Colds, urine, and group runs or walks

Colds, urine, and group runs or walks may at first glance not seem to be related to one another, so please keep reading!

Yesterday morning I had to skip a long run with my training group because I wanted to give my body more time to recover from a cold that began six days earlier. Similarly, my wife skipped her long walk yesterday because of her cold.

Skipping this group run was challenging because…

• I had laid out everything for the group run the night before, and my wife had done the same for her upcoming group walk the same morning.
• We had gone to sleep early.
• I want to keep on schedule Saturday-mileage-wise in preparation for the Texas Marathon on January 1.
• I always look forward to the camaraderie of my training group.

Within a few minutes after the alarm on my cellphone rang at 4:30 yesterday morning, I thought about the advice that I give in Mental Tricks for Endurance Runners and Walkers about the importance of taking days off from training.

Endurance runners and walkers who feel that they must train absolutely every single day were the readers in my mind when I wrote that chapter of the book.

But it makes even more sense to apply the concept of taking a day off when you are recovering from an illness.

• The body needs time to rebuild itself from the effects of fighting the illness.
• The mind needs time to recover from the mental stresses of being ill.

So I took my own advice and soon went back to sleep.

Why, then, did I use the word “urine” in the start of this story?

Let me cut to the chase:

If you as an endurance runner or walker do not pay attention daily to the color and cloudiness of your urine, then you are ignoring two of the best indicators of your preparedness for a marathon, half marathon, or other endurance race or for a long training run or walk.

Here is what I mean hydration-wise, Three Bears-style.

• Too little: If you regularly do not drink enough water, or if your body is fighting an illness, then the yellow of your urine will tend to be very strong, and your urine will tend to be relatively cloudy.
• Too much: If you regularly consume too much water, then the yellow of your urine will very likely be nonexistent. In other words, your urine may look as colorless and clear as water.
• Just right: If you regularly hydrate appropriately, then your urine should tend to be clear and pale-yellow.

And I noticed all week in the lead-up to that decision early Saturday morning not to train that the color and cloudiness of my urine was consistently stronger than what for me is “just right” when it comes to training for a marathon.

So this was yet another reason that I chose to skip my group run yesterday morning.

Note that this is not meant to be medical advice. (“Your mileage may vary. Yada yada yada.”) It is simply a story with a couple of lessons for endurance runners and walkers:

1. Know how your urine should look.
2. Put your health — not your training runs or walks — first.

Have you ever skipped a long run or walk because you were in the middle of an illness or were still recovering from one? How did it work out for you? Please leave a comment here. Thanks!