Most of us go to work early in the morning, run as fast as we can for eight, ten, twelve hours, then come home and run hard again with personal obligations and sometimes more work, before getting some sleep and doing it all over again. Even we love it, that kind of schedule is deeply training. Not an athlete in the world could sustain that schedule without rest. Most athletes have entire off seasons.
I have been training for marathons since 2012. What I have learned is if you want to run a marathon successfully without getting injured, spend 4 days a week doing short runs, one day a week running long and hard, and two days a week not running at all.
It may seem a pretty smart schedule if you want to do anything challenging and sustain it over a long period of time. A few moderate days, one hard day, and a day or two of complete rest. But how many of us work nonstop, day after day, without a break? It might feel like we are making progress, but that schedule will lead to injury for sure.
When we do take time to rest, we discover all sort of things that help us to perform better when we are working. My best ideas come to me when I get away from my computer and go for a run or simply engage in a casual conversation with a friend.
One of the upsides to rest days is that they give us time to think. When we rest, we emerge stronger.
There is a method of long distance running that is becoming popular called the Run-Walk method. Every few minutes of running is followed by a minute of walking. What is interesting is that people are not just using this method to train, they are using it to race. And what is even more interesting is that they are beating their old run the entire distance times.
Because slowing down, even for a few minutes here and there even in the middle of race, enables you to run faster and with better form. A short walk in the middle of your race. A pause. A breath. A moment to take stock. To realign your form. Your focus. Your purpose.
In short, I am not talking about a stop as much as strategic interruptions. A series of pauses to ask yourself a few important questions, to listen to the answers that arise, and to open yourself to making some changes. Maybe big ones, maybe small ones that will help you run strongly. That will ensure you are running the right race. And running it the right way. That will position you to win.
