I gave it a good shot on Wednesday morning.  I’ve been fighting a cold for the past four days and I was pretty tired of the whole thing, so I went out for a run.  Wednesdays have become my unofficial “high mileage” days, mostly just because it works into my schedule like that.  This Wednesday however, I was thrilled to get a weensy 6 miles under my belt.

I started the run thinking that I would do a 7-8 mile loop, but once I reached the half-way point of the “long hill” in Louisville, I actually stopped and reassessed my situation.  There were 5 tissues in my pocket (I can’t do the farmer’s blow to save my life, it’s disgusting to watch me try) and I had already used two of them.  My heart was beating way too hard and a sinus headache was knocking at the door.  I decided to be smart about my running and heretofore, stick to the flats and whatever downhill I came to on the circuitous route home. 

I was 2.2 miles in when I realized I couldn’t do the hills.  I do this route at least once a week; it’s a long 3 miler that has a very gradual incline for the first 2 miles, then a much more steady incline for the last mile.  Usually I’m barely breathing hard; yesterday I had to stop.  It wasn’t that my head was so packed full of snot.  Actually, it was because I was starting to get light-headed and my heart was racing too fast.  This was the not-so-subtle cue that I was indeed sick and yes, I needed to back off the pace.

So the lesson here is:  if you REALLY need to run when you’re sick, try to keep it on the flats.  You don’t need to be doing huge hill work to prove what a brute you are.  The fact that you’re getting your heart rate up is good enough.  Save the hill work for when you’re healthy.