I see it, hear it, read it, witness it.
More, more, more. From influencers with consistently excessive training routines, to diets that will send you spiraling–it seems that the “grind” has taken ahold of fitness culture. While I love a new challenge and going for a great new goal, sacrificing your livelihood, internal health and overall sustainability for the sake of constantly going isn’t the key.
I find so many runners I work with have a fear of doing less. This, most often, is stemmed in what popular culture tells us: that consistent and persistent hard work is the answer to reaching your goals.
After losing my period, suffering through overtraining, being constantly fatigued, sleeping terribly, having no energy or zeal and just feeling like crud–I’ve come to realize how inherently false that is.
The true key is to strike a balance between hard work and sustainable practices you can CARRY with you for LIFE! This isn’t about all or nothing, burning out or even “the grind”. If you want to achieve your goals and then KEEP ON GROWING, you need to start by establishing habits that you can repeat.
Now, if you’re in a phase of training for a marathon (or some other more intense event) this still can apply. It means you still need to generate patterns that won’t burn you out, that value rest, that value proper fueling, that value taking time off. By creating those healthy habits, you’ll get through the training injury free (more than likely) and will transition out of it smoothly. If you go balls to the walls and kill yourself in the process, you may wind up sidelined, exhausted and hating the sport you once loved (if not worse–losing your period and suffering in more ways than you can count).
So: I just want to remind you all: less is indeed MORE! You can accomplish amazing things without destroying yourself. I promise you.
