This week, I moved house. Technically, it was a very short move; less than a mile, but it involved children, their schedules, and a major renovation. So things have been stressful for the past couple of months.
Luckily, I have running. No matter how many decisions we had to make, or how many problems we had to face, I knew I would run every night or, at the weekends, in the mornings. The promise I make to myself, and my recurring honoring of that promise, is what keeps me healthy and relatively rested when stress piles up.
Apart from illness, injury, or race recovery, sometimes, a few times, you have to pause and think about whether or not you running is the best use of your time. As I stared down this decision a couple of times this week, I started thinking about some general conditions what general conditions might exist to guide us when choosing not to run. I thought about it for a couple of days and wanted to share my thoughts and see what you think in return. Just below these conditions for not running I’ve done the counter and conditions under which you absolutely should choose to run. Let me know your reactions/thoughts! Would love to get some other perspectives.
When not to run:
When you have a make-or-break deadline THIS WEEK! These are things like a major paper due; a move; a job or school application.
That’s it. That’s the only condition I could think of for skipping a regular training run, apart from race recovery, injury, or illness. I ended up skipping Monday and Tuesday this week to move on Wednesday, but I knew I would need to go by midweek. I did, and it felt great!
But the week of the deadline is a relatively easy call to make: if you absolutely must do something, other things have to move. The harder decision is when conditions are a little more squishy and you maybe could run or you could…just skip this one. This situation is much more dangerous than the rare house move, application, or paper due. So here are some situations where you absolutely should run, even if it feels like maybe you could skip and be “more productive” elsewhere.
When to absolutely go run:
When you have a make-or-break deadline…in a week. For this one: plan ahead, that’s all you have to do. Running doesn't take that long unless you’re marathon training, so there’s no reason to skip it when your deadline isn’t absolutely upon you.
When you just feel sort of tired. This is when you absolutely should run! Absolutely! These sort of half-sick-maybe-a-little-depressed doldrums are exactly what running can help you shake off, and I can almost guarantee that by the time you get back you’ll weirdly get more energy than you had before.
When you feel like other people “need you”. Parents, I’m looking at you. Unless that person is dying or truly incapacitated, you’re fine. Go run for a half an hour and it’ll be okay. It might even be good for the other person. It’ll certainly be good for you.
When you just don’t feel like it. Everyone doesn’t feel like it sometimes. Maybe Steve Prefontaine never didn’t feel like it, but whatever; you’re not Pre and neither am I. Just take that first hop-step and get out there. Get out and see where you end up.
When you’re pregnant and nauseous. Apparently, exercise stimulates the vagus nerve, and the vagus nerve is a big reason you do or do not feel nauseous when you’re pregnant. Seriously, when I was pregnant, I would feel sick to the point of wondering if I took that first little hop-step, would I just throw up right there in the street? And then I always forced myself to, and the relief was immediate. Go run, my gestating friends.
When you’re working late. Referencing (1), unless you’re on a make-or-break deadline, your work can and will wait. Plus, running will clear your mind and make you more efficient about it.
So these are my conditions for when to not run and when to absolutely get out there. What do you think? What are your conditions for making this call? As I navigated my move, this was an interesting thought exercise to help me avoid the self-sabotage that is skipping training runs.
Whatever your deadlines are this week, or whatever you might be facing down a couple of weeks from now, get out there today and remember: go run.
It’s a good list and a sound approach to things. Personally, I take out those caveats and just run every day (no “recovery, injury, or illness“ exclusions), but I realize that isn’t for everyone. I mainly like the simplicity of not having a daily “run/don’t run” decision to make.