… or is it the other way around?
Well, in the case of this morning’s run, it was my body. No matter what my mind was saying, my body wanted no part of a good run today.
As I said the other day, sometimes you want to slow down and really don’t need to. And sometimes, well, you do need to listen to your body and slow down.
I headed out for an easy run this morning all bundled up to battle the elements. Right away I knew it would not be a speedy run and that was fine. But it also wasn’t an easy, leisurely run. Or even a slightly enjoyable run.
As fast as 5.5 miles went on Wednesday, the first mile into my 3 mile run today felt like an hour.
And there was no rhyme or reason to this feeling today. Or was there?
- I haven’t had a rest day in…hmm….don’t remember the last one.
- I put in a hard hour on the elliptical yesterday. Could that be the reason my legs suddenly felt like rubber bands unable to stretch as I attempted to run?
- Was the last handful of blueberries causing a stomach issue since I kept tasting blueberry and feeling them repeat on me? Hmm. Never a problem before.
Sometimes one just doesn’t know the reason.
When I reached the 3 mile mark, I ran into my community’s gym to do a little bit of free weights instead of running further. I figured when I finished with the weights I could run back home and if I felt like continuing, I would do another mile.
Yeah well, another mile wasn’t happening. As soon as I started to jog back home, my body wanted no part in it.
My head, yes. My head was all in for another mile. Or even another two.
But my back was immediately in protest, along with picket signs from my legs and feet.
This friends is a classic example of sometimes it isn’t your mind that quits before the body. My body was clearly waving the white flag for today and my mind needed to accept it.
I was totally fine with it actually. I would rather stop short today and have a great long run tomorrow. I would rather listen to my body than push myself to run additional junk miles that would only leave me feeling burnt out or even worse, injured.
What do you do when you feel yourself having a bad run? Do you continue or do you keep going?
