So most of us don’t listen. I mean we all hear what goes on around us but how many of us really listen, really process the information and take it all in.
Now that we accept that, how many of us Listen to our Bodies ? Over the last year and a half I haven’t been able to train as much as I used to. Stress, Workload, Traveling, Moving cities, New Job etc has got in the way but I have been able to keep ticking along, I only picked up about 4kg from race weight which is good and I have managed to still race 70.3, 2 Oceans 56km, 89km Comrades, Marathons and a few other races with reasonable success.
The reason I have been able to do this is mileage in the legs from years gone past, the ability to suffer, knowing how to take in Nutrition, Great equipment and then Listening to my Body. I take more time to listen to how it feels when I am doing some training, How it feels when it wakes up. Even little things like how the legs feel after walking up a few flights of stairs.
I like to call the race before hand, so that I have planned it all down to what I will be wearing, eating and more importantly what pace I will be going at. Like this weekend, I was running a 21km in Knysna. I had never done it before so I studied the route and came up with a plan.
I am pleased to say that I finished 1min faster than I had planned. I felt in control the whole time, it wasn’t pretty and I had to suffer a lot but I stuck to the plan and listened to my body, when I felt ok, I pushed a little and when I didn’t I held it for as long as I could until releasing some pressure.
I finished up the day 6min slower than my fastest timed 21km and only 11min faster than my fastest 21km ever. On 5 weeks no running too. I am not telling you to not train and race, just merely telling you what I have learned. Now imagine I actually start getting fitter and stronger and learn how to Listen ??
Something to think about isn’t it ? Keep on rollin
