Saturday, January 29, 2011

Sometimes It's OK to Say Today is Not the Day

The mindset for the 15 mile run was good. Beside being mad at the cat for the kitty antics of scratching the bed at 4am, the morning and prepartions for the run went well. Stepping outside yielded an unexpected chill but I knew it was temporary until the body warmed up.

At the beginning of each run there are aches and mind adjustments to get into a run, especially a long run.  Often it takes 2 miles to feel like a runner and get into the groove.  Today the stride wasn't fluid and each step felt like a stomp yet that should smooth out. At a mile I stopped to regroup and immediately felt better when resuming but that latest only a minute. The aching shins, the stomping footfall and the declining mental state made me decide suffering for 15 miles just to get the run in, wasn't going to benefit me.  Turning around, I decided to try again tomorrow.

Somedays it's OK to stop.  If it's an everyday habit of making excuses then that's different.  Choosing to run a workout on another day is smart running and could prevent injury as well. Even totally missing the workout will not cause Chicken Little to run around yelling the Sky is Falling. 

Sometimes it's OK to say today is not the day and I'll try again tomorrow.

Happy Running!

10 comments:

Black Knight said...

I agree 100%, better not to risk an injury. Mainly I plan the long workout on friday or saturday so, in case, I can do it on sunday if the things go wrong.

Giorgio said...

Well done! You'll try again tomorrow!

The Black knight wrote on my blog "4 gatti" (in Itaian). He means a few people. Today He had a termal bath and a few people were near the spa. "4 gatti" means a few people.

Have a nice running Sunday!

misszippy said...

Amen Sister!

The Green Girl said...

Aw, so glad you listened to your body. ::hugs::

Abby said...

I'm with you on this one - sometimes you just need to cry uncle. And that's okay. Good luck tomorrow!

Ewa said...

The trick is to know whey to stop and when to push through. You are the wise one to know when you need to regroup.

Black Knight said...

Ho finito molto affaticato con 22,5 km ed ho dovuto chiamare il fisioterapista per un forte dolore alla cervicale.
Stamattina sono anche andato alla Ficoncella: sono stato da re, eravamo 4 gatti.
Da domani (domenica ) riprendo sia a nuotare che a correre, oggi mi sono preso un giorno di pieno recupero.
Ci organizziamo per il prossimo sabato mattina?
MEANS
I finished the 22,5 km very tired and I had to call the physio for a deep pain on the cervical.
This morning I went to the Ficoncella (it is a thermal bath) and I felt like a king because we were 4 cats.
By tomorrow (sunday) I will be back on swimming and running, today I had a full day off to recover.
What about the next saturday morning?

Anonymous said...

I could not agree with you more.

Lindsay said...

I did a similar "cop out" saturday. Then I definitely wasn't feeling it on Sunday either... Oh well.

The Boring Runner said...

Man, I needed this a few times over the last few weeks. A missed run there, a crappy performance there. I need to remind myself every so often that it is OK to not be perfect!