Taking the workout in stride

I've had to come to terms with one thing over recent months in my training regimen: I can't overwork my body.

I'm an overachiever by definition, so I tend to feel like the more work I put into something, the better. Over the summer, I was running every day, or close to it. The weather was great and it was light in the morning, so I'd get up super-early and be back before the sun had even risen above the trees. I felt energized and like a completely different person for the rest of the day. Generally, I would run around three miles a day, but as I became more and more addicted to it, I began to sharply increase my distance.

It sounds awful now looking back on it, but I bumped up to between four and five miles a couple times a week and then suddenly jumped up to a couple of eight-milers. I was in my glory--never before had I been able to achieve an eight-mile run, and I felt like I was at the top of my game.

Before I knew it, I developed shin splints. I wasn't all that surprised--I had been working hard. I applied ice and tried to avoid downhill inclines, thinking that would cure it.

One day, I went out and got about a mile away when my shins literally started burning. I'd never felt anything like it, but for once I was scared. I turned around and rested for a good several days.

But then my iliotibial bands became unbearably tight. My hips and knees hurt all the time, and I couldn't seem to give them a good enough stretch to relieve the soreness. For the icing on the cake, my low back was immovably stiff one morning when I woke up. My body was falling apart.

I realized I hadn't been stretching as much as I could or caring for my body in between runs. I was lax about icing and resting injuries, preferring to just run through the pain. But I knew I had to make some lasting changes.

In November, right after I had been researching the IT band injury to figure out how to heal it, I found this article from the New York Times Online. It talked about the benefits of dynamic stretching, which focuses on motion rather than the toe-touching brand that we learned in high school gym class. I felt stupid, but I started crawling around like a spider before heading out for runs when I started up my training routine again. I'd march around kicking my hands with the toes of my sneakers and gently twist my spine around to keep it moving.

And guess what? It worked. I had to learn about the tolls the roads would take on my body and to learn to respect it. It just takes a bit of perspective. I know my limits, and when my body tells me it's had enough, I force myself to stop.

It's the only way to keep a lasting practice.