Year of the runner: Resting well

This year can be the one you seize the day and take your running to the next level. Here’s the final article in our series on how to make it the year of the runner!

This series of articles has been about more than just running. It’s about having a healthy lifestyle centred on running. It’s the whole picture, a panoramic view of your life, that matters, not just the times you go running. Choosing to be a runner is choosing to live well.

Like sticks standing and leaning against one another, healthy lifestyle habits depend on each other. Take one stick out, the others will eventually collapse.  Knowing how to rest well is a very important habit. All elite runners know that recovery is just as important as training.

Sleeping well

Running coach Dr. Kattouf III says when we sleep right we set up the brain and body chemistry for success. We should aim to get eight hours of sleep every night, which means going to bed at 10 or 11 PM if we are getting up at 6 or 7 AM. Sleep is just as important as nutrition. And both sleep and nutrition are just as important as running for one’s training. Remember our perspective: training is life

Task:

Develop a healthy sleep hygiene routine.

Relaxing well

Many elite runners will tell you they didn’t take recovery seriously, over trained, and ended up with an injury or just plain tired a lot. An holistic training life includes downtime and recovery. Balance is everything. If you are neglecting time with your partner, loved ones or friends, if you’re feeling tired a lot, you are out of balance.

Instead, try seeing recovery and downtime as part of your overall training life. Become an expert at relaxing well. Register for a restorative yoga course and learn how to fully relax. Take your partner to a thermal spa and spend the day soaking it up and relaxing.

Running task:

Now start running four times a week, with two of the runs 45 minutes to an hour long. Do this for three weeks.

We’d love to hear what you’ve learned or discovered from reading this series in the comments below. Stay tuned for more running articles soon!

Also check out the previous tips if you missed it!