I just finished up a 5 mile training run, and looking back I either should have waited one more day to run that distance (increase of only a mile) or that I should have run less. The main reason being that my body was not fully recuperated from Friday night’s race. It’s amazing how just 3.1 miles can have an effect on your body when you run it hard the entire way.
The race the other night was a breakthrough I needed when I started back up with my running. I know that I had been holding myself back the last couple of weeks out of fear of doing too much too fast, but there does come a time where you have to let go and just let your body take over…at least that is what works best for me. So often I have been running races, which of course I do for time and PR’s, and mentally I hold myself back because I don’t want to run out of steam at the end, but then I get to the end and I have so much left in the tank I really should have pushed more during, so now I try to just let my body lead the way. The other night while I was running the race, I kept looking at my pace and waiting for my body to fail me but it never did. Even today while I was running I would catch a 7-minute pace and just be blown away. Of course that was always offset by the hills as they slowed me down to 11-minute paces.
Moral of the “story”: Although Mind Over Body is necessary at times you just have to let your body lead the way.