#4 - Know When to Say No

This is a tough topic. If you have a scheduled training run, at what point is it OK to say 'No' to a run? The 'to run or not to run' question highlights the central dilemma (and challenge!) of run training. Train too little and you won't be prepared to meet your goals; train too much or too hard and you end up injured and unable to train or compete at all. Getting help in answering this question is one of the major benefits in working with an experienced coach if you have the wherewithal to do so. For my training, I typically try and err on the side of caution when deciding to rest in favor of running. As I've stated before, being slightly under trained is superior to not being trained at all, and any significant injury immediately places you in the latter category.

That being said, one must always be vigilant against laziness. It can be tempting to make the claim that your legs are tired or your feet are too sore as easy justification to sit around and do nothing. It must be understood that feeling a little beat up is part of any serious training, and is a key part of the stress/recovery cycle. My rule of thumb to follow is if I'm starting to feel a little too pounded, and am worried that my injury risk is growing higher than I care to tolerate, I'll stick to my work as scheduled, maybe swapping an easy run in for something more strenuous if necessary. If after a few days of easier runs I'm still feeling rough, I'll take a down day for some extra recovery. Swapping in some swimming or cycling is also a good option to keep adding fitness when running seems like a bad idea.

Training: Light cross training (I canceled some speed work, my lower legs are sketchy and I really want to nail a big run tomorrow). Rode bicycle for 60 minutes.

#1 - Starting Line

Greetings Reader,

My intent with this blog is to ruminate on my passion for running through a daily blog post. My goal is to write one short post per day for the next 365 days. This journey will take us through a series of upcoming ultra adventures, including my first 100 attempt (Superior 100 2018). Hopefully this daily reflection will help me sort out what it is I'm doing, improve my writing, and serve as an example to the high school students I work with at Minnesota New Country School in Henderson, MN. By taking some time to share and reflect on my passion for running, I can inspire our seniors to do the same with their projects.

Topics covered in these posts will be just about anything that I can tie into running. Training plans, recovery, pain, personal confrontations with fear, etc etc. I'm not a running coach, but at this point I like to think I know a little bit; if one person gains new insight or uses this to improve their running or their life I'll be thrilled. Although if nobody ever visits my site but I improve through this writing discipline, I'm okay with that too.

This Day in Training: Rest day, an exciting way to start! I blew fairly hard on a long(ish) challenging run yesterday, so day one of my journey finds me sitting on a porch at our annual staff retreat in lovely Whalan, MN.