Listen To Your Body

We runners are crazy. We hear it all the time and we take it as a compliment. Not everyone wants to get out there and run 5, 10, or 20 miles for fun. But its what we runners find enjoyable. We also enjoy getting faster and setting new PRs in races. It feels great knowing that all those miles we put in are paying off. But most of us just do not know when to pull it back and let our body properly recover. I have been there and done that. I can not count how many times I have ran with aches and pains. Hardheaded? Maybe, but I wanted to do what I loved despite the aches. And I know a lot of runners do the same thing. Sometimes you can run with some type of nagging pain and still have a decent run, and then other times, you just need to take some time off and let your body recover. This is hard to do, especially for me since I want to continue making progress. Plus I would just feel lazy for taking time off from running. Its a hard pill to swallow but its necessary. You have to look at the bigger picture. Would you rather take a few days off and let your body recover properly or would you rather risk suffering an injury that could sideline you for weeks maybe even months? Some runners may ask "how do I know the difference between general soreness and something worse?" Soreness is something you can still run with. Usually its in the muscles and you can still work out with it. But something worse will not "feel right" at all. Its a type of pain that only gets worse and worse with more use of the particular area that it is in. Take for example my experience with shin splints, I could feel that something was not right during one of my long runs. With each heel strike, the pain in my right leg keep getting worse and it was getting to a point where no matter how much I slowed down, the pain only kept building. Finally I just had to stop completely. Even walking back home was hard as I was not trying to put much weight on my right leg. The previous day, I felt some pain in my leg that just did not feel right at all, but I kept going and finished my run. And the next day, I payed for not taking time off to recover. It was not easy for me to do this, but after taking three days off, I came back recovered and in better shape. When in doubt, listen to your body. Set aside your ego and your pursuit to keep moving forward. In my experience, it is not always easy to take more rest days than you planned. But it is truly worth it in the long run. (Pun Intended)