To Slack, or Not to Slack?

[I don't care that she's not a thrower. Yelena Isinbayeva is simply the best women's pole vaulter in the world...and she's very hot. Try this out for size: Reigning World and Olympic Champion, twice World Athlete of the Year, and she has broken the World Record an amazing 19 times! (Think about that last one for a minute.) ]

Cold weather (for Houston), high winds, and feeling a little down have resulted in no throwing for me this weekend. I don't know if I was just feeling bad because the cold front blew in some foreign pollen that my allergies weren't accustomed to, or if I've been fighting off the flu that 2 of the 4 out-of-town house guests I currently have staying with me are trying to recover from.

I was able to complete my Thursday weight lifting session, but I have to admit that it took me 2 days to do it. I had to leave the gym half-way through my Thursday routine because it felt like there was a pretty good chance that I was going to pass out. I felt a little better on Friday, and was able to do a little cardio, and also finish the leg work that I couldn't find the strength to finish on Thursday. Tomorrow the plan is to resume as normal, and to move up in weight on a couple of lifts. I'll resume throwing again mid-week.

I'm feeling a little like a "puss" for not throwing this weekend, but if all I could do would be relatively low-quality work, and if it resulted in slowing my recovery or in making me feel even sicker, then I'm not sure that throwing would have been a positive thing.

When to push, and when to slack? It's always a critical decision, but is probably even more critical for the masters athlete. If not more critical, at least it's more frequent.