Tomorrow, I am running 18 miles. This is huge for me because I haven’t run that far since the Chicago Marathon in 2015, and there are a few things stacked against me. Because it’s in the middle of the week (I had to reschedule my long run because of work and travel this weekend), I will be on my own for most of it, it will be hot, and I’ve been experiencing some flared pain in my surgery hip.
Even though I am nervous, and I know it will be hard, I am excited to see what my body can do and how this will feel. I am planning to keep this at a slower pace, specifically because of the hip, and have given myself permission to end the run if there is a lot of pain. Also, I am eager to practice my mental game, which tends to falter when I am on my own. I want to practice going through the dark mental tunnels so that I know what to do in those hard miles on race day.
One of the things that has always motivated is Nike commercials. Nike has been under fire lately for how they treat their female athletes when they get pregnant, which I think is wrong and their policies not only need to change but must become more supportive than tolerant, but they sure know how to do marketing. Often, when I need inspiration or reassurance that I can do a hard physical task, I watch Nike commercials. Sure, they are meant to sell products, but they also give you hope that you can do that crazy thing.
Today is a rest day for me as I get ready for tomorrow’s long run and give my hip a break, but I am going to be watching some of my favorite videos in order to mentally prepare myself for the run and be excited to get out the door at dawn. Enjoy some of my all-time favorite Nike commercials.
My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. this morning as it does most mornings. Despite not working a full-time job, my days are incredibly full with marathon training, working at the running store, my graduate assistant job, and school, so I need an early start. However, such a packed schedule is leaving me exhausted lately and that 5ish wakeup is getting harder and harder to make.
When the alarm dinged, I went into the routine debate: if I take less time for breakfast, I can sleep an extra 10 minutes, OR, I could do my run between work and meeting a friend this evening. I could feel my tight legs begging for a reprise, but a speed workout was booked for the day. This scheming and planning was wasting time, and I knew I needed to make a decision. Then, I pulled out my phone and looked at training schedule from last week. My last rest day was a week ago. No wonder why everything hurt. I reset my alarm for two hours later and turned over.
During my last marathon training cycle, which was in 2015, I ran four days a week with three off. That was an extra day than I done in the previous training cycle, but I thought more rest suited me. Then, when training for a half marathon this winter, I knocked the off days down to two, most often because I needed a break from Chicago’s unrelenting weather. For this marathon, I am down to one day a week. It wasn’t a big decision, and really one I didn’t notice when I was creating my plan, but I knew I wanted to have a strong training cycle and just one day made sense.
“Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.” – Maya Angelou
So far, one day is working well for me, but because I often have to rearrange workouts in my schedule, the rest days aren’t one consistent day, and sometimes I forget to put them on the calendar.
The expert advice is that we should listen to our bodies, but I don’t think I’ve ever really understood what that means. Like many women, especially female athletes, I’ve long had a complicated relationship with my body and have pushed and abused it for not being what I want it to be. My body and I, we don’t really talk to each other. I’ve gotten better tuning into it’s needs as I’ve aged, but I am still unsure if my body is telling me to take a break or my mind is trying to sabotage me, as it tends to do.
This morning, though, I am fairly certain my body was screaming, “BREAK!” Not just from running, but my crazy schedule. Unfortunately, I am not sure I will have a day completely free of school, work, and running until, I don’t know, graduation, but I can steal back hours for myself, including this morning.
Our society puts a lot of pressure on us to go, go, go, with messages that only those that work hard deserve sweet rewards. However, we aren’t built to push for forever.
Someone I follow on Instagram was saying how the grit and strive of sport is great, and while she has been chasing that for years, she wonders if it is not working for her anymore. I commented on her post that sometimes we need to take an “inhale moment”, in which we pause, breathe in the goodness and forget about producing and accomplishing. Having goals and working towards them is a definitive part of life, but it doesn’t need to be our constant goal. We need those rest days to remember why we are chasing those dreams and allow our bodies and minds to recover and be strong again.
Today, I am taking a full rest day. I still have to work, at both jobs, but I didn’t run this morning and I will probably take the train instead of biking to my job. I’ve got a big weekend of running ahead of me, and I want to work with my body to get there, not against it.
Are you resting today? How many rest days do you have in a training cycle? How do you like to spend your rest days, in running and life?
Often, when you are running, you experience pain. Sometimes it’s sharp, maybe in your knee or calf. The body likely needs rest, stretching, or examination by a doctor. That’s the kind of hurt that shouldn’t be ignored nor one you should push through.
There is another kind of pain, though. It’s achier, and it lingers. It is harder to find the source of this ailment, meaning there is no quick fix. All you can do is keep going and hope to forget about it long enough that it dissipates.
Running hurts. That is a fact. Yes, there are times when we are injured, but there are also times when your body is just going to hurt. This is a kind of pain that we all experience, no matter how long we’ve been running or how fast we are. We have an off day, our calves are tight, or we ate something that our stomachs don’t agree with.
It’s important part to know what is injured pain and what is just running pain. A few years ago, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I went out for a run to shake my legs out from a Turkey Trot. I noticed pain in my right hip, a sensation that I knew almost immediately was more than wear on the body. Of course, I was in denial about it and didn’t get it check out for months later, but I could tell it was the type of hurt that would likely need medical attention. Eventually, I learned that it was a labral tear, and I had to have surgery to repair it.
Today, though, I had some pain in my left glute. This was different that my hip pain. It was more of a soreness. I knew that I just kept going, the issue would likely work itself out and I would feel better. Five miles later, the pain was lingering but definitely better. Some active foam rolling and I should be good.
We have these kinds of pains in life as well. Hurt that is deep and unrelenting, that has followed us from year to year, that needs to be addressed with therapy and inner self-work before one can heal. And, hurt that is part of life’s normal ups and downs.
Right now, I am in graduate school. Something is always due, and I doubt if I am actually retaining enough information to be a competent counselor. Also, money is tight. I left a good paying job with benefits to pursue my master’s, and while I stopped earning a steady income, the world didn’t stop demanding money from me. I work two jobs to pay my bills, which is barely enough and leaves me little time to do that homework let alone have a social life. These days can be really hard, and the finish line is so far from my peripheral that I am not entirely sure it is there. However, this is part of the process. Graduate school is not easy, and nearly everyone I know who has done it has had some excruciating days. But, this hurt is part of the process, and it’s different from the one a year ago when I was extremely unhappy in my career and knew I needed to change. That unhappiness needed to be addressed, which is why I quit my job and enrolled in school. This one, though, needs to be endured by acknowledging it, learning from it, and continuing on.
It’s not always easy to understand the differences in pain, in life or running, and sometimes we’ll keep going when we shouldn’t or quit before we should. Those aren’t mistakes, rather lessons to help us better understand ourselves. (Note: Be very careful about continuing on when you are experiencing emotional or physical pain. It’s OK to consult a professional while deciding to continue, and remember your health should be the number one priority.) When something is really wrong, quitting or stopping is necessary, but it can also feel like an out when you are experiencing the just because pain. It’s tempting, for sure, but it might not be the right answer. It’s up to you to determine what is best.
Enduring pain, when it is the just because kind, is part of the process. Nothing with great accomplishment is easy, and so we must put up with the trials to get to the finish line. However, that strength is in us. You can’t ignore the pain, but you can not dwell on it. Rather, find that strength and rise above it. Eventually it will disappear, you’ll see that finish line, and overcoming the hurt will be one of the highlights.
The Running Therapist 