Know your body, trust your body

For those of you who know me, you know that taking it easy is something I find very difficult. Lately, I've been using the myAsics app. to help me train for a marathon. I've never had any running training before and I wanted to improve my time. Now that I think of it, part of it is not wanting to waste the time of a trainer as I'm not fast and will never be winning any races. But that's not the point. I've been using this app and it's been working, I've achieved better than a full minute per kilometre since I started using the app. which is something I find remarkable no matter what my current pace is.

The thing is, I've been training and running and doing my Pilates classes (which are not easy as my clients will tell you) and so far everything has been fine. Everything was going swimmingly you could say. Up until this morning, this morning I went for my run and I started off feeling pretty good. The sun was shining which is always a good sign, there was no wind to speak of and it wasn't too hot. My goal for today, according to myAsics app. was 12.1K at a comfortable pace. This is something that I've done many times over the past few months and I have come to see it as an easy run. It's meant to be taken easy so as the running muscles have a chance to work gently and not overstrain them. This is also something that I'm struggling at as I am lacking in running training the slower paces are the hardest to achieve (strange I know). 

Anyway I got to about the 4K mark and began feeling off, I couldn't pinpoint what it was but I knew that something wasn't really working for me. I slowed my pace and tried to bring myself back a little, assessing my body and how I was feeling. A little tight in the shoulders, so I focused on relaxing them, keeping my posture in check and making sure I was engaging the supporting muscles to help me along. This got me to the next kilometre but something still wasn't quite right, I slowed right down and by 5.7K I figured that it was safer to stop rather than push on ahead. My body was telling me to quit, and my mind was listening (this is very rare). But, I'm so glad I did. Even though I would've like to have ticked off the 12.1K and done as the app had told me, I trust in the messages that my body gives me. Perhaps completing the run would've pushed me too far today and made me miss future runs through illness and worse still not being able to teach. 

Quitting this time isn't a failure, it's actually and achievement in this case. As someone who likes to push themselves and enjoys being exhausted at the end of the day, choosing to not complete what I set out to do is a sign of growth and understanding of what true health is. 
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I am so glad to be fortunate to have good health most of the time, and this wasn't always the case. But as I have grown into an active and healthy lifestyle I have learn't so much about my body and what it does or doesn't need. My Pilates teacher trainer talks of honouring the body, and knowing when to quit is part of that too. 

Honour your body, love yourself x

​Nicole