The weather in London is glorious today. The sky is blue, there’s a slight breeze in the air and the sun is shining. It’s a day made for running.
What’s that you say? Your training plan is telling you to rest, or sending you to the gym or indoor pool? Today your training plan might be wrong.
I don’t want you to neglect rest days. But I also don’t want you to miss out on carefree, happy runs in the sun because you’re sticking rigidly to a training plan that was written 10 weeks ago and bares no relation to what the weather is doing this week.
This morning I woke up early. The sun streaming into my flat helped with that. I put on my running kit and I ran 5 miles to work. It wasn’t planned. I have a marathon to run on Sunday and I’d intended to do a couple of 3 milers this week. But the weather was too nice to resist.
Waking up early so I didn’t feel the need to hurry, I ran at a relaxed pace on my way to work. After months of doing this route through the cold and dark mornings of winter, it was nice to do it with the sun shining.
I arrived 45 minutes early for work, so I bought a coffee and sat by the river for a bit before heading off for a shower.
Don’t be a slave to your training plan. If you feel tired and need more rest, take more rest. If you feel good and the sun is shining, get out there.
Ditch the gym and head to the park for some bodyweight exercises. Grab some friends and do some yoga outside with the grass tickling your feet. Find an outdoor pool and forget about drills for a day. Forget spinning in the dark, ride a bike in the sun. If your training plan isn’t adaptable to how you feel today, it’s not a good plan.
I’m training for a lot of things right now. A couple of triathlons and a marathon PB later in the year. But experiences are what are most important. I’ll trade a few seconds off my race time for an easy run in the sun any day.
100% agree! Make the most of the weather…I’m playing rugby this evening (obviously ideal tapering) and I CANNOT wait!
Run commuting is amazing in the summer – in particular because it gets you away from the tube and you can be sweaty without worrying about spending the whole day in the same clothes…..
Completely agree! I’m London-born, although I now live in the Washington, DC area, and agree that a sunny day in London calls for a run. I definitely am not a slave to the plan. I move things around based on my schedule and, more importantly, the weather! Good luck Sunday!
This sounds like the best morning of all time! I’m definitely a go-with-the-flow worker-outer, so I can relate. I’ve been loving the running weather over here in NY as well!
Yes to this!
So true – the weather makes getting up for a run so much easier.
I always find that summer days become much more productive, because you’re happy to get out and do things!
Your run to work sounds like bliss, I’m too much of a novice to run to my work yet!
xx
Oh yes – me too! I did my first post-marathon run this week purely because the sun was shining and I was near the seaside – far too good an opportunity to miss, regardless of what the recovery plan says.