Well, here’s one downside to writing your blog post the day before it goes out — I kind of lied in last week’s blog because I did NOT do my 14 mile long run last weekend and therefore did not actually eat the way I shared in the blog post.
Why? Because I could tell I was getting sick.
I felt off all day Friday, and then felt some congestion coming on Friday night (Siena and I were at a girl scout event where we hired a puberty expert to come talk to 12 4th grade girls and their moms about things like growing boobs & how to roll up a used pad – it was fascinating and about as scary as hearing about what happens in menopause).
By Saturday morning, I knew I was getting sick, but I couldn’t tell if it was going to be mild or severe I did what I would tell an athlete to do if they really wanted to run with their friends on Saturday morning – drop the pace work, cut the run shorter (no longer than 10 miles), and play it by ear. I ended up running 9.5 miles instead of 14 – which was probably about 1.5 miles too long. I walked the final 1/4 mile in to the coffee shop, and I knew I was sick because I didn’t feel good enough to get my favorite coffee (it has coconut milk and chocolate in it) and hang out.
Taking Time Off Running When You’re Sick
I ended up not running or lifting weights all week, until yesterday. Every night, I was up coughing and every morning I woke up feeling terrible. By mid day I’d feel the best I’d feel all day, but the cough would come back at night.
Here’s what I was not-so-gently reminded during this hiatus:
An Object in Motion Stays in Motion
An object in motion stays in motion. An object at rest says at rest.
I went from running 5 times a week and lifting weights 3 times a week to absolutely nothing. I went from waking up at 5 AM to sleeping in til 7 AM (Daylight savings time did NOT help in this sense). I went from cooking healthy meals and having balanced snacks, to getting both In n Out and pizza and forgetting to eat between meals. I went from being really positive, engaged and optimistic about my running, to feeling apathetic about it.
I also went from happy most of the time to pretty grumpy more of the time.
Will I give myself a break? Of course!!! I was sick!
(Photo is from my glorious and very slow 3 mile run yesterday, my first run since Saturday)
Why Consistency Matters for Runners
But it reminds me of something I once heard – that star athletes in high school don’t get bad grades like in those 90s movies – the best athletes who are the busiest actually get the best grades. Despite having more on their plate – they excel in ALL areas.
Building Consistent Running and Health Habits
Once you get into the habit of consistency – running at 6 AM on certain days of the week, doing strength training on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays, getting groceries on Sundays, cooking dinner every night instead of the drive through, bringing healthy snacks with you, making coffee at home instead of getting a sugary latte… you just keep going.
It doesn’t take the gargantuan effort that it once did to create those habits.
Once you’re in motion, you stay in motion.
How to Restart Running After a Break
But when you get sick, or go on vacation, or get injured, change jobs, or have massive life stress/events that totally throw you off track – you realize hard it is (at first) to start again. And sometimes you let those things throw you off for more than just a week, maybe its a month, or a year…
But you have to start again. It’s worth it.
Happy running,
Nicole Dobransky
You must be logged in to post a comment.