Monday, April 23, 2012

Taking A Break from Running

If you read my post about my triathlon training last week you may have noticed that I didn't run at all. Not even once. And I didn't miss it in the slightest. After having two terrible runs two weeks ago I just wanted a break. I was struggling to run at what my normal recovery pace is. Luckily, my main focus isn't running right now so there is no reason to suffer through miserable runs. It also worked out well that this past week ended up being a recovery week. 

At first I was pretty scared about my lack of desire to run. I love to run and have big goals when it comes to running. I am not supposed to enjoy taking off time from running so much. But after a few days I started to realize that this small break from running was just what I needed. After a full week of no running I am now looking forward to going out for a run. 

I don't think I was physically burned out since I really wasn't running too much. I think I was burned out mentally though. I experienced the same sort of thing after running my first half marathon back in the fall but I didn't give myself the break that I needed. Instead I tried to muster through it. Then I jumped into training for another half marathon with no motivation to run. Not the best plan.

Running isn't supposed to give me stress, it's supposed to relieve stress. My first sign that I should have given myself a break was that running was suddenly causing me more stress than it was relieving. Now that I have taken a break from running I feel absolutely no pressure regarding training. I am loving biking and switching up my training. And I am going to only run when I want to and for only as long as I want.

I have big running plans for the fall that I will fill you in on soon (!) and I want to be ready to take on that challenge with no pressure. I want to be ready to focus on running and if that means cutting back on running now than so be it.

1 comment :

  1. wow. you said everything perfectly. i related a lot to what you said. esp about the "im not supposed to feel this way." i kept thinking that in January until the point where i got injured. then when i was told that i had to take time off...it was actually a relief which totally shocked me.

    i took advantage of the time to try other workouts and loved it. it was just the break i needed and i feel like i love running more now than i have in the longest while.

    im so glad you are enjoying where you are at in your training and im looking forward to hearing about your big running news :)

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