"pace oneself" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "paces oneself",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pacing oneself",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "paced oneself",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "paced oneself",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "pace oneself (third-person singular simple present paces oneself, present participle pacing oneself, simple past and past participle paced oneself)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006, James Robertson, The Testament of Gideon Mack, page 201",
          "text": "Is this it, I remember thinking, as I dripped sweat and rainwater the last few yards to the manse. Is this when the body parts start to rebel and refuse to function?\nSo I'd learned to pace myself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To behave in a slow and careful way in order not to overexert oneself."
      ],
      "id": "en-pace_oneself-en-verb-dbW5mw1P",
      "links": [
        [
          "overexert",
          "overexert"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "pace oneself"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "paces oneself",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pacing oneself",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "paced oneself",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "paced oneself",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "pace oneself (third-person singular simple present paces oneself, present participle pacing oneself, simple past and past participle paced oneself)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006, James Robertson, The Testament of Gideon Mack, page 201",
          "text": "Is this it, I remember thinking, as I dripped sweat and rainwater the last few yards to the manse. Is this when the body parts start to rebel and refuse to function?\nSo I'd learned to pace myself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To behave in a slow and careful way in order not to overexert oneself."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "overexert",
          "overexert"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "pace oneself"
}