Ugh. I have not been feelin’ so hot the past few days.
I caught the mid-winter cold that everyone else has, with a stuffy nose, low fever, and achy joints. But instead of being concerned about where to find my misplaced Airborne, I spent my Saturday morning stressing about skipping my long run.
Last week was only the second week of half marathon training, and I really really wanted to stick to my very important New Year’s resolution.
A 5 mile run was on the agenda, and my brand-new Garmin was still desperately begging to be played with.
I was good though, and didn’t try force my sickly self through a long run in the cold.
Yes, I felt guilty, and my mind really wanted to get the run in.
But my body most certainly did not. So I came up with a new theory to make myself feel better about missing my run.
A training schedule is a guide to prepare yourself for a race.
Um, duh?
Hold on, I’m going somewhere with this.
So is that schedule about successfully executing each individual run or rest according to the plan? Well, maybe. But not if you’re sick, or injured – that would actually make your body less prepared for a race because you’d be hurting it!
Sticking to a training plan is exactly what you should do if you are healthy – and not because you HAVE to write in the exact mileage that is on the spreadsheet to make your chart look pretty. I’m going to get through this training cycle by looking at the big picture.
I want to best prepare my body for 13.1 miles which means taking care of its needs first. And sometimes those needs are hot cocoa and sitting on your ass.
I’ll be back to making my chart look pretty tomorrow, when I’m feeling 100% back to normal.
*****
In other exciting news, I tried grapefruit for the first time this weekend.
I was hoping the vitamin C content would fix me right up.
After two bites, grapefruit is now on my: “Food I Have Actually Tried and Do Not Like” List. I figured I would treat you with this lovely video of me eating a grapefruit:
Do you skip or push through runs when you’re sick?
Chicken Nugget Girl 
Grapefruit sometimes (read, often) needs a light sprinkle of sugar–1/2 tsp or less–so you don’t wrinkle your whole face puckering! It’s one of my favorites!
Hmmm, I’m trying to lighten up on my sugar intake – I think for now I’ll stick to my pomegranate seeds!
Don’t like grapefruit?! It’s one of my favorites. 🙂
It’s so important to listen to your body and take it easy when you are sick. Too any times I have pushed myself against my body’s will and paid for it dearly in the end.
Nope, wasn’t a grapefruit fan, haha. Thanks for making me feel better about trying to listen to my bod! 🙂