No Days Off

SNAPSHOT

No Days Off encompasses awareness, honesty, and devotion.

DIGGING DEEPER

"KEEP YOURSELF HONEST...No Days Off is not a race towards your physical breaking point, but rather a call for moderation – a daily greasing of the groove where today’s run is only as important as what you are able to do tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that . . ." Tracksmith

I have fallen in love with the concept of being aware of your body's needs every day.  To care for your body and mind with honesty and devotion.

My body does not need to run 365 days a year but it does need to recovery from yesterday and prepare for tomorrow. I strongly suggest for a runner to have days off from running, to give the body rest.  It is only during rest that the body can repair itself and prepare for the same feats in the near future.

However, there is also a need for perseverance and devotion in order to strengthen the body and mind.  We need to run often in order to increase our abilities. Running most days for an intermediate runner causes the correct amount of adaptions.  It is when a runner gets too greedy and doesn't allow for recovery that injury and exhaustion occur.

The fine line between these two zones of recovery and training is where awareness and honesty keep us healthy. Awareness of how much we are asking of the body and the need to rest in order to become stronger keep us from overtraining.  An honest look at our weaknesses, and devotion to continue when we don't feel like it, pulls us up to our potential.

When training a runner, I seek to balance to training and recovery.  Here is a sample of an average week for an average runner that I coach.

Look at how hard days of running are balanced with easier days.  Notice that there are two days of no running but instead, they are replaced with either core strength or active recovery.  Every day the runner is progressing toward their potential and yet giving the body and mind the rest that is needed.  

Special Note: Please don't use this training schedule next week.  This runner has spent many months preparing themselves for this volume and intensity of running.  On the other side, don't be afraid of it.  This runner was not a runner one year ago.

RECOMMENDATION

I recommend using Tracksmith's No Days Off Desk Calendar or Poster.  I am giving them away on my Facebook live video on New Year's Day!

This instrument can help to keep you aware of your devotion through honestly evaluating if you cared for your body that day.  If you ran when you needed a run, then mark the calendar.  If you performed your yoga or Pilates routine in order to give yourself core strength and active recovery then mark the calendar.  On the day you truly needed an hour laying comfortably while reading instead of pounding the pavement then mark the calendar.  

The day you don't mark the calendar is when you turned away from your planned training or recovery to eat nachos and feel guilty. There will be the next day when you can accomplish and mark your calendar as a reward for your awareness, honesty, and devotion.

SOLUTION

Every day embark upon becoming stronger through either running or recovering. 

The Training Secret

Bridge of Flowers 10K 

SNAPSHOT

Slightly undertrained with daily recovery and consistency are the secrets to success.

DIGGING DEEPER

Do you wonder what the secret workout is that gets runners to the podium?  It is not so secret as you may think.  In addition, the method is not just for the elite.  

It is quite simple to explain. Train the body to adapt at it's highest possible rate without causing too much trauma or stress. Allow the adaptation to occur under the most optimal recovery circumstances.  All the while adding each adaptation upon each other without setbacks or plateaus, therefore creating a consistent training year.

Theresa Loomis racing in the YMCA 10 miler in May 2016.

The complexity is in the individual differences between each human.  One runner's maximum weekly mileage is another runner's low level. Each body is unique in its making and ability to withstand the pressures of running. We all need different amounts and elements to recover optimally.  The stress of our life intervenes with consistent training.

So what does this all boil down to?  How do you get faster, better, stronger?  Listen to your body. With the knowledge that slightly undertrained with daily recovery and consistency are the secrets to success, do as your body needs.  Train hard using your internal motivation, tread carefully the rest of the 23 hours of the day in order to recover, and plan carefully causing a consistent training schedule.

It is simple yet complex.  This is where turning to a coach will improve your running. A running coach keeps you on the right track towards appropriate training and adequate recovery.  They should be sensitive to your recovery at the same time challenging you just enough to cause adaptation and increased fitness.  A coach sets out your training plans and keeps you accountable.

Your finish time should not dictate whether you deserve a coach.  Whatever level you are running at, you still need someone to guide you. I have a coach.  Even this coach needs a coach to run optimally and to reach her potential. Reach out to a runner around you that inspires and encourages you.  Ask them to guide you through a successful 2017.

SOLUTION

Secret exposed, what are you going to do with it?

SIT SIT SIT

SNAPSHOT

Oh sitting, how you have crept into my day.

DIGGING DEEPER

During breakfast, traveling, desk work, waiting room, coffee with a friend, phone call, lunch, dinner, kids' swimming and soccer practices, and on the sofa, we sit, sit, sit.  Look deeply at the normal physical routines of your day. Does sitting consume your body’s day? 

Throw running into the equation, which relies heavily on the hamstrings, glutes, and core to move the body forward, and you have a combination for lower back pain.

The one semi-heavy object that you lifted that caused you to drop to the floor and live on the couch for a few days wasn't the culprit.  It was weeks or months of strain and weakened muscles shouting, “I QUIT!” 

Sitting with a ninety-degree bend in each of the hips and knees creates a strain on the hamstring and glutes.  It also weakens the surrounding muscles since they go unused for many hours of the day. You can imagine and feel the damage of sitting.

I am not taking this battle sitting down and am seeking a healthy restful position to impact this world. This is my change list:

• Sit in the lotus position whenever possible
• Stand when on the computer 
• Keep a straight back when sitting, with my shoulders on by back
• Stroll throughout my thinking and talking periods of the day
• Pilates class once a week
• No screen time after 8 pm

Recommended Book- Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World by Kelly Starrett

SOLUTION

Copy this list and stick it near your computer for a reminder of avenues to better physical health.