However, on occasion, usually when she was tired, she didn’t perform as well. This was not good. If her pace slowed to less than 5.30 minutes per km, she was not happy as she felt like she had failed!
As a teenager, this girl had been a sprinter, which is when her obsession with time probably started. Unfortunately as an overkeen athlete, who obviously knew better than everyone else, when she got injured, she usually rested for no more than a day or two, keen to get back to training.
Therefore, when this former sprinter started training for longer distances, putting pressure on an already slightly broken body (which continued to get injured as an adult), her body said, “No more!” and decided it was no longer going to endure the torture it had been used to.
Gradually, very slowly, in fact, this runner realised she had no choice but to listen to her body. Although it wasn’t until running two weeks after badly spraining her ankle, and pushing her body to the point of virtual breakdown, that she realised sometimes achieving a target time is not the most important thing in a race.
It has taken a long time but this (still competitive when she needs to be) girl has started enjoying running a lot more now that she is not constantly putting herself under the pressure of running a decent time. She is taking in her surroundings, enjoying her running and finding it incredibly therapeutic. The injuries are also a lot less frequent, fingers crossed they will remain like that!
Balance is the key now and even though she still has targets to achieve, this girl is finding it a lot more satisfying to vary her training to include long, slow runs, short, fast runs and maintaining a certain pace, training both on and off road.
Moral of the story - listen to your body. If it is telling you to slow down, take it easier, then do it. Don’t wait until it ‘breaks’ as it will take a lot longer to come back, both physically and mentally!
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