 There it is. There it is. Got the Yeti. Love the Yeti. Hot drink after a long run. Nothing beats a hot drink. Mm-hmm. Okay, folks. Today's run in the Speedcross 4. This is the first video publishing today. Come back at 3 p.m. my time, mountain time, and I will be doing my full review of the Solomon Speedcross 4. Very excited for this review, so come back for that. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to talk about a lot today, including avoiding overtraining as runners and what I like to do to avoid overtraining. Because guess what? I love training. I love running. I love miles. I love lots of miles and lots of vertical. So I got to be careful though, and it's called OTS, Overtraining Syndrome, and it can't, it is real, and it can happen to the best of us. So we got to be careful and I'm just gonna tell you now. I'm gonna tell you now I've been talking, I've kind of been walking around the subject for a long time, well, the last two weeks. Because of the sickness last week, I thought my running may be over, but I want for 2018, but I wanted to get one more run in this year, and you just witnessed it. That's it. I'm done. It's over. It's over. And so back at the house, we're gonna talk about my strategy for running on the macro level, how I plan out my entire year of running, what I like to do for breaks and for training blocks, and how basically important it is for training breaks. Different subject, the t-shirts. And this t-shirt first. Basically, I got this at a race. A lot of people liked it. Personally, this is the most comfortable shirt I've probably ever worn in my entire life. And a lot of people have asked who makes it. It's made by Toltex, T-U-L-T-E-X, Toltex. So that is the company that makes the t-shirt. And connecting to this t-shirt from Jeff. Thank you again, Jeff. Seek beauty, work hard, love each other. A lot of folks interested in this t-shirt. So again, I'm gonna update you back at the house about the game plan for this t-shirt. And there's just a lot of enthusiasm. And yes, it connects to this one as well. So bottom line, we're just moving ahead. We're moving ahead. And I'm excited for it. And we're back. And we're back. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, starting off by reading a comment that just came in today. And this is just how timing works on this channel. Like, I publish a video and it just seems to evoke stories from all of you that connect so, so well to the question of the day for the title of the vlog, just for the subject matter of that vlog. So we're going to, we're diving into Andrew's comment. It is a, it is a book Andrew. So I can't read the whole thing. I love it though. Just so you know, I'm not afraid of long comments. I read them all, but I can't read the entire thing. Here we go. I'm just going to start at the top. I love your videos. When I started running, I became so obsessed with becoming as fast as the next runner. And in doing this, I would compare myself to very advanced runners and become constantly worried and discouraged about the fact that I wasn't anywhere close to their level. This made me feel like I had to go hard every single day when I ran. Every single workout I did would be a hard workout. And I would feel like this was the only way to get better because all I ever heard in life was to work hard and grind, and grind hard and you'll get to where you want to get. So Andrew goes on and shares more about his stories. Eventually he learned, he learned his lesson about you can't go hard every single day. In fact, you got to mix in quite a few easy days into your overall training plan and your overall macro level of 365 days a year training plan. And that's what I want to talk with you all about right now. Thank you, Andrew, for that comment in order to, and it connects directly to what we're about to dive into in order to avoid burnout as a runner. And listen, I love running. You love running. If we could run every single day for two hours, we probably would like we just, I just love, we love getting out there and pounding ground. However, our bodies are not made for that. We cannot sustain that long term. And so right now, off the top of just by memory, I'm going to give I'm going to walk you through my resting game plan for an entire year. You ready? I believe and here you go. If you want to take notes, now's the time. I believe you can peak for three races a year, maybe four, but more like three races a year where you are at your peak level of fitness. Right after a peak race, I like to take three to five days off. Now, if it's over a 50 miler, it's more, but that's down the road for future vlogs to talk about. I like to take three to five days off after my peak race. So if you're in high school and you just ran the cross country state championship, that would be a perfect opportunity to take three to five days off, probably five. In addition to that, to those rests, so that would be if you do the math, if you have three peak races a year, multiply that by let's just say five. That's 15 days off for the entire year. But this is where I like to add some additional rest that I'm not sure a lot of other runners do. And this is what I do to avoid burnout. I'm a little bit of a hobbit. Yes, I am. I like a good tea and coffee and a biscuit and second breakfast and a good book. And guess what? Christmas time is my time to rest and to not work and to just chill out and to read a good book and to just be and to listen to good music and just to be present to the family and just to rest. I just soak up those moments so, so much when I can rest around the Christmas season. So in addition to those days off after the peak races, I also personally and you might be wondering like, wait a minute, Seth, last week you talked about maintaining fitness during the Christmas season. And now you're about to tell me that you're going to take two weeks off. And yes, I'm about to tell you that I'm today was my last run for 2018 because I am taking the next two weeks off from running, from running. All right. So for me personally, this is and this is where I go inward and you got to know thyself, know your personality. And listen, I get it. Some people have to have to have a little bit of exercise every single day just to like be in a good mental state and to function and I get it. Even if it's a simple one mile walk, I respect that. For me, I don't do anything. I don't do any running. I don't do any biking, swimming, no cross training during these two weeks. Okay, well, I'm going to come to that in one second. So I take the two weeks off from running. The first week off, I do no running, no gym, no cross training. The second week, I add back in the gym, core work and so free weights, core work and maybe a teeny tiny bit of stationary biking, just a teeny tiny bit. And I add in the core work slowly, the free weight slowly in order to begin to build that foundation of strength, which I'm hoping is going to lead to better health for me in 2019. So I don't get plantar fasciitis again. So I'm laying that groundwork and that foundation for starting up running again on January 1st. So that is and now listen, during this first week off, I will still do light stretching, especially because of my planter situation this year. I don't want to take off stretching. I will still be stretching, but no aerobic work for the first week and then maybe just a little teeny tiny bit in the gym on a stationary bike the second week. And so that is my macro level resting strategy for an entire year about 15 days off depending on how many peak races I do and then two more weeks around Christmas. So that's that's basically if you do the math, that's about a month off out of every 12 months. So if you know that's a lot of running 11 months of running in a 12 month calendar cycle. And again, burnout, it can happen overtraining syndrome can happen probably been overtrained twice in my life once in college once after college, you know, running 120 plus miles a week. Usually you'll do it to me. You just you got to walk that line. You just got to know thyself and know how much stress you can put on your body. And more importantly, how to avoid overtraining. For me, it's that mental break. And I just I am a huge advocate of a mental break where I'm not tying my shoes every day, or I'm not thinking about the logistics of where I'm going to run that day. Or I'm not, you know, even I know this is crazy, but even the, you know, the process of uploading a run to Strava to share with all of you because I love you, but it is a process to, you know, get it uploaded to Strava, get a photo on there, put a little description. I mean, it's fun. I enjoy it. But it is part of the process now of running in the 21st century. And so it's all of that right from Strava, from the just the logistics, the stretching, the everything, the nutrition, the list, as you know, runners goes on and on and on. And of course, the tip of the day is build in if you could, if you would a longer break at some point within your annual training schedule. And more honestly, guys, more than the physical benefit of just letting your legs fully recover and you will be fully recovered in two weeks, unless you're like really over trained. But it's it's it's here, it's here, you when you come back, like, you're going to be so excited, so just eager to get out the door, like you're going to be refreshed to lace them up again. And I find no better time of the year to do that than in during the Christmas time. And I know we just talked about maintenance and maintaining fitness during this time. But at one last point, the amount of time that you take off, you can what will determine how much time you take off, I would say it's the distance that you're training for. So like if you're training for 5ks 10ks 100 milers, if you're training for 100 milers all year, I would recommend taking a little more than two weeks off maybe two and a half to three weeks really. And then if it's a 5k, yeah, maybe you can just take one week off. And it feel good about coming back after that week, like you're fully refreshed. So that's one thing. And then, frankly, your age. And I know it, you know, no one wants to talk about the rage. But when you're younger, you can recover a little faster. When you're, you know, 65, it might take a little more. Or if you're 45 or whatever it is. So keep that in mind as well. Just like keep what my coach used to call in college your sensory data, your whole body, like just be fully aware of how your legs, your knees, your ankles, your feet, everything or feeling. It's all about that feeling that you're picking up through that sensory data. And the keyword of the day is rest. Oh, love that word. Love that. And the question of the day. Have you ever, and this is kind of tough. Have you ever overtrained? What was it like? How did you feel? How did you know you were overtrained? This is going to be fascinating to read your comments down below. And or part two, if you haven't overtrained, good job. But how do you, how do you prevent yourself from overtraining? So think about that. I'll just be I cannot wait to read your answers to that question of the day. I mean, that's a crazy big topic. And anyway, share your stories. And I bet a lot of people will learn from from your insights and your stories down below. So thank you. And that is today's vlog. That is the end of running in 2018. Thanks for coming along the journey. And guess what? We're still going to be here tomorrow, publishing another running vlog. So don't worry, I'll be back. I won't be actually running in the vlog. But you know, I'll be here making videos for you guys. See beauty, work hard and love each other.