Not surprisingly though, as I said to myself yesterday that I would take an extra recovery to alleviate the throbbing of the veins in my head. And for the past 2 days (plus today) I have been very sleepy on the afternoon, so the extra hour I spent running could help (but it didn't!). And I said that I'd just do a simulated 10-miler race this weekend so the extra day would seem like a taper.
But now I feel guilty that I didn't run. I feel that the missed run could've given me a little improvement on my training. Its true what they say that its hard to accept that there is a need to do recovery sessions.
Good thing I came across this article from Runners' Connect once so I get to be reminded about it (although the article is about coming off from a bad work-out as a sign that you need to back-off):
"You've got to have the mental toughness and confidence in yourself where you believe that you can take those days off and you can recover and you can run great. A lot of what we see in athletes that just train all the time and never give themselves adequate recovery is often portrayed as toughness. What I've realized over the years is it really is a weakness. It's an insecurity that you're not good enough to recover like other athletes: I'm not good enough to do that; I need to keep training; I can't take time off; I can't take easy days."
Good thing I'm not an athlete; or do I look like one? --->
Thanks coach Alberto for saying that! Its good to know that we're just human and our bodies need to recover every once in a while. And to give us something to justify missing a run, haha!
Moving forward, I've enough rest, fed on almonds, hydrated, and plotted the 10-mile course for the weekend, Let's do it! But for now, I"m enjoying my coffee :)
