One of my most important tips for this year is “listen to your body”. I don’t know how many times I’ve known deep down I shouldn’t run either due to abnormal pain, being run down after a hard run, or other. And then I wonder why I’m injured. 😿
Sure, I know we all want to step outside our comfort zones and push ourselves further. But I think we all know there is a difference on some days.
Often we keep going because we’ve made a goal and we don’t want to stop whether it’s more miles, a faster pace, or because of an upcoming race. But what if I shared that you’ll be more likely to hit your goal if you take that day off. 😲 How?!
If you keep going you can risk injury or even overtraining. And if that happens you could be out for weeks. Yep, been there done that.
Instead, if you decide to not run and instead maybe cross train, do some yoga/stretching, or even do nothing you’ll find yourself getting hurt and overtrained less meaning less time to take off.
“But…I’ll be undertrained?!” I’ve heard it said (and say it myself) it’s better to show up to a race slightly undertrained than overtrained. And although you might not hit those miles you were hoping to build to, you’ll likely be much further than if you were injured and had to build again.
Why do I share this? After my normal miles on Thursday and running a fun run harder than normal I didn’t expect on Friday, I’m just feeling a bit run down. As such I’m taking the day off and going to live to see another day.
I can’t promise this will help you avoid ALL injury, but I know for myself that I would have avoided more in the past had I not been so stubborn and “overly driven”.
I don’t know if this helps anyone but I wanted to share this as it was close to my heart today. Have fun everyone!! 🏃♀️
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