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| The one-two punch |
I'm definitely working through a cold this week. What started as a sore throat on Thursday is now just an annoying combination of congestion and coughing. I don't think it's related to the flu shot. My policy has usually been to run through a cold and hold off running when I have a fever. With the exception of an unscheduled rest day on Friday, I've continued doing my workouts.
Last night my coughing woke me up and that prompted me to take both an antihistamine and a decongestant. I went for the minimal dosage, because too much of either would interfere with my sleep. That helped and it carried through until 5:00 AM when my body clock decided it was time to get up. I spent the early morning hours trying to decide what to do about a run. My plan was to go to Bethpage and train on the hills, but the weather was rainy and the humidity was high.
Although I got a decent amount of sleep, I don't think it provided beneficial rest. I decided to return to bed for a 20 minute nap and that helped bring me back to strength. At that point I'd decided to run inside. I didn't want to find myself trapped in the pouring rain on the Bethpage trail. In consideration of my planned hill training, I got on the treadmill and did the first ten minutes at a modest incline.
The humidity was really awful, so I kept my pace well below LT. The purpose of today's workout was to run about 40 minutes, keeping my heart rate between 80 - 85% of max. That was an easy target and I got through it without a problem. I resisted the temptation to hammer the throttle for the last few minutes, as I often do on runs like this. It was enough to run through a cold and it would make no sense to push so hard as to make it worse.
I thought about the folks like The Petite Pacer who were running the LI Diva Half marathon this morning. I'm sure the humidity was extremely unpleasant. But with no baking sun and moderately cool temperatures, it may have equaled out. Still, I was happy not to be racing 13.1 miles this morning.
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