NYC Running Mama: You Don’t Have To Do It All

There are tons of articles published every week that aim at making us faster, stronger, healthier runners. Tips on stretching, strength, drills, cross training, core workouts – often times highlighting the workout that an elite or professional runner does. Of course, doing all of these things will improve our running. There’s no question about that.

I love reading these articles and learning what the best runners in the world do. I often bookmark the article, jot a few notes down in my training journal for future reference or pull a few exercises out to add to my routine.

But the truth is there are times I feel overwhelmed with how much “extra” the experts say we could and should be doing to improve our running. And I feel guilty for not making more time to do it all. I typically run six days a week and aim for strength and core work twice a week (each). Some weeks are a success. Other weeks I can barely run the miles I had on the schedule. I would love to cross train more frequently, take a yoga or Pilates class, fit in drills a couple of times a week, or do core work every day.

But there are only 24 hours in the day. Most of us have to juggle jobs, family and other commitments to even get our run in each day, let alone find the time for the other aspects of training.

Running is certainly a priority in my life, but it’s not my number one priority. And I think sometimes I just need to take a step back and acknowledge that it’s okay to not have the time — or even desire— to want to do it all.

At the end of the day, the best thing we can do is find the balance in our lives between running and everything else. Do what feels right to you. When running related activities begin to feel like a chore or when you start to feel like you are missing out on other aspects of life, it may mean it’s time to cut back. And that is okay.