bronchitis

I wasn't feeling well for about a month, but I figured it was getting up at 4 am every morning to row then training after work. I finally went to the doctor about a week ago, and turns out I had bronchitis.

Yikes!  4 weeks!  That is tough.  Maybe you need some vitamin c too!

I've had lots of experience with bronchitis, having had allergies, asthma and been a smoker. As the other poster mentioned, your bronchial tubes are inflamed and constricting your air flow. When I get bronchitis I usually get bronchial spasms too, which are when I just keep coughing and coughing, sometimes to the point of nearly passing out. The last time I got it, it started as a cold and just got worse. When that happened, I literally could not walk down the block without having a coughing fit. Are you having any coughing fits or just shortness of breath?

If you're just having shortness of breath, your doctor could prescribe a bronchial dilator (inhaler) that will help you breathe better. S/he could also give you a shot of steroids to help you feel better quickly, but that really just disguises the illness. The only time I ever got the shot was when I had to fly to visit my father withing the next few days.

If you're also having the coughing fits, there are some very good cough suppresant medications they can give you, but it should only be used at night so you can sleep, especially if your cough is otherwise productive.

Anyway, bronchitis is usually allergy or virus related and about the best you can do is rest and let your body heal itself. You should definitely not push yourself to the point where your lungs hurt, no matter how little distance that may be.

If you rest yourself, you may be able to do the race in 2 weeks. Hopefully, all the training you've done up to this point has more than prepared you. Good luck!