Training for a marathon is very different from what people expect.
The biggest surprise for most people is that you only run a marathon once — on race day.
The next surprise is how little running you do. 15 minutes one day. Thirty minutes a few days later. Some days are short bodyweight workouts. And some days are dedicated to lying on the floor and stretching.
We don’t have to run a marathon every day to get where we want to go. We shouldn’t even run every day.
Time spent rolling around on the floor and stretching is as crucial to running a race as putting one foot in front of the other.
Recovery allows us to keep working towards our goal, even on days we can’t think straight, let alone move fast. And that little bit of extra time we spend quickly adds up.
Allow yourself a little recovery time now and then, and you’ll go much further in the long run.