Listen to your body.

MILES RUN: 3

PINTS OF GUINNESS CONSUMED: 0

COMPLAINTS: not a one

So, you may have been wondering where I have been? Why no updates?  Or maybe not, in which case, fine.

Honestly, I have not been running as much as I should be.  I have a VALID excuse however and it isn’t the holidays.  No, indeed, I got hurt. A couple weeks ago at soccer, I hurt my knee.  I went down and got back out, sat for a minute then started playing again.  No big deal.  Well, I kept running on it even though it hurt.  I really just thought it was a bruise and it went deep or something.  Then, two weekends ago I did another long run and got to about mile eight maybe and had to bail.  Sharp pains were going up my knee. I went home and iced my knee.  I iced my knee for a good week.  I tried running once and it hurt so instead I have been doing stretches and trying to build up strength in other areas around my knee.  Today I ran.  I ran hard and I ran fast BUT I only ran three miles.  I could have run longer but it got dark and I was alone.  But what a GREATTTTT feeling – after not being able to run – you get back out there and it’s like kicking pain’s ass.

But, I learned something that I feel like I learned a while ago and forgot about.  Listen to you body.  Didn’t I just say this when I got shin splints?

Of course, as always, I checked runners world first to see what came up on this topic.  What I found is that it is important to listen to your body. I took notice when ultramarathon runner Neil Gorman stressed the same thing other long time runners said on other sites:

Gorman swears that the key to healthy running longevity is listening to your body and being proactive.

Here’s more of his advice:

1. LISTEN UP
I believe in listening to, and feeling, your body throughout training and going off of that, as opposed to simply following a heart rate monitor, gadgets, a demanding training schedule, etc. Sensing injury sort of follows with this methodology because, as pointed out in Matt Fitzgerald’s book, Run—the Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel, no one knows our bodies better than ourselves.

Now, I think it’s important to note that listening to your body does not mean skipping a run because you are unmotivated.  That’s just being lazy.  And, if you are feeling depressed or sad then don’t listen to your thoughts on this either, instead, get up, put on your head phones (not some sappy bullshit but some upbeat make you wanna run stuff) and throw on your kicks and RUN FOREST, RUN!

Hopefully, you won’t have such a long break from me next time.  Hopefully, my knees don’t give up again.  I know soccer will be on hold for a couple months.  Until next time, drink your Guinness and eat your Wheaties.

Leigh