As athletes, we can probably all relate to pushing ourselves too hard trying to get results in our running, biking, swimming, etc. At the very least, I know I'm guilty of it rather frequently.

That's probably the reason I end up with these annoying injuries all the time. I just don't know how to cut myself some slack.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what contributed to the hip issues I started having back in December. I had just finished the Jingle All the Way 10K with a pretty stellar time. I had averaged 9:03 minutes per mile way faster than I had ever raced before. All fall, I'd been getting faster and faster, but I never felt like I was pushing myself too much.

But maybe I was.

There were some treadmill runs were I would really push the speed. I mean there's pushing ourselves so we can be better, and then there's over-doing it. Like cranking the treadmill up to 7.5 or 8 mph for a sprint at the end of an already intense workout when my legs were already tired.

I've come to the conclusion that sometimes I just need to cut my body a break. It does a pretty awesome job most of the time and yes it's great to push it a little bit so things don't get stale, but every body has limits. I think I need to be more in tune with mine.

I stumbled across a blog post recently that I thought summed it all up pretty well:

"So, where does that leave the body? Well, this body has a big job! It has to protect and carry around this “me” for as long as I live! And I would like to live for a long, long time. So I’d better start taking care of it, because if it goes I go… and I don’t wanna go. So I started paying attention to what I fed it, how much I let it sleep and relax, and I started exercising it. Trying to live healthy is like an insurance policy. There are no guarantees, but I’m hoping that smart choices now will bless me with a body that can do whatever I want it to, for a looooong time."

It will definitely be a challenge for me to not want to push myself all the time in training, but I'm really going to work on it. I want to have a strong running season without any injuries and the best way to do that is giving myself a break now and then.


What's one thing you can do this week to cut your body some slack?

(Photo credit: Flickr)