Recovery on Saturday yields benefits on Sunday

Today's run (street): 5.25

My run on Friday took a lot out of me. That was surprising, considering the short distance I covered. It was a sign that I was still fighting a cold. The other indication of that was waking up with a sore throat and feeling weak at the start. My Friday run went fairly well considering how I'd felt, but I think I might have pushed too hard.

Saturday morning I was under some time pressure and I still felt weak, although my throat felt better. I decided that a run would do more harm than good so I did a rare weekend skip day. I spent the middle of the day at a cooking class with my daughter, while my wife and son went into the city to shop and see the winter holiday sights. We all had great experiences.

The upside of feeling as exhausted as I did on Saturday was that I managed to sleep until 6:30 AM this morning. That may sound early to some, but my weekday wake up time is 3:45 and it's hard for me to sleep much past 5:00 AM on weekends. I felt good when I got up, and after having some coffee, I was ready to hit the road.

I stayed in the neighborhood but planned out a route that was different than usual. It was in the low 20°'s outside, so I'd dressed in layers. I didn't intend to run for performance and hoped that the extra gear would keep me comfortable without overheating me. My plan worked and I was neither too hot or  cold throughout my run.

I wore the Hattori's to see how they'd do in colder temperatures and I was pleased that my feet didn't suffer from the chill. By the two mile point I noted that a day's rest had restored my energy level and I appreciated the opportunity to zone out and enjoy the cold, but sunny, weather.

As I came back towards home, I noticed that my trajectory would have me finishing just short of five miles. I decided then to divert to a series of hilly roads that would provide another quarter mile of distance that would get me past my planned distance.

I finished after covering 5.25 miles and had felt very good throughout the run. Next weekend I plan to run the Ho Ho Ho Holiday run. If the weather cooperates this week, I'm planning to get in a city run with Adventure Girl who is in town for the holidays. Hard to believe it's so close to New Year's. I'm looking forward to some long brisk runs during my annual year end vacation.