Whether you know it or not your body talks—no, not just through your lips but from the inner workings of your muscles, bones, and joints. As runners we need learn to tune into this little voice and not tune him or her out.

Right now I’m training for three events: Ludington Triathlon, Spring Lake Half Marathon and the Mackinac Island Half Marathon. Really, I’m just winging the Tri, I was a swimmer in high school, I bike semi-regularly and run. So I’m going out there to finish and hang out with my dad who will be coming to town for the event. It’s the two half marathons that I’ve committed myself to that worry me. I trained and completed River Bank 25K this spring and figured I can do these two races no problem. However, since I’ve been upping my mileage some old injuries are returning and my body is not only talking to me it’s SCREAMING at me.
Until yesterday I was pretty good at tuning out my body’s voice. I wanted to get in 10 miles yesterday (6 in the morning and another 4 with a friend after work). Lacing up my shoes I actually said to my grandma “My back and knee are bothering me today, here’s the loop I’m doing, if I’m not back in an hour come find me… I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make the route.” I said that!!! That is crazy. If I don’t think I can make it before I headed out the door and realized it was already 92 degrees at 9am, what was my body telling me that I had been ignoring?
My grandma shook her head, laughed and said she was going to “tell my mother” what I was doing. But with genuine concern warned me and said to “Listen to what my body was saying.” I scoffed and put my headphones on and ran out the door only to be hit with a wall of humidity and soon a bigger wall of humility.
My loop consists of two smaller loops for the exact purpose of being able to cut it short if need be and still know my miles ran. The first loop was 4 miles, I got about half way through it and was over heating and eventually gave in a bared my mid-section (something I NEVER do) for the world to see—but at the point I was so sweaty and hot I wasn’t seeing straight and didn’t care what the on coming traffic thought of my belly. Maybe 6 miles is too far. My voice was getting louder, so loud that I couldn’t ignore her any more.
I turned left where my original route said to turn right. A mile and half sweaty steps later I returned home I didn’t stop sweating until after my shower. Happy I returned early yet still antsy because I missed those 2 miles. Work came and went and my friend ditched out on the 4 we were supposed to run after… now I’m 6 miles behind in what I had really wanted to do. But my friend was listening to his body and said it was too hot. So we went to a movie instead.
In these long summer days, especially in August, we need to pay attention to the small voices you may have learned to tune out. If it hot, if your back is hurting more than normal, take a break. We break down our muscles to gain strength but they won’t rebuild until you let them relax and have a day off. We may not like what the voices are saying, I know I don’t, I would rather run hard every day—but stop talking and start listening. Your body will thank you.