Scotland mostly - through nsl4u

I thought it worth covering my last 7-10 days for all my 'fitness colleagues' out there.

About 10 days ago I went for a quick road cycle of about 1 hour, maybe some 16-18 miles and undulating. putting it in a nutshell, I felt that I had 'no power', and even the lightest of up-slopes seemed just too hard...I finished up feeling despondent and knowing that it was a poor session.
A couple of indicators were the lack of thigh power (big muscles need a lot of energy and to be well fed with O2.....'fresh, rich blood') and a dry throat that came on too soon and no water bottle slurps seemed to sort it.
Next day, you've guessed to I'm feeling a wee bit jaded. So time to be 'wise'......

Left the training aside for a couple of days then thought, try again, and resulted with a 'bit of improvement' - I did an hour on the bike...'ok' about lunchtime, then later at tea time did an hour trail/x-c run - felt pretty good overall. However this time, next day I was off colour lethargic, listless and grumpy (what's new?!).
So the real result was that I developed a sore throat low down left side and actually not too comfortable at all and rather tired and flat. My remedial work was to gargle with TCP and also a couple of times with soluble aspirin. Drank plenty of warm stuff mainly tea then towards end got more diluting juice and cool stuff in to ensure I was reasonably hydrated. Maybe I should/ coould have gone for antibiotics, but I have listened to all the advice about how you can resort to them too often and they lose their effectiveness.

What a bummer, given it was a glorious week and I could have been doing realy good stuff in all that wonderful sun and heat.

Just did not feel like doing anything that might exacerbate it and laid off for about 5 days.
Then tried a very light cycle for 45 minutes and did not feel the throat regressing, but not too much pizzazz either.
Next night did a canny run for about 50-60minutes and got through it ok, though no 'foot on the gas'.
Cycled again following night and felt a bit of power coming back, that's yesterday, no throat reaction so I think ''clear''.
Tomorrow I'm out running again and maybe will try a wee bike ride too to see what, and if, I have recovered.

Lessons - get used to your own body and inner feeling of well-being. Nobody knows better than you and listen to and feel the messages from within.
Be smart and take a break and allow the wee white cells to do their best. If you are training and 'damaging' (that's what 'controlled' training is..!) then you are tasking the system to do too much and the wee white cells will not be effective. You are likely to allow the lurgi to multiply (what is it, exponentially?!) and dig the thing in deeper which will take longer to heal.
So, the old adage of rest, good fluids and food, and least stress, will allow the miraculous sytem to recover quickest.
Don't be gulled into trying too hard too soon - treat it as an enforced rest and ''try to enjoy the break from the training regimes'' (psychological this part!!) - soon enough, you will start again and get back to a decent level quickly.
If you overcook it and go too soon , there's a risk you might develop post-viral syndrome (and it can all become a repetitive cycle draining you on and on, with the potential of actually getting a lot worse).

Go steady and enjoy - the best course is the LONG one, and prepare to 'stay' over it.

Good exercising folks, best regards, Denis.