I've received so many great ideas for posts lately, and one of the best comments was from
It's Just One Foot in Front of the Other. She commented on "listening to your body", and I couldn't agree more.
In 1981, Olivia Newton-John made my
12 year old imagination run wild with the phrase, "Let me hear your body talk!" As I've grown up & matured (a little), I'm sure she was referring to something else, but
this quote definitely applies to runners.
The Internet is filled with
standard advice for runners - "Take 1 day off for every mile ran in a race!" ... "Eat this many carbs, and that much protein!" ... "Stretch, Stretch, and Re-stretch!" ... "To avoid injury,
NEVER run in water skis!" Ya know the typical stuff.
But one thing my wife and I often discuss is simply
LISTENING TO YOUR OWN BODY. There are obviously some standard practices that we all need to follow. But I think there are also
different physical limits that each individual can push themselves to. My friend Ken can't run across the room without aggravating his knees. But another friend Bill, has trained for a couple of marathons while at the same time completing P90X for his cross-training.
We're all different!
 |
| Ken, Me, & a Frog |
I'm 42 years old, and I've ran about 10,000 miles since 2001 without any serious injury. I have been extremely blessed. I really try to take care of my body. But a big part is
the bioengineering I received my parents. My knees and joints can simply withstand more abuse than my friend Ken's. I'm just wired different than him. But conversely, he is a great golfer. He can physically repeat the same swing over & over .. I can't!
When it comes to working out, running, and racing - I believe its very important to find what
works for each of us. Too heavy of a workload obviously leads to fatigue, burnout, and injury. But not
pushing ourselves to a personal limit can leave a lot of performance & success on the table.
I would love to get your thoughts on this!
Thank you so much for all of the kind words and feedback everyone has provided. I've only been blogging for about 2 months now ... it has been an amazing experience.
Everyone is so nice!
I started this blog so friends and family would know what I was up to - but the
AMAZING conversation, encouragement, and ideas I have received from fellow runners has been great!
I get so many new ideas from y'alls pages and comments, and I love reading them.
Please keep them coming, and ...
Be Great Today!
You are absolutely right, we are all different and must listen to our own bodies! That has taken me a long time to learn but it sure made the difference once I got it.
ReplyDeleteI love "Be Great Today!" I am going to do just that and I hope you do also!
So, what you are saying is that if I'm feeling really tired and wornout I need to chillax, right? :-)
ReplyDeleteand we are so glad that you started blogging. You have immediately become one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteAs for the training. I think I'm very fortunate too. I had 1 mild hip episode last fall, but other than that, I've been totally healthy. I do "try" to train smart, although sometimes the brain leaves me. I LOVE the hard workouts and racing. I LOVE the marathon, but hate the recovery time. From what I hear and read, I typically allow more recovery than most post marathon. I do it out of caution and fear of injury. I also have "step back" wks scheduled in all of my training. I think this helps, mentally and physically.
I agree completely. Everyone needs to listen to their body and not worry what others are doing. That said, I wish my joints were like yours!
ReplyDeleteHa Chris - exactly!
ReplyDeleteYou're so right. I am extremely jealous of those who seem to do everything wrong training wise, and yet still remain uninjured. I consider myself a fairly smart runner, but yet I've had a couple of injuries where I truly couldn't figure out my mistake (excepting my current one!). Genes play a big role, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteFor the longest time, I ignored my body's signals, because I wanted to get miles in no matter what. Because of that mentality, I spent a lot of time dreading running, instead of enjoying it. Now that I've started learning to listen to my body; running is fun again!
ReplyDeleteI'm a new follower! :)
Just found you, loving your blog so far. As a newer runner, paying attention to my body has been one of the few things that's come relatively easy for me. Maybe because I can't seem to cram any more thatn 4 run days in a week...
ReplyDeleteJim - you are such an inspiration so keep being great on a daily basis and I'll be sure to do my portion as well.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is awesome and I enjoy coming to it and reading about everything you got going on.