - even if I could be running I would rather delay coming back by a few weeks to be sure.

The worst part is not knowing what to do with myself - if i'm not running i'm usually cycling and heck what am I to do with the rest of summer ;)

Marmalade.....Just do it......you're a long time dead

Get yourself down to the local swimming pool and have a float around. Also get yourself a lovely big pile of books to read and who knows, we MIGHT just get some sun and you can go chill with a good book and a Pimms. Thats' what I do on my down time. Enjoy. 

Maybe try theswimming pool this weekend. Sunbathing doesn't look like it'll be much fun this weekend!

It is sometimes possible to downgrade to the half marathon or 8km so if you are all booked to go you could perhaps still run.  (I know at Rotterdam marathon you can).  I'll be running at Amsterdam so give me a shout if you decide to come over.

I'm going to give it a month and make a final decision as the half sounds perfect. Plus a good friend is doing the A'Dam half as her first race and she expects to have to walk parts (not if I influence her training though) of it so I may run it with her if they allow me to switch.

Swimming sounds like a plan, my running club coach has been trying to influence me to do a tri for the last 18 months with the only barrier being that my swimming is so rusty and I just never have time to dedicate precious running or cycling time to swimming. So a fun Autumnn sprint tri could be something to do.