Mar
2
Photo credit: Child Walking on White Round Spheres by Flickr user D. Sharon Pruitt under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
One concept that has widespread impact but tends to be under-discussed in traditional outlets for runners is balance. It is an appropriately broad word with multidimensional importance, even more so for the aspiring marathon runner who is trying to fit their training into all of the other priorities in life.
What defines balance for a runner? Well, like so much about training, it depends on the individual. There is no clean definition. What might seem woefully out of balance for one athlete or person is the perfect blend for another. All that we can agree on is what happens in the absence of balance – stress, injury, under-performance, disappointment.
For each of these elements, it is important to consider balance as a long term concept. Being overly focused on making each day, week, month, or even year “balanced” generates nearly as much stress as being out of balance. Sometimes short-term priorities dictate a focus on work, or on speed, or on family, or on flexibility.
Balance cannot be easily measured. Sure, you can track time, measure results, or make similar efforts to record your progress. But balance is only really achieved when it is felt. As FoCoRunner points out, you can put in the time or proximity without putting in the presence, such as when you are out with your family but checking on your Blackberry. You will know you are there when you arrive. And you will know you have departed when you fall.
The four elements that must be balanced in the long run for a runner are time, training, diet, and body. Let’s look at how to reach for balance in each of them; a common thread is the need to employ creativity and openness towards new approaches, combined with the conviction of your goals and confidence in your abilities. Why, that sounds like balance in and of itself.
Time
For the busy professional, homemaker, or, in today’s ever-more-demanding society, both, there is no greater limitation to your training than the need to balance time. Time at work. Time with family. Time with your passions. And, most relevantly, time with your training. Hopefully the last two overlap somewhat.
This is where creativity comes to play the most. The ability to be productive, to be compact and efficient in your workouts, getting out the door quickly, and squeezing in what you can, is crucial to develop. And you will find that every day, something is sacrificed. A wise man named John Breen once said, “You can do anything you want in life. You just can’t do everything you want.”
You may never be as good of a runner as you could be if you were able to dedicate yourself to it fully. But that choice is truly your own. You choose to develop a career, have a family, and be successful with both. So finding balance means giving up as little as you can to get as much as you can from your training. The pendulum can swing too far. In fact, it usually does. This is the struggle that never ends.
Training
Within and across types of workouts, balance is critical to maximize performance and prevent injury. You balance your running – long and short, fast and slow, bursts and steady, hills and flats. You balance running against rest, building strength, and gaining flexibility. Occasional aggressiveness is offset by intelligent inhibitions. It is here where being out of balance only shows up later. Ideally, it’s just as missing your goal in your target race. At worst, its injury that makes you shelve your plans completely.
Like the other elements, your training may and should be out of balance at times. As you ramp for the marathon, mileage increases and perhaps there is less time for strength training. But as you then recover, the focus should shift in the opposite direction. Base building is an ideal time to find a healthy balance within each week. And outright rest from running brings the opportunity for experimentation with new exercise forms, that can feed the next training cycle.
Diet
There is plenty of advice on “the runner’s diet,” and plenty of ingredients and recipes to try. The specifics aren’t as important as the overview – intake balances output, steady pace of consumption through the day, and all calorie sources should be represented. Restraint balances selective indulgences. Eat to run, don’t run to eat.
There are no gimmicks needed, and no real shortcuts available. Whether you are vegan, carnivore, or really don’t care, carbohydrates, fat, and protein are all essential, in the general “correct” proportions. It’s not complicated and doesn’t need to be. It is mostly, maybe all, about calories.
Body
This is balance in the physical sense – evenness of strength, coordination of muscles, and fluency of motion. It is an under-appreciated component of an under-appreciated discipline – that of your running form. Balance breeds efficiency and prevents magnification of slight differences in your strength and flexibility. It allows you to focus on moving forward, instead of side-to-side.
Balance is certainly genetic, but it can be improved too, through static exercises like yoga, dynamic activities such as lunges, and, probably best of all on the roads – or better yet the trails. As Coach Jay Johnson says, “to be a better runner, you must first be a better athlete,” though he probably wasn’t the first to say this. No matter how good of a runner you are, you need to continue to improve your athleticism.
So how do you apply the concept of balance to your training? Do you find it comes naturally, or is it a concept that you have to pay attention to – both on the roads or trails, as well as when you are away from running? If you aren’t thinking about it, it would seem that perhaps it is an area to plan where you may make improvements.
Pingback: Exercise – A Good Step Forward in Coping with Autism | Predawn Runner