Building Resilience: Why Difficult Runs May Signal a Need to Run More

Get in touch with Coach Sher!

Hi Running Friend!

Today we start Season 8 talking about "bad runs" and differentiating between needing more training versus more rest. We explore why every run doesn't need to feel fantastic and how sometimes running MORE can lead to significant improvements. Yes, there are times we need an extra rest day, but that isn't always the case!

Learning to tune into our running bodies does take time, but it is important to know when we need more stimulation or more rest for the adaptations we want.

Resources from the Episode:
Podcast-
Running Consistently is One of the Keys to Improving
Overtraining
Purpose of Runs Series-
Slow Runs
Long Runs
Faster Runs
Hills

YouTube-
Consistency is the Keys to Improving
Burnout

Website-
Consistency in Running Yields Results
Overtraining and Burnout

If you are looking for a coach to help you reach your running goals, even if it's just to start to run, take a look at my Coaching Services page on the website. I do virtual, in-person (Buffalo, NY area) and also offer single zoom sessions for those would just like to chat with a coach one time.

Find my additional outlets over at the YouTube channel and at wrinkledrunner.com. Sign up over on the blog for the once-a-month newsletter! If you would like information on utilizing a running coach, check out what I can do for you here.

If you have any running-related questions, please send an email to [e-mail]…I answer every one. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You may have heard the saying to get better at
running, you need to run.
I use that phrase a lot withbeginner runners or those who
are experiencing a bit ofdiscouragement when runs are
feeling hard in a training block.
Sometimes we go out for a runand it feels like crap.
Our legs are heavy, they won'tmove, we feel like we're not

(00:21):
getting enough oxygen or we'renot getting up to speed, so to
speak.
Provided you aren't enteringovertraining, we all experience
these quote-unquote bad runs.
When I first started runningand I felt like that, my
instinct was to take someadditional rest days.
I just figured I wasn't fresh,so I'd take two or three days

(00:44):
off, go for a run and again itwould feel like junk.
Now that I know better, Iprobably would have told myself
to go out for another run thenext day.
Running sporadically instead ofconsistently can make running
just as hard as if we need arest day.
Now, if you're running six daysa week and your legs are heavy,

(01:05):
your resting, heart rate's up,you're not hitting any paces or
RPE runs and that's a scale ofone to 10 where you're rating
your effort level and if you'resupposed to be running an easy
run, so your run's supposed tobe a three or a four, but you
feel like it's a seven.
That probably means you do needa recovery day or two and

(01:27):
you're in danger of overtraining.
Now that is a different thing,and if you think you may be
experiencing that, you can go tothe show notes for this episode
and there's going to be someresources for you there.
But when we want every run tofeel fantastic and easy, we
aren't actually traininganything.
Your body should sometimes feelnot so great.

(01:50):
One coach that I follow refersto it as embarrassing the body.
We get better when we make ourbody feel like it can't do
something.
It's an incredible machine thattries like heck to adjust
itself, to get better at whatyou want it to do.
So today's super crappy runshould feel easier if we were to

(02:12):
do the same thing next week.
For myself, I can tell if I needto run more versus need more
recovery based on kind of whenI'm feeling crappy.
Based on kind of when I'mfeeling crappy.
If during a run it's garbageyou know I'm talking about
general yuck, not pain or hintsof injury, but the run is just
feeling hard I will most likelyshrug it off, chalk it up to

(02:40):
needing more of the same kind ofrun and resume my training the
next day.
I don't try to replicate theworkout, since each run serves a
purpose, and trying to recreatea workout so quickly can lead
to injury.
But I assume I need to keeprunning and the next time that I
do that workout or run I'mgoing to be better.
Now, if I'm feeling a few hourslater that I'm having abnormal

(03:01):
soreness my resting heart rateis higher, I'm not sleeping well
then I will attribute that toneeding a recovery day and
perhaps the run that I did, evenif it felt good during the run,
I might feel crappy later inthe day, and so that to me is a
signal that I need to takeanother rest day, and I know

(03:23):
that's kind of I'm sounding kindof vague in a way, because
that's based on me and mytraining.
So another takeaway from todayis get in tune with your body
and how it feels in differentsituations.
The more that you run, the moreyou're going to be able to do
this.
Now, those of us who run ormove more in general through

(03:44):
exercise able to do this.
Now, those of us who run ormove more in general through
exercise, we have that addedbenefit of being in tune with
what's going on.
You're going to start to beable to tell if you're getting
sick sooner than you used to.
You know what a six-mile runshould feel like for you, both
during the run and after.
You'll know when you feel thatniggle in your calf whether it's
an overuse injury starting up,which signals recovery and rest,

(04:05):
or whether it usually happenedthe first few runs on a new pair
of shoes.
All of these things take timeand trial and error to figure
out, but the more that you run,the more you're going to start
to gather this information aboutyourself.
Another thing I encourage allrunners to do is find out more
about running and the sciencebehind it.

(04:27):
When I would stop runningbecause I wasn't feeling fresh
when I should have kept running,I didn't understand that.
That is how training works.
Some runs are supposed to feelhard.
When you're training for adistance you haven't raced
before, for example, you alwaysget to a point in that training
where you feel like you willnever be able to execute that
mileage.

(04:47):
So the mileage of the race Forme it's when I hit 16 miles in
marathon training.
Every time it happens, I go outfor that first 16 miler, I
think about how I have to getthrough 10 more miles in the
race and do that faster thanwhen I'm running for my long
runs in training and I justcannot believe that I'm going to

(05:09):
make it through.
But that is also the point.
If I can run 26.2 miles rightout of the gate, then I'm
training for too short of adistance.
But the second 16 miler isgoing to feel easier.
And then my body has to getthrough an 18 and then a 20.
And the accumulation of thefatigue in your legs, all the

(05:30):
other runs that you're doing,all of that is going to get you
closer and closer to the goaland what you want to do.
But if I quit or if I take daysoff on end and say you know,
decide, well, I want to feelfresh only for my long runs, so
that's all I'm going to do.
You are not properly doing yourtraining and that 26.2 is going

(05:52):
to be impossible.
So, for example, a few yearsago I was training for a
marathon and I could not get ina lot of the runs surrounding
the long run.
Now I made sure every week toget that long in, but the eights
and the tens and the twelvesduring the rest of the week
weren't happening.
You know some of the shorterones were weren't happening.

(06:14):
You know some of the shorterones were, but some of the
medium long runs just were not.
I ended up having to defer thatrace.
It wasn't actually the longruns that were getting me, it
was the fatigue not beingintroduced by the other ones, so
that 16 miler that I'm talkingabout never felt good.
My body was not making theadaptations that are necessary
that you get with theall-encompassing training of

(06:38):
whatever you're doing.
I learned through that trainingperiod that running a long run
with all the rest in the worldis not how it works.
Luckily, I'm not someone whogets injured very easily, but I
was definitely opening myself upfor injury because I didn't
treat the training as a wholeand my body wasn't building on

(07:00):
each run.
So instead of defaulting to anextra rest day, perhaps you need
to build in more running daysNow, safely and gradually.
Of course, I'm going to keeppounding that in.
I'm not saying run, no matterwhat.
I'm not saying you know, oh,you feel this little pain.
You think you have an injury.
You know you pulled yourhamstring.

(07:20):
Oh, I'm just telling you to goout and run anyway and it's
going to get better.
No, it's not.
That is absolutely not what I'msaying.
So don't take this as a messageto go from running two days a
week to six.
But if you're feeling like yourruns are always hard and you're
only running two or three days,try getting in an additional
day of a few more miles.

(07:41):
Just stick with it and unlessyou're dealing with pain, injury
or sickness which definitelymeans rest and recovery stick
with those running days.
Embrace the harder runs, knowit's ultimately making you
better.
And if you have any questionsabout anything that I'm talking
about, shoot me an email and Iwill answer you.