Thursday morning session - another DNF!!!

I'm at a loss. I can't believe it - two times within the space of a week I have pulled the pin on a session. This is the tricky part where your mind plays tricks on you. You need to be able to differentiate between 'being soft' and actually listening to your body's internal signals hinting that something is not quite right. Of course, pulling the pin on a session always leaves you feeling like the former! But being more analytical, there are definitely signs that the latter was true. For those of you who know me, I have a tendency to train too hard (which essentially ended my days as a kayaker), and have been on the receiving end of 'overtraining syndrome' (yes, it actually is a recognised condition) more times than what I would like as a runner. However, overtraining is not simply just a condition that rears its head simply by training to hard and/or insufficient recovery. The latter term here is important - recover. Performance = training + recovery. Training is the variable that we can easily measure and quantify. The second variable, however, is where things can get tricky and more subjective. Recovery is more than simply not running in between sessions. It can be compromised by many variables, such as psychological stress, work commitments, family, etc. I remember back to my university days - running around exam times was terrible, my paces were horrible, and I felt heavy and sluggish no matter how good my diet was. But as soon as I finished my last exam, I felt like Mo Farah again (ok, probably not quite as quick)! Looking at the present tense, perhaps I expected too much this week on the back of being sick last week. Perhaps I was lured into a false sense of security following my return to running last Saturday with a great session! In hindsight, Tuesday's session was relatively poor - yet I stubbornly attributed this to the fact that my lacing was out and was attempting a newer, harder session than previously. Today was my attempt at my typical Thursday speed/fartlek session - 15 x 400m with a 200m float between. I actually felt horrible getting out of bed this morning! Warming up I felt my mind wondering and really dreading the first rep. Nevertheless, I pushed ahead an commenced the session - hoping that I would dust off the cobwebs within the first few efforts. No - it wasn't happening today! 71 seconds for the first rep, 72 for the second, deciding to stop after the third rep which was a sluggish 74 seconds. All with sub-4:00 minute pace 200m floats between. Perhaps the floats were too quick, but I just wasn't feeling it today. Repeating my opening line - sometimes you need to differentiate between being soft and being fatigued. I am adamant that the latter was responsible for today. More rest??? But I rested last week!!! Yes, whilst this is true, it was enforced rest secondary to being sick - not an ideal type of rest. Nevertheless, I will take the rest of today off (training that is - not working), as well as Friday (which is traditional for me anyway) in an attempt to be ready to race on Saturday! Happy Easter everyone!