Body Say's "NO!"

My scheduled workouts for this week

4

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 3 minutes Walk 90 seconds Jog 5 minutes Walk 2-1/2 minutes Jog  3 minutes Walk 90 seconds Jog 5 minutes

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 3 minutes Walk 90 seconds Jog 5 minutes Walk 2-1/2 minutes Jog  3 minutes Walk 90 seconds Jog 5 minutes

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 3 minutes Walk 90 seconds Jog 5 minutes Walk 2-1/2 minutes Jog  3 minutes Walk 90 seconds Jog 5 minutes

That is what I was supposed to run today (run 1).  It didn't quite work out that way.

My run today was sort of like this sketch from Little Britain.  Only the computer didn't say no. My body did.

It is cold and rainy out, so I went to the gym to do my run on treadmill.  I did my 3 minute run, and I was about 4 minutes through my 5 minute run and my body just shut down on me.  My calves felt like they were balloons about to break. 

I can normally push myself through this, but today it just didn't work. 

Now... I could have just skipped this blog entry.  There is still plenty of time to get my 3 runs in for the week, and in fact, that is exactly what I plan to do.  I will repeat tonight's run on Tuesday, and then run Thursday and Saturday to catch up.  However, I think it is important to note that there will be times when it just doesn't go.  I know this from experience.

So, since there is nothing really to do about it than move forward, I've come up with a list of takeaways:

• There will be days when your body just won't cooperate with your plans.
• If you are doing a structured program like Couch To 5K, with weekly workout schedules:
• Plan for these situations.  Make sure to start working out early in the week, so you can handle some setbacks along the way and still meet your weekly goals.
• If you have a situation that keeps you from hitting a weekly goal, don't get discouraged!  Things do happen in life and there will be times when you have a setback.  You can repeat a week on the program.  This is true if you have an injury obviously, but sometimes your body may just not be ready to go to the next level.  That's OK!  The key is to keep moving.

I'm not happy about the workout not going well.  But it happens.  Perhaps it was my body telling me I was pushing too hard.  Sure, I could have pushed past it, and there are times when I certainly should.  But that can also result in injuries.  So, sometimes it pays to listen when your body say's "NO!"