I go through phases where all I want are rest days (every day…not good) and phases where I never want to take rest days (working out hard every day…also not good). But I seem to have found a happy balance lately.
Taking rest days from running (or whatever other workouts you do) is important for many reasons:
- You’ll get stronger. Muscles need time off to repair, rebuild and strengthen. If you find you aren’t making gains in your fitness, try taking a day off!
- You’ll get injured less. Most running injuries are caused by overuse (cough, IT band, cough).
- You’ll be more motivated. Regular rest days prevent mental burnout. As much as running helps decrease stress, if you are militant about your training, eventually you’ll start to dread your workouts.
Fridays are my rest day and I really look forward to them. I’ve created a routine that makes me super happy. I sleep in and get an extra 1-1.5 hours of sleep, and it’s HEAVENLY. I take Maizey for a longer-than-normal walk, hitting my favorite coffee shop on the way. (I needed gloves yesterday! Brrrr!)
I slow down and pay attention to my surroundings. And man, Winston-Salem is killing it lately Look how gorgeous. 
Do you have a rest day routine you follow?
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10 Comments
Janelle @ Wholly Healthy
atMine is pretty much the same! I let myself sleep in and take my dog for a longer walk
Teri [a foodie stays fit]
atOur pups love our rest days! 🙂
LIvi @ Eat, Pray, Work It Out
atI used to hate my rest days…until I started getting burnt out– now I love them!
Teri [a foodie stays fit]
atfunny how that happens! 😀
Emily
atI love this idea! I used to be in a groove where I took Sundays off and would take long walks with my favorite podcasts. Now I work on Sundays, and my rest days usually end up being unplanned–I’ll oversleep or just really not feel in the mood to work out–but I love the idea of making it more intentional and something to anticipate!
Teri [a foodie stays fit]
atI love listening to podcasts on long walks too! What are your favorites?
Hope the intentional rest day works for you! 🙂
Emily
atIf you’ll excuse the self-promotion, I wrote a blog post: http://www.the-secretary-blog.com/2014/07/podcasts-that-will-pass-your-long.html 🙂
Slate’s probably my favorite, though–I tend to listen to those first.
Teri [a foodie stays fit]
atI love when readers share links to their posts so self promote away!! It makes it feel more like a two-way community, so thanks for sharing! 🙂
Chicago Jogger
atI like this “intentional rest” idea too! I generally only run 3-4 days per week so you could say that every other day is a rest day. I’m paranoid about injury from over-stressing my body and so far (knock on wood) this routine has worked for me.
Teri [a foodie stays fit]
atSo glad you’ve found a way to keep injuries at bay. Sometimes figuring that out is the hardest part of training!