During last Saturdays run I felt smashed. From beginning to end my legs were like jelly. I felt like there was nothing in the tank and nothing I could do or think or say was going to change it. Thankfully I had the pleasure of running with my Oxfam buddy Dominic and he allowed me to take my mind of running for while and got me to the end. Such a top friend and I wish him all the best for his next race, the 6inch in Western Australia on 21 Dec – go Dom!!

After that run it got me thinking (and worried) that maybe I’ve been overdoing it a bit lately and it’s time to back off the gas a little so that I can let my body recover to grow stronger. Every Saturday over the past couple of weeks I have felt that each run was a struggle and on reflection I don’t think it should be/feel that hard, it didn’t last year.

Sometimes i think I read too much about what the ‘elites’ do, or hear about how much other running friends train and I feel like i’m never doing enough. But we have to learn to listen to our bodies and mine is yelling out for a rest. So for the first time in a very long time i skipped a training session. I woke up at 5am on Monday morning and decided to skip my usual RunLab interval session and have a bit of a sleep-in. I felt awful for missing a session but I strongly believe that my body needed it and the last thing I want to do is over-train an get injured or sick now that i’m just getting back into the swing of things.

It’s hard for me to back off the gas, especially now that running has become such a regular habit that I don’t even have to think about it anymore. Which is great on one hand as nobody could ever call me lazy, but it means that I never sit still.

This week so far has been quiet on the running front, Monday I walked the dog after work, Tuesday I did a slow 6km with Sydney Harbour Runners, this morning I walked the dog, tomorrow I will do RunLab before work and Friday I have (social) basketball at lunch. Then it will be onto a super saturday with the striders crew at Narrabeen, followed by  smaller trail run on Sunday in the local national park (I hope Melissa is free, better message her now).

So please listen to your body and take time to recover everyone, I promise you it will make you stronger.

Happy Running 😀