Excuses versus reasons

When it comes to training, there are lots of opportunities to make excuses to skip.  Sick, too tired, ran out of time, needed to do something else...  Blah, blah, blah.

And then there's reasons.  Sick, injured, legitimate last minute commitment...

You probably noticed that I put "sick" in both categories.

It's a tricky one.  Not every illness is something you need to halt training for.  Quite frankly, with two young children, if I stopped training for every tickle in my throat, I would barely train.  In my experience, sometimes training actually makes me feel better when I'm sick, even though it's harder to get started.

Sometimes.

This time, I've been fighting a cold for the last week and a half.  I got my long ride in on the weekend, and then delayed my long run to Monday.  (I have the kids in half-day daycamp this week, so have a three hour block I can make use of.)  Then, I remembered I had an appointment on Monday, so the long run would have to be pushed another day.

What I did do on Monday was a short, easy run.  And I felt horrible afterwards.

Usually, when I have a cold, a run makes everything feel better.  It's like it clears out my system.  This time though, it left me wheezy, rattly, and feeling like crap.  It's like I just can't clear my lungs.

So, with a week and a half to race day, I am ditching my final long run.  I might do it tomorrow.  If I can't though, I think I need to let it go.  I'm supposed to be tapering now, and I can only push that long workout so far into my taper before it does more harm then good.

So, excuse or reason?  This time, I'd put it firmly in the reason category.

Now, just for the heck of it, I leave you with a picture of Scary Bunny, a craft my husband did with Sweetpea this weekend.

If he doesn't scare you into skipping the excuses, I don't know what will.