This week has been a strange week for me. Over the long weekend I ran 13.4 mi in two different runs and was pretty happy with the times. I have been progressively improving my pace times from a 12 min mile a few months back to averaging 10 min miles of late. After these runs I have felt pretty good too. Recovery has been good with no twinges, pains or evidence of any injuries.
On Tuesday morning I was scheduled to run 4 miles but for whatever reason I just didn't feel up to it. Now, I've had these sorts of days before and it is just a matter of getting out the door and then the legs do the rest. But there was something else there. My body was telling me that it wasn't ready to go for a run, it wasn't up to it. Instead of forcing it out the door I decided to listen and take a day off. The same thing happened on Wednesday and once again I listened and took the day off. Yesterday I was feeling good after the rest and decided to go for a run. I hadn't decided how far or long I would run for, but ended up doing 5 miles at a 9.12 min mile pace.
There have been a few colds and coughs going around recently. Something to do with school going back, change of weather - something like that? I have had a few headaches and yesterday I got a cold sore on my lip – something that normally happens when I am run down. So even though I couldn't pin point what was feeling off earlier in the week I am now glad that I listened to my body and took some time off!
I think our bodies are capable of sending us messages or signals informing us if we are doing too much. In June I ignored those signals and paid for it with some overuse injuries that had me out of action for a month. I had to start back pretty much from scratch and was extremely demoralized. Learning to listen was what that experience taught me and it is something that I plan to continue.
0 comments:
Post a Comment