Without Limits

One of my favorite movies is Without Limits, which is about Steve Prefontaine, a runner who ran with abandon.  He didn't believe in pacing himself.  He believed in pushing himself beyond his limits.  It's one of my favorite pre-race movies to watch, as it reminds me of my approach to life.  With that said, there's a balance.  I didn't run yesterday, and I'm not going to run today.  Sleeping for 10 1/2 hours two days in a row (and not getting out of bed until 11 1/2 hours today), is definitely a signal to me.  It's possible that, rather than absorbing my training and getting stronger, that the cumulative fatigue from training, work and life, have pushed me beyond my limits.  I was definitely feeling that this past week.  

I actually considered running today when I went to sleep last night.  Not only running, but running long to catch up with my miles for the week.  That would have been a big mistake.  At least my body decided to send me a message and discourage me from even considering it.  Yesterday was my daughter's birthday, and was supposed to be a day off.  It wasn't, by any stretch of the imagination.  Between phone calls and meetings, as well as mental engagement, I literally put in a full day.  That's not resting.  I really do have trouble with setting limits for myself.

I am who I am, and I always appreciated the Steve Prefontaine approach to life and racing.  I will always be someone who lives life without limits, but I need to be cognizant of the potential impact of that approach.  Burning out is not an acceptable approach.  It's ironic, that while I talk about not pushing too hard with my consecutive 8 mile runs, I still manage to push a bit, possibly a bit more than I should if the goal is to maintain the daily runs.  On the other hand, I've definitely made progress in the last several weeks.  There's the rub.  I make more progress when I'm pushing my limits, and I just need to know when to back off.  Maybe it's ok to maintain an approach without limits?