Derailed

Sometimes your running or training plan gets derailed. Like when say, your mom comes to visit and you are having too much fun shopping and eating candy (and can’t muster the time to update your running blog). And eventually you are going to get sick, especially if you have one of those little germ factories we affectionately call our “children.”  But what do you do if you are in the middle of race training?

First of all, if you are sick, put your health before your training plan.  I follow the neck rule, if my sickness is confined above my neck, e.g. head cold, I run.  But if I’ve got stuff in my chest or all over body aches, I take some time off.  Listen to your body and remember rest is the most important training secret.

What about the training days you’ve lost?  Well sadly, until we master time travel just go ahead and kiss them goodbye.  Just keep moving forward.  If you lose a few days or a week of training, those first few runs might feel tough but you’ll be back where you were – and even further ahead in some cases because of the rest – very quickly.  Here’s a little secret, even if you don’t follow a training plan to the letter, it still works.  Most plans have some give built in, you can skip a run here and there and still be fine.  Don’t give up your race plans because you miss one long run, you don’t do all your training in a day and you generally aren’t going to lose it all in a day.

I follow a few simple rules.  Coming off a break of 3 days or more, the first run back should be easy and shorter (one of your shortest distances pre-break).  Use it to gauge your fitness and recovery. If you feel at the end of the run that you could go more, you’re good.  If you feel slightly more tired or sore than a regular run but ok within 24 hours, you’re still ok.  Anything more and you probably went out too soon.  You can do another shorter run to gauge it but if you still feel cruddy, you might need a few more days.

If the worst case scenario happens and you can’t do that race you’ve been training for and planning on, get upset, then get motivated. Sign up for another race as soon as it’s feasible to do so.  Again, running is just like life. Things don’t always work out the way you planned.  Sometimes they work out better.

Here’s a good motivator for your running mix.  I’ve been watching the Monty Python documentary that was on IFC, so this tune has been in my head.