The Importance of Rest Days

I’ve always been hit and miss with rest days. Sometimes I’m super diligent about taking them, i.e. it’s not hard to “take” them; I just want a day off. Othertimes, when my training is going so well, I don’t want to take them. And other times, I feel like I shouldn’t take them if I want to keep improving. With this half marathon training I’m doing, the plan I’m following has 1-2 rest days a week. It specifies no running, but says gentle cross-training or yoga is ok if you’re feeling good. And if not, it’s better to rest completely. 

I ran last night and did intervals. I felt terrible during them. Sluggish. Dehydrated. And I just couldn’t hit the goal pace I was aiming for. Today was designated as a rest day, which I was grateful for after the disappointing interval workout. But I signed up for Pure Barre thinking I’d take it easy on the thigh and butt sections, and push it on the upper body strength and core sections. 

When I woke up this morning, I was exhausted and felt pretty weak. I knew I needed to take a rest day. But, I had signed up in advance for Pure Barre and couldn’t remember my password at 5 am to cancel! (And, I don’t think you can cancel if there is less than an hour before class.) So I went to class and it was pretty much a waste of my time. I simply could not push myself. I was exhausted and no energy or strength to work out. And Pure Barre is definitely a class that you get out of it what you put into it. I usually leave pretty sweaty and today was not like that. 

While it was frustrating to lose sleep and use a pass on my Pure Barre package on a class that wasn’t that great for me, it was a good reminder about the importance of rest days–especially when increasing the intensity and/or distance of training runs.

What’s your approach to rest days? Do you take them on a specific day or just listen to your body? Do you ever struggle to take them?