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The holidays can be a hectic time for runners, filled with traveling, unique family and work commitments, and weather and daylight challenges. Do you find yourself thinking, “I can push the run later,” or “I can squeeze it in here” or “Oops, it didn’t happen today” due to more impending things?
Despite the time crunch of this season, I’ve always felt like it was an extra important time to get out the door for a run. The stress of being out of your routine, having extra tasks on your list, and enjoying/enduring extended stays with your family makes the holidays a brew of situations that may be mostly fun, but from which we could use a daily run break more than ever.
I get the sense that a lot of people feel guilty ducking out to run, especially during these times.
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I perhaps have a distorted view, as someone without kids or an office job who gets supported to be as fast as possible; my days are filled with running, recovering, and ancillary running tasks. However, I think taking 30 to 60 minutes a day to run (I run more than this) is so beneficial for your mental and physical health that it’s more of a daily need like sleep or food than a luxury for “free time” like a manicure or movie.
My hot take, though heavily biased, is that I don’t consider it selfish to defend the time needed to run.
Even We Pros Struggle With Schedules
Sometimes I feel like I’m running through December stiff-arming interruptions to my training schedule like a Grinch with Olympic rings glowing in her pupils. There are appearances, side projects, interviews, and holiday events that compress the last few weeks of December into a fruit-cake-like chaotic, dense cube of time. I feel like I have to frame out the hours to chase the race goals amid all the events designed to talk about those goals.
That’s especially true for me right now, when the hype preceding the Olympic Marathon Trials has to mesh with the actual training for the race on the quickly approaching date of February 29. I’m currently a nightmare when it comes to making appointments. If the appointment happens further out than the next two to three weeks of training I have on my calendar, it’s probably going to get rescheduled in defense of the run time.
I’m not complaining, but it makes me wonder: If even I have to defend the morning hours for my main running session, how easily does the hour or so time block gets squeezed out of someone else’s day?
Buying Time
I don’t think you have to be a professional athlete to justify taking the time to get out to run. In fact, I think if you find the right balance of time, it makes you a better family member or employee or boss. We’ve heard Arianna Huffington lobby for justifying getting enough sleep, and there’s much talk about finding space to meditate in a day. I think the run fits into this category of time spent now that makes you more productive in the long run.
As my friend Obsie Birru (who did quite a bit more than an hour a day to run 2:30 earlier this month) said in our recent podcast about training while working 40 hours a week, “[Running] has really opened up my world and my mind and what I can do with other things. It motivates me to be better: to be a better advisor, a better student.”
We already know there are stats supporting increased productivity among other things associated with exercise breaks, if that helps squelch the “I’m too busy” guilt.
Here are some tips for claiming your running time.
Semantics
This may sound silly, but I think how you talk about your run is important. For example, if you’re scheduling something and mention your run, a lot of people consider “run” is to exercise as “snack” is to food or “nap” is to sleep. It sounds less significant and like it can be pushed to whenever.
I gave up trying to explain my weird situation with needing to run at certain times, and started saying, “I have practice.” No one questions me on it as a legitimate activity, even if it’s just me at this practice. (I found people think “train” is pretentious, so yes ‘We talkin’ about practice!’)
Another trick is to schedule it as a “meeting” on your calendar. This language helps legitimize the time to others and also yourself.
Make Peace With The Treadmill
I know many people have mixed feelings about treadmill time. I agree a run in nature is like nothing else for restoring your mental health, whereas a treadmill run feels like a test of mental fortitude to add to the grind of the day.
However, having a treadmill option can save time and open up other hours of the day when you can train, so it’s better than nothing and can save the run in these winter months.
This takes the contemplative side out of the run but I usually blast a fun playlist, or you can watch a TV show or listen to an audio book or podcast. Another fun way to virtually interact with people and feel like you’re running in a video game on the treadmill is with a program such as Zwift.
Finally, whenever in a monotonous situation like a treadmill or cross-training, I like to break up the time by doing intervals of some kind. Even if it’s a recovery run I like to change the incline at intervals just to focus on smaller chunks of time at once.
Make It a Family Event
Although I completely understand wanting to run in large part to be alone for a moment, there is the option of going to a smaller loop or park and running while the family plays or hangs out. I used to do tempos “with” my Grandpa on a 1-kilometer loop when I would go home. Now sometimes my niece scooters around that park when I run, and it’s easy to keep an eye on everyone and high five or yell at each other as we pass every loop.
Sign Up For a Race
Are you a warrior personality who needs the pressure of an impending race day to make you schedule blocks of running time? You can tell all your co-workers and relatives you must leave because you are “training” (as I warned, eyes may roll).
“It’s time to train” a great built-in motivator and legitimizer of your run time, though. It’s hard to argue with the Boston Marathon being just a few months away! New England winters can be pretty bleak, but that doesn’t stop Boston-area runners from meeting up and running on the well-cleared marathon route all season to be ready for race day. I don’t know that the running community would be as motivated to get the miles in without that spring race scaring them out the door.
At the end of the day, the best gift you can give your loved ones, dependents, and employers and employees is to take care of yourself and keep yourself as healthy and high-functioning as possible. So go for your run without guilt, because your health, sanity, and patience are the gifts that keep giving.
Molly Huddle is a two-time Olympian who holds the American record at 10,000 meters. She placed fourth at the 2018 New York City Marathon in a personal best of 2:26:44.
