Now that you are running, and maybe even beginning to learn to like it a little bit, many changes are taking place. You are training your mind to be more determined. You are training your muscles to move in ways, and for periods of time that were unknown to them, just a few days or weeks ago. You are training your friends to accept you as a runner. There are changes taking place that you won’t realize at the moment, but will become evident on down the road. With all of this exciting change happening, wouldn’t it be a great idea to run even more and make those changes come bigger and faster?

The trap that a lot of runners fall into, is that they think that if a little bit is better, then a lot must be great. It is a wonderful thing that you are so energized about running, but running too much can be a very bad thing!

The mechanics of change

Your body is a wonderful machine. Well, it has the potential to be a wonderful machine. Right now, it’s probably not in the best of shape. It is pretty much like an engine in an old car that has been sitting in a dusty old barn somewhere for years without being run. You can get it to turn over, but it won’t run very well. You could try to fill it with gas and just limp along, but what you really need to do is tear down the engine and rebuild it.

Your body adapts to whatever you do to it, over an extended period of time. If you just sit around, it gets better at storing fat, and since you don’t use your muscles as much, it cuts down on their fuel supply and blood flow. You rust. When you start running, your body takes note of the added demand on parts that never needed attention in the past, and begins to target those areas for a rebuild. But that rebuild can’t be done unless you give your body time to do the job properly.

If you pulled your old clunker into your local garage and told the mechanic that you needed to have the engine rebuilt by the end of the day, you would be greeted by laughter, or a question of your sanity. A rebuild takes time, and so it goes with your body. The rest that you take between runs is as important a component of the plan as the runs themselves. When you are out there on the road, your body is making a check list of everything that it needs to fix, just in case its fool owner decides that it might engage in this activity on another day. Your calves are screaming, “Please get me some more blood flow, before this idiot starves my for oxygen!”, and “My glycogen storage tanks are too small to keep up with this goof ball!”.

Time for a rebuild

There is nothing that your body can do for itself while you are running. It is only when you stop that your systems can take inventory and begin the process of improving the machine that is your body. Your mechanic can’t tune up your car while you are driving it, and the same goes for your body. All of those marvelous adaptations that your body needs to make in order for your to run longer and faster come while you are resting.

But isn’t it better to practice more?

In a word – No! Your training plan is geared to give you the perfect balance of running and resting. If you try to speed up your progress, you increase the chances of becoming injured, which will slow down your progress. I know that you are excited that you are running, but resist the urge to do more than your training plan prescribes.

Remember that resting is an important part of your training plan. Rest with as much enthusiasm as you run!

Next time: Resting while you run.