Self sabotage. Most runners are victims of it, at least most runners I know.
I was doing a long run with a good friend a couple of weeks ago. I knew something was off because normally she would hammer me through 90 minutes at a hellish pace and then go on to run another 30-45 minutes, but this particular day she could barely keep up. She was off...some kind of flu or bug...so when we came around our 90 minute loop I said she should stop. No NO NO. Must go on another 30 minutes. She preceded to get sicker until finally she was forced to take a couple of days of nothing and then, poof, she was better.
It's so easy to see this madness in someone else. You see the desire to be better, to go harder, to push the body beyond it's capacity for recovery...and the body rebels....and the person takes 2 weeks to recover rather than 1 day.
I'm not innocent of this crime. Just last Friday my coach stopped me mid workout because I was clearly sick. I couldn't even cool down, yet I kept asking, "can I do the workout tomorrow?" "No". And of course what did I end up doing, I ran a 20 minutes tempo run set on max speed on my treadmill.
Maybe we runners like pushing the body to the edge. Maybe we want to punish ourselves for our failures. Maybe we're just plain nuts. In the end, we must remember that we will always be better off day to day when we listen to what the body is screaming at us.
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Zoe enjoyed the drive cross country
Running, running, more running, and maybe a little life that gets in the way.
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Zoe
Zoe enjoyed the drive cross country
for a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served a debt to be paid. at last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this persepective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. happiness is the way. so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. -souza
1 comment:
Enjoyed your blog on running Jen. Taking a day off truly can be the cure sometimes. The key is not taking two off in a row. Not sure how I got to your site to be honest. I was working on Michigan CrossCountry.com and something I was looking at linked to you. As a women's coach, I am always interested to see what people have to say about our sport.
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