As a distance runner, the amount of hard workouts, weekly mileage, and physical strain my body goes through calls for ensuring I am getting the proper amount of rest days in as well. Too often runners overdo it and it eventually results in injury. Taking mental health days is extremely important not only for this sport but for life in general to make sure that you are able to show up on the most important days. I had a race this past Friday and took the rest of the weekend off to rest my physical body and my mind. Running is 90% mental, so to prepare for a good race, it is important to account for adding in designated rest and mental health days.
Running everyday will get you far but will not take you to the end result if you do not know how to “show up” when it comes to race day. What I mean by this is that in order to perform to your full ability in a race, there are several crucial factors that come into play and greatly impact how you run. These include but are not limited to, the food consumed days/moments prior to race, amount of sleep from previous days, recovery methods (such as icing, stretching, rolling out), and the last and most important: your mental game. If all of those factors are met to their full potential, the chances of being able to “show up” on race day are positively impacted. Good preparation is the first step to success. Oh, and actually showing up will lead to a good race too ;)