When Not to Run.

I’ve not run very much this week.  I’ve done a fair bit of walking, sneaking in a hike in the Peak District before lockdown (since I’m not going there on the day this blog publishes for the postponed Dambuster race) but not a lot of running at all.

There are people who run every day and take great pride in that, and to some extent I do feel the magnetism of a completely consistent practise. 

Consistency, after all, is one of the great contributing factors in getting fitter. It is a great factor in life in general. Building routine, constantly practising, it helps us to get better, to get stronger, to become mentally healthier. 

Sometimes though, I have to not run. It’s the intense sessions which do it. 

It’s the 300m repeats in 50 seconds flat, it’s the 5 minutes hard, times 3. The easy hour, the gentle 40 minutes, I could do that everyday, but to do the other things, sometimes I need to not run. 

Injury calls for me otherwise. 

Going back out on a run after some time off, even if it’s only two, three days, doesn’t always feel as good as you might imagine. It always does some good in the long term, but your legs might not always be as fresh or as happy as you might suppose but, sometimes, a couple of days off followed by a nice easy run can not only be a healthy practise when it comes to maintaining a high level of training, it can be a reminder of exactly why you keep running. The rest days can ease the pains you may have been taking for granted during peak training. They can relax the niggles, and allow you to switch off from everything else, letting you lose yourself in the run.

Ideal running conditions this morning. Little chilly, but blue skies and sunshine. Races are cancelled again, so might as well take it easy. pic.twitter.com/xwmVHFjMEx

— Toby Hall (@notat_hall) November 6, 2020