Recovery matters!

 If you toed the line these last few weeks, congrats! You owe it to yourself to celebrate your accomplishment. Whether it was a PR or another race completed, you deserve to appreciate yourself. It’s a normal thing to cross the finish line of your goal race and think about what’s next. Most runners are type a individuals who are always motivated for the next challenge I have written about this before but the biggest mistake I see runners make is that they rush back into training too soon after their goal race. Whether you trained to peak in the 5k, 10k, half or full distance, your body needs time to recover when the cycle is over. My brother used to tell me that if you don’t plan rest, your body will plan it for you.  Before signing up for the next race, give your body and mind at least a week to do things non running related. Rewind and focus on all the other amazing things in your life. Your friends and family will appreciate it too since they most likely sacrificed something these last few months as you trained for your race. After you have properly celebrated, then, it’s time to make a decision on what you want to do next.  If you did a fall marathon, I encourage you to eye a spring half marathon and work on your speed in the shorter distance races. The faster you get at the half, the faster you will be able to run in your future full marathons. If you ran a half, it may be your time to train for a marathon. The most important thing you can do this winter is be consistent.  You achieved a lot of fitness these last 6 months. Regardless of if you ran a PR or not, you will benefit even more in the coming weeks by simply showing up and putting work in. Our athletes who are running PRs are the ones grinding the miles out year round. With that said, we focus on the full picture meaning recovery is as important as performance to us. Good luck with whatever you decide to do next! *Spewak Training coaches are accepting new clients. Please feel free to reach out to us contact@spewaktraining.com to learn more about our training services.*