First off, we’re back! It was a whirlwind of a trip to Boston, but we had a blast!
I’m more at peace with my decision not to run it this time. The weather really had an effect on so many people and I feel that if I had pushed myself through it, it would have ended pretty badly.
I’m working on getting my husband to write up a full recap of his race. It was a tough day for him, but he still managed to place 52nd overall! I’m very proud, but would love to let you all hear it from him and how his experience was. More to come on that soon!
Today I wanted to focus on something a lot of runners hate – not running. The truth is, the longer you are a runner the higher your chances of either being sidelined by injury or something else (like myself). I’ve been sidelined several times since I started running, and it really never gets easier.
So, what do you do when you are forced to take time off?
I’m not perfect at this, but I have gotten better at coming to terms with it and focusing on the things I do have control over. Here are a few ways I work to get through a period of no running.
Rest Up!
The past year and half has been filled with 4:00 AM mornings almost 4 days a week. It’s been really draining some days, but it was the best way for me to get my training in while I could.
I’d much rather be running in the morning, but I’ve been enjoying getting an extra hour (or two) of sleep each night. Sleep is going to be extremely important to aid in your recovery no matter what you are struggling with.
Let your body rest!
Focus on Strength
Please note this should only be done if you do not have an injury that would be made worse by doing so. When I had my femoral stress fracture I did not do any strength work for 6-8 weeks.
Strength work is the number one thing that many runners leave out of their routine. As our training schedules increase it becomes even easier to put it on the back burner. Time off of running is a great time to work on increase your strength.
Not only will this help you get your endorphins pumping but it can help you come back even stronger when you return to running.
Clean Up Your Diet
I don’t know about you all, but when I am in marathon training I end up eating more junk that I normally would. I am hungry all the time and it drives me crazy.
At times when my running is cut back, I like to take the opportunity to work on cleaning up my diet. I like to really focus in on the nutrients in my food and look at what I am putting in my body. This helps because once I start running again I’ve cut a lot of the junk out. However, I never completely eliminate treats – they are important!
Get Your Support System
I love to run and in many ways am blessed to be married to such a passionate runner because we understand each other. We understand that it’s important to go to bed early on a Friday night for a Saturday long run. We understand that the week before a big race dinners are going to be pretty bland. We also understand how hard it is when you can’t run.
When injuries happen having those around you that understand is important. To people who don’t run they may not understand why you are making such a big deal out of not being able to run. You running friends can be a great support system because they understand how hard it is.
Having these people around is important because it allows you to vent when needed.
Don’t Focus on It
You are going to feel down for a bit, and that’s okay! In some ways you just have to have yourself a little pity party and then move on. They key is not to sit around and sulk. It sucks, it’s not fun, but there isn’t much you can do to change it except to take care of yourself.
Focusing on it will only make it worse, so the best thing you can do is keep yourself busy and find other ways to keep your mind occupied.
Not running is brutal. It’s not fun and there is really no good way to sugar coat it; however, your attitude is everything. Keep focusing on how you can make yourself stronger when you do start running again and keep your head up!
Also, for those of you who are injured or having to not run for whatever reason and don’t have anyone to talk to about it – feel free to shoot me an email at runningwifesara{at}gmail{dot}com.
What is the last injury you had?
What is the longest you have gone without running?
I was totally feeling for you during the last days. Everything you write and describe seems to be something that could come from my mind.
Since my early running career in 2010 I suffered from three stress fractures, two sacroiliac joint dysfunctions and several minor injuries (achilles tendonitis, IT-Band problems, shin splints etc.).
The longest time I had to take off of running was 3 months. There were so many days when I was sure I would not make it through this phase of crosstraining / alternative training (doing nothing for more than 3 days seems impossible for me and my mental health). However, positive thinking (“you will be back in running shoes and achieving your goal of a new half-marathon PB”) and the support of my husband and running mates helped sooo much during these tough weeks.
Even more: I started deep water running to have the running movement without the weight bearing. During my second workout in water I met another girl doing the same funny moves in the pool – also an injury prone athlete. We started chatting and now we are best friends, working out together in running as well as during injuries.
I really like your recommendations for a reasonable use of the free time while not running. There is possibly something like an added value (apart from the recovery) one can find in these days, even if it is hard to appreciate it when all you want to do is take your running shoes and step out the door…
Kind regards from Germany,
Sarah
I dealt with a variety of injuries from last May until the beginning of this year – hamstring injury and then Achilles tendinitis. The second one was debilitating and basically took me off the road for four months and then took a few months to get back to full training after that.
Before the injuries, I was running the fastest I had run in over 10 years and was really in love with running again.
I’ve run in some shape or form since I was nine years old and this was the longest time that I had ever been forced to not run (I had stretches where I didn’t run, but never because I couldn’t).
I wish I had taken advice like yours but I instead found myself depressed and not doing the things like watch my diet and strength and cross-train. Instead I spiraled out of shape and kept falling deeper in despair every time I had a setback trying to get back on the road as I dealt with the reality that sometimes we can’t will our bodies to do things (that maybe we could before).
It’s a longer road back for me than it should be, but that’s okay because the journey means a lot more now.
Good luck on your road to recovery and enjoyed the blog post.
Hi Sara,
First off, you are so strong for making the decision to post-pone Boston. I have also been running with a foot injury for months and taking time off was really tough. I think your ideas for how to deal with not running are great ones. I also look for ways to exercise with friends like yoga or spin classes.
I qualified to run in 2017, so I will look out for you then!
Keep it up!
Meg
Hey Sara – These are really great things to focus on during non-running times. Thanks for the list.
I had a short break in early March due to some ankle soreness caused by new shoes. I ended up going to the gym a lot more and working on some weight training and doing some cross training. I think it was really helpful. Now that my miles are increasing again for a June marathon, I don’t have the time to also head to the gym and keep up with the weights.
I guess my reason for bringing this up is that I was really able to enjoy a different workout. Although I missed running with my buddies every Sunday, I did enjoy the break and a new focus for a couple of weeks.
Good luck!
Greg
I haven’t been great about not running — if I don’t think I’ll make things worse, I usually keep going with just modified workouts. I did take a whole week off in December after I went through about a month of terrible training leading up to a marathon that I ended up DNFing. Even after the week off, I felt slow and had lots of niggles, so my coach scaled back my training even more. I kept having up and down running, and I was confused. I didn’t really feel like it was overtraining, although my body was kind of acting like it. I finally went to a doctor after a couple months of this and it turned out my hormones were completely messed up. I’ve been treated for about a month, and I’m feeling much better, although any sort of heat and humidity affects me more still than it did a few months ago.
Anyway, I’m trying to be patient with my body as it readjusts. I hope you’re able to resolve your current issues — I know I’d be heartbroken to have to put Boston on the back burner. Wishing you swift healing soon.
Time off is always hard. I’ve found some favorite spin classes at my gym and enjoy anything that has some of a competition factor to it that somewhat replaces that race feeling :). I’ve also been on a very long road to Boston and am hopefully going to qualify in New York this November after 5 years of barely missing it. The most important thing is to of course have fun while doing all of this… If the enjoyment goes away, what’s the point?! Rest up and get healthy 🙂