There are days you are not primed to give full effort.

I’m speaking from my own experience today, as I woke in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep. Sometimes I know when my mind is awake and refusing to shut back off, and today was one of those instances.

I did grab a pre-dawn run, which was a bit risky after completing 6x1 mile effort the prior evening. The lack of recovery was evident, as I was going much slower due to feeling my body getting close to injury. I got 7 miles in, albeit not the best miles.

In my current lifting regime, Tuesday would be a Lower Body day (deads, squats, lunges, and abs-type work). With the reduced quality of my run, I determined that skipping today’s lifts were the appropriate call.

The title of this post comes from the following Tracksmith poster:

Every day of this year has a marking so far. To continue that process throughout the year requires intelligent management of expectations, especially in the face of days where recovery is not sufficient.

It is certainly disappointing to miss out on opportunities to do the work to build and get stronger. It would be more disappointing to sink days or weeks of effort due to injury because I didn’t listen to my body.

Strive to improve every day, but do not let the desire to progress overcome the necessity to rest.