Last week was a rest week and next week we’re traveling to North Carolina, so I planned for this week to be a pretty hard week of training. I wanted to run about 100 miles (600 minutes, actually. It’s easier for me to count minutes so I don’t have to worry about pace on easy runs) and I had three important workouts and a long run on the schedule.
The first workout was 12x 1000m on Tuesday morning which went well, but my left foot was a little sore by the end. Wednesday night I had some 200s at mile and 3k pace. By the time I finished those my foot was worse and I was getting worried.
My normal course of action at this point, with something sore only halfway through a big week, would be to mope around the house and slog through my runs (100 miles or bust!) for a few days, assuming my foot was broken and my career ruined. For reasons I can’t explain, this time I decided to take a day off, ice my foot and take some ibuprofen. Shockingly my foot feels a lot better now! I was able to run my workout on Friday and it looks like my long run is safe from the chopping block (although I’m only going to get in 550 minutes this week so the little graph I have in my training log won’t have that perfect slope I was hoping for).
I’ve learned this lesson dozens of times before and I’ll no doubt have to learn it again: a little common sense is the best tool for staying healthy. We get so caught up in the complicated parts of training (making X percent of total volume at VO2 Max pace, lactate threshold pace, anaerobic threshold pace, etc.) that we either ignore or just talk ourselves out of what makes sense.
I was talking with a non-runner friend a while back and he said that if he was a runner he’d probably just a take a couple days off every once in a while to make sure he didn’t get too tired. I’ve thought more about that bit of naïve wisdom in the last several months than all the scientific training theory and advice I’ve ever had put together and as a result I’m feeling strong and healthy for the first time in quite a while.
-Ian
GREAT GREAT GREAT advice.. please keep on training like that, it will give you good results..
I only run for exercise/leisure, and I’m not even really any good at it so I’m not sure my opinion is relevant… but one of the toughest things to learn when I started out was to really listen to my body and know when to take a day (or five!) off. I get so caught up in mileage and averages and goals that it’s almost easier for me push through weird aches or fatigue. But personally, I think the days off are just as important as the days I push myself.
Julia,
I have your binder full of all your secret training that you left in Larry’s office today. I’ll return it under two conditions: 1. You make sure you see me tomorrow 2. You shave your man legs.
If these conditions are not met I will post the contents of your binder on letsrun.
Thanks,
Colleen
Marcel,
Thanks a lot! We sure hope so.
Caitlin,
Absolutely. That’s one of the hardest lessons to learn. When you want to run faster, and want to work hard, sometimes the hardest thing to do is rest, even when it’s the one thing your body really needs. In fact, I think I’ll write a blog on that. Thanks!
Colleen,
1. Global Village , 10:00.
2. FINE
You don’t scare me. The secret binder is in code.
Julia