Happy Move it Monday and first day of February! Today I recorded a brief Periscope message on the restoration of my Monday Mile easy running day routine. Deviating from this recently has caused me to be more fatigued and I’m finding that I haven’t really been taking it easy one day a week. If I’m going to stay healthy and well-rested, I need to make restful days a routine occurrence at least once a week if not more. The Move It Monday program encourages people to try to start with a Monday mile of walking, running, or other activity (swimming, skiing, biking, etc.).
Looking back, I realize that the run streak that I am still extending has depended upon the Monday Mile routine to allow me to have a restful day that is still active. Just not excessively so.
If I do not restore this routine, it is likely that I will encounter illness and/or injury from overtraining and pushing too hard. It’s the curse of the competitive runner. So I’m taking this as a precaution and reimplementing this routine, making it an essential part of my weekly training schedule. I know I can still reach the 2,016 mile goal for the year even cutting back that much one day per week. It will also allow me rejuvenate and to have more energy and strength on other days of the week when I run, especially on Tuesday, the day after the Monday Mile. It will allow me to either run longer and/or faster on Tuesday (speed work) but probably not both. Sometimes if you stack too many interlocking challenges at once, it can be counterproductive (like trying to run fartlek hills for example: either run fartlek or run hills but probably not both at once unless you really intend to do so).
So when your body tells you that you are overly fatigued, ill, or injured, listen to that voice of reason and adjust your routine accordingly. Take that rest day (or cut back to 1 mile runs) until you are better if you are strong enough to run a mile that day.
Enjoy the scope and join the Move it Monday movement and Monday Mile routine! Wishing you Smooth Peaceful Running!
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