I've been having the whole 'Should I run every day?' debate with myself recently.
On the one hand I know that I'm really prone to muscle fatigue and therefore would be worried about getting injured if I ran that frequently. (I suppose that's what's stopped me up until now).
On the other hand though I wonder if making this extra effort and making what is not an insignificant time commitment would actually help my stamina and therefore perversely make me less likely to pick up an injury? If I did decide to do what seems to be widely referenced as a 'running streak', how long should I do it for and how far can I realistically expect to run if I go every day?
As I'm out pounding the pavements, this is the type of stuff that regularly goes through my head. And annoyingly, I still don't seem to have reached any sort of definite conclusion.
When I mention it, lots of people say that the ideal thing is to do another form of exercise that will support my running and not stick just to running. Whilst I understand this, the truth is that I have spent a lifetime trying to avoid exercise and was bored rigid with the gym, classes, etc. Running changed all that. Yes I still talk myself out of running some days and cut corners off of routes when I feel tired, but more often than not, I run further than I originally intended and actually crave the release that running gives me if I don't go out for a couple days.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't feel motivated to do any other forms of exercise even if I know on an intelligent level that it is the right thing to do. Which then brings me back to should I do a 'running streak'? And then I'm back into that internal dialogue of should I or shouldn't I?
So I think the conclusion I have reached is that I might give it a go for maybe a week... and perhaps a logical time to try it is the Christmas week as I'll have the time? Also I may feel more motivated to try and run off the excesses of the festive season! Maybe if I commit to doing this and communicate that to the Run To Be community, I'll feel duty bound to do it....
In the meantime, I found this quite long but interesting article written by a runner in the US about the 50 things he learned from doing a 'running streak'. I'm up to about 29 at the moment and am hoping that somewhere between now and number 50 I will have some sort of epiphany that will galvanize me into taking decisive action... so watch this space!