I got a call from a client the other day who was concerned about a run he just had where his heart rate was really high and his legs felt so heavy. After talking for a bit, he mentioned he had a major test for a professional credential he had been studying for and was stressed about (spoiler alert: he totally passed). “Could that have anything to do with it?” he asked me.

My response: Absolutely!!

Stress is cumulative in the body. Even though many of us, me included, use running as a way to manage mental and emotional stress, running itself is a type of stress for the body. Your body doesn’t differentiate between types of stress. That means external factors can greatly impact our running (and vice versa).

Other types of things that contribute to the cumulative stress your body experiences:

1. Not enough sleep
2. Insufficient nutrition
3. Work or home mental stress (what we typically think of as “stress”)
4. Emotional highs and lows
5. Environmental (e.g. heat, air quality, etc.)
6. External events (e.g. natural disasters, major national happenings, etc.)

When the body’s stress load gets too high to sufficiently recover, you will start to experience breakdowns in the ability to rebound.  This may manifest in slower runs or runs that require a higher level of effort than expected, the reduced ability to emotionally regulate or inability to remember things, general tiredness and fatigue, reduced cognitive functions, and so many other ways.

So what should you do when you have too much cumulative stress? First, determine what areas you CAN control and ensure that you are doing your best to reduce your stress from that. Perhaps it’s just as simple as focusing on eating enough, nourishing food or trying to get an extra 20 minutes of sleep a night. There also may be times when you need to dial back on the stress that running is adding to your body. I’m absolutely not saying that you have to stop running, but adjust your volume or intensity to give yourself a little bit of a break and help ensure your body has adequate recovery opportunities.

Take care of yourself, cut yourself some slack, and realize that runner you and every day human you are intertwined. Sometimes it’s important to step back and look at the whole picture to figure out how best to approach your training and ensure that it is sustainable and healthy for where you are right now.