COACH’S CORNER – DIFFERENT FORMS OF REST AND RECOVERY

BY TASH FRASER

For so many people running is their outlet that helps them deal with life when it gets tough.

Running is a great weapon to have in your arsenal to deal with stress and anxiety but should it be your only weapon?

Ensuring you have more than one strategy to cope when things are overwhelming is just being smart.

Yes, running provides a multitude of physical and mental benefits, but it also places a certain amount of stress on the body as well.

Sustainable training practices need to include adequate rest, and it is becoming more common to find runners sacrificing their health/potential fitness gains as they simply can’t pull back.

Soon injury or burnout strikes, and suddenly that runner has no other strategy for self-care.

Rest and recovery can take different forms for each individual, but regardless of what form it takes, the rest day is when your body can really reap the benefits of your training and grow stronger to adapt to the load that is being placed on it.

How do you react when you take a day off, can you handle it or do you feel like you should carry a caution sign around to warn others that you haven’t had a run?

Breaks from running are an inevitable occurrence for most of us mere mortals, my question to you is are you well rounded enough to handle this?

Do you have other coping strategies in place apart from exercise to help you deal with the rollercoaster of life?

You can’t always control the circumstances that life throws your way, but you can control how well you take care of yourself.

Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, why not try a different approach? Find a non-running related interest that you enjoy as an alternative distraction from stress or organise some social gatherings with good mates (we all look surprisingly different out of running gear).

Meditation is a fantastic way to combat stress and builds a level of mindfulness that has been directly linked to massive performance gains for many runners.

Android and iPhones have tons of apps that provide guided meditations (Smiling Mind for example is free) and there are many podcasts on iTunes based on meditation as well. Running and exercise in general is a great self-care strategy, but let’s not put all our eggs in one basket!

Make sure you have more than one activity you can do to keep functioning well and be ready for life’s challenges.