Overtraining – Don’t Do It
July 10, 2008For this week’s Take It And Run Thursday from the Runners’ Lounge.
A few months ago I was walking through Wal-Mart when I saw a young teen grab a cushioned toy bat from a rack, squeeze the foam a few times…and then hit himself in the face. The kid hit himself so hard he stumbled backward and covered his head. Apparently it (the bat) was not as soft as he thought.
The moral of this story: Don’t do stupid things.
Which brings me to overtraining. We all know it’s dumb. Dangerous. Stupid. And in the long term, it can numerous consequences. Yet we, myself included, still do it.
So stop. I’m never going to overtrain again. Like the teen scholar above, I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but I did it anyway. And got myself injured.
Not anymore. From now on, when I think about overtraining, I’ll think about hitting myself in the head with a bat instead. At least after that, I’ll still be able to run.
This totally made me laugh out loud. Next time I am considering overdoing it, I am going to hit myself in the face with a bat instead.
Nice analogy. Definitely one to keep in mind.
Bah, ha, ha!
Oh, the lessons we can learn from those teen scholars…
I got a different moral from the story: We’re all stronger than we realize, and trivial obstacles won’t stop me from achieving my goals. In this case, foam won’t stop me from injuring myself. I guess the second moral would be: Choose your goals wisely.
*whack*
“ow!”
Great comments! I loved the teen scholar bit. I’ve two teen boys and they would have done something like that. Great analogy to running.
hehehe. Thanks for the lunchtime humor.
Too funny…I have whacked myself in the head, so to speak, with a bat on several occasions over the years. I think I am finally learning!
Someone needs to grab my proverbial bat from my hands so I don’t injure myself. Yes, overtraining is dumb, and we do it way way too often. Thanks for the reminder.