Adjusting for missed weeks due to illness

I finally had to miss a week of training due to long work hours and getting sick mid-week. I may actually need to lay off for a couple more days as I'm still feeling pretty weak and unwell.

Anyway, my question has to do with the best way to get back at it once I feel healthy enough. The week I missed was supposed to be week 3 of my microcycle. So, that being said, any insights into whether I should:

a) start back exactly where I left off (i.e. week three of the microcycle)

b) restart the whole microcycle at the first week, or

c) do a rest week and  then restart the microcycle

For what it's worth, it wasn't a really serious illness. It probably would have been a simple cold (which I usually just train through), but it hit me harder than usual likely because I happened to be working intense 12-13 hour days for 9 days in a row when it happened.

I would perform a week at deload volume (e.g. week 4), then attempt week 3 if you think you're up to it, and then do week 4 again to deload before moving on to week 5. 

Thanks Josh, that sounds better and more efficient than what I was thinking. I'll give it a try. 

Josh- why do a deload week after an illness? I would think this time would have already given the muscles some rest.

IcedDante said:

Josh- why do a deload week after an illness? I would think this time would have already given the muscles some rest.

I don't see sickness as useful rest, since your body is focused on fighting an infection. Also after a week of complete non-activity, it's generally a good idea to ease back into things rather than jumping in at full intensity.

I agree, I definitely don't feel rested, if anything, I feel pretty worn down, but I trained with deload volume today and it felt nice. It actually felt a lot easier than I expected. Thanks for the tip Josh.