Breaking Point

Everybody has a breaking point, the point at which one little thing would break you.  At that point, you've already had cracks go all over, and you're not able to maintain your 'shape'.  In running and exercising, I've pushed myself considerably, but because of the little rest I've been giving myself, I'm at a point where if I keep on going, I would hurt myself.  It's pretty sweet to get to that point and stop and watch yourself recover from all that hard work you've been putting in.  It's not the normal soreness that goes away and makes you feel better.  This was different.  It was where you knew that if you keep on running too much, you'll end up hurt.

Training to the breaking point is very good, but at the same time, it could be pretty dangerous.  Knowing where that point is will help you become stronger.  Not knowing can be detrimental to your health.  Once you know where that point is, you can train to it, pushing your body to the limit, and thus pushing the limits even further when you recover.  Now that I know that I can run for 26.2 miles the day after running 11 and then keep on working out for the next few days, I know that my stamina has increased and I still need to focus on speed in order to help me with the 5k that I would be doing in a couple of weeks.

The Breaking Point is where you shouldn't push your body any more, and because of that, I'm glad to say that I won't be doing any running or any sort of exercise for the whole day, the next day.  Today, I ran to the gym (3.22 miles in 27:42, an average of 8:46 min/mile) and then did my 20 pull ups, 50 push ups, and then finished off with 30 minutes on the stationary bike and sauna for 20 minutes to loosen my muscles.  After that workout, I ran home (1.85 miles in 14:48, an average of 7:59 min/mile.  As an easy day, I'd say that that was a good run.  Can't wait til my body recovers to run another long run.