If you are like me trying to fit workouts in around kid duty, house chores and work you actually get paid to do, sometimes you forget to stretch. Do you jump right into a tempo run without getting those muscles warm? Or come home from a long run and walk right into family chaos and don’t stretch out after? I’ve found out the hard way that stretching is the most important part of training for a marathon. There have been too many aches and pains that creep up and pile on until then they impact my running. Stiff legs that don’t respond how I want them to for a particular workout or my lower back starts to feel off. That is when you can easily injure yourself. Taking a few extra minutes before or after a workout to stretch can save you from injury.
Yes yes I know, that extra time is really hard to find. We all know what we SHOULD be doing. Google pre and post run stretches and you’ll find many more qualified than me with the best advice. I want to look at why don’t we do it. I think that many people think stretching is above and beyond the workout. Stretching takes a little bit more effort which makes it hard and easy to forget. It also takes discipline to add that little bit extra effort to an already tough training plan.
When do you give that little bit extra effort? And not just before or after exercise. When I think about going the extra mile in my daily life, I prefer to surround myself with people that stretch themselves. A little outside of the comfort zone, a bit of a reach, that little something extra a person gives that makes it that much easier to collaborate with. Like that mom who steps up to lead a committee for Girl Scouts without really being asked and sets up a group calendar to work on an upcoming event. Or the person at the gym that always seems to work a tiny bit harder than the workout calls for because they want to beat their PR from last week. Or the co-worker who recognizes that my plate is full and asks out of the blue how they can help.
If I’m completely honest with myself, I find I am at my best when I stretch. Both in my running life and the rest of life. When I forget to take the time to do some quads, high knees or butt kicks before starting a fast 5K workout or I don’t roll out stiff muscles regularly from marathon miles, I just don’t feel 100%. The same with life. I feel better about my performance as a wife, mother, friend and co-worker when I give a little extra. When I don’t forget to stretch.
