Lets talk rest

[runJrun]

When it comes to rest days what do you do? As a rule of thumb I usually incorporate one rest day a week from my training. The day I take off is not always necessarily full rest, I still take the dogs out for their daily walk and this is also generally the day I do the majority of my housecleaning for the week. For the last 6 months I have been pretty consistent with my workouts clocking decent mileage on my runs and particularly on the bike with two strength sessions a week. I have noticed in the last couple of weeks that I am having restless sleep and therefore am feeling generally tired during the day. Today I feel dog tired and am tempted to take an extra day off and literally go home, put my pj's on, curl up with a book and do nothing. However I then have this nagging little voice in my head telling me to suck it up and get my run done regardless.

What do you guys do? I know that I don't train to be an elite athlete etc so an extra day off is not going to hurt, but the guilt type feeling is there for missing a planned workout. Some things I have read suggest that working out when you are genuinely tired can be detrimental. Other things advice to just get out there and get it done.

Discuss

[purdy65]

I usually take one complete rest day/week, where I do nothing! And I mean nothing but go to work and walk the dog (he's little -so it's short and slow)

I have incorporated an optional rest day - where I either do easy cardio and some strength, recovery run or nothing. This is dictated by how I feel.

It's a fine line between sucking it up and listening to your body I find. This morning for example, I did not want to do my tempo run at all! I had run alot the previous 4 days and my legs were tired. Would it be better for me to rest? I kept thinking maybe, but I sucked it up and went. It was a really good one too, and I felt pretty good for the rest of the day, so I'm glad I sucked it up. Those are often the best workouts!

I guess what you have to watch for is when it's possible to be on that 'cusp' of injury - as opposed to just being tired and having sore muscles.

If I do miss a workout due to illness or 'life' stuff - I just try to build a bridge and get over it. Move on, as they say.

I find that regular scheduled rest helps a lot - rather than just resting when you feel you need it.

[Jwolf]

I don't normally schedule rest days- they just find me. When I was just running I would normally take one, sometimes two days off per week after the hard or long workouts. But sometimes a very short easy run (like 20 min, 3k) was better than complete rest. When I started doing the multisport training and started increasing volume, I still didn't schedule rest days. Sometimes I will go two weeks without one, but in there will be at least one day with just a swim or easy spin.

As for taking a day off vs "sucking it up", I agree that you have to be good about reading your body's cues. Doing the workout when you really need the rest can be a recipe for injury as I've proven to myself a couple times. I've gotten better about it recently, though. Sometimes an easy day works, sometimes full rest.

[ultraslacker]

I rest more than I run. But that's largely because I'm chronically sleep-deprived. You described days when you only want to put on your pyjamas and curl up at home... well, that's every day for me because I'm always tired. So my running is *in spite of* how I feel, and often how I feel wins. :/

My best training has been running 4-5 days per week, and taking extra rest days when I need them... I don't feel guilty about it unless I'm missing key long runs.

[Samantha]

I have noticed in the last couple of weeks that I am having restless sleep and therefore am feeling generally tired during the day. Today I feel dog tired

jeez curl up and read a book! When was the last time you skipped a workout? don't feel guilty; enjoy it - you'll be back at it tomorrow - I know you will.

[runJrun]

Good advice everyone Just like everyone sometimes I am often tired but go ahead and train because I know that I am not that tired, usually it is more mentally tired than physical. Sometimes though the physical can definitely catch up. Today I don't think it helps that it is pouring rain either - and the track at the gym is shut for maintenance. All signs to dig into my book

[ultraslacker]

Good advice everyone :) Just like everyone sometimes I am often tired but go ahead and train because I know that I am not that tired, usually it is more mentally tired than physical. Sometimes though the physical can definitely catch up. Today I don't think it helps that it is pouring rain either - and the track at the gym is shut for maintenance. All signs to dig into my book :)

I vote for the book! :)

[Samantha]

I should have had some smiley faces in there - that sounded harsher than I meant!

[Jwolf]

I have noticed in the last couple of weeks that I am having restless sleep and therefore am feeling generally tired during the day. Today I feel dog tired

jeez curl up and read a book! When was the last time you skipped a workout? don't feel guilty; enjoy it - you'll be back at it tomorrow - I know you will.

Yes I agree that these are signs you might be overdoing it a bit. Take care of yourself Joc!

I felt this way a few times last month and it was clear when I looked back that I was trying to do too much. I also need to be better about that sometimes.

I guess because I don't have a schedule that I follow I don't feel guilty about missing a "scheduled" workout. I just rearrange things as needed.

[runJrun]

I should have had some smiley faces in there - that sounded harsher than I meant!

[Samantha]

Are you resting? You better be resting!

[Jwolf]

Are you resting? You better be resting!

According to the daily thread, yes she is.

[Spirit Unleashed]

long day at work. I'm having a "free" evening. I'll only do Dr Hot Dustin's left foot exercises.

[Samantha]

Are you resting? You better be resting!

According to the daily thread, yes she is.

yeah I texted her!

[runJrun]

Are you resting? You better be resting!

According to the daily thread, yes she is.

yeah I texted her!

You guys are awesome! Enjoying my day of nothing. Sitting here reading Ironman race reports....

[Robinandamelia]

I definitely take rest days...two full days/week. I move them around though, and generally take them before and after my long run (so I take Friday and Sunday off). I also generally take a full week off....no running at all, during a training cycle (to go on vacation). I find that for me, the rest is often more important then the training. If I haven't gotten sufficient rest during the cycle, the race day performance reflects that.

[Avis]

As an injury-prone person, I need two full rest days a week. My physiotherapist also recommended I take one full week off running every eight weeks. I used to think I'd make more progress in running if I ran more and rested less. Then, one fine day, I realized that I make zero progress while I'm taking time off for an injury. Now I take my rest without guilt, and my running is remaining (knock on wood!) injury free.

[gnu]

Good advice everyone Just like everyone sometimes I am often tired but go ahead and train because I know that I am not that tired, usually it is more mentally tired than physical. Sometimes though the physical can definitely catch up. Today I don't think it helps that it is pouring rain either - and the track at the gym is shut for maintenance. All signs to dig into my book

Sometimes I find the mentally-tired worse than the physically-tired. If I am mentally tired or burned out, I will fight with myself for days before I finally just take a day, then voila! I feel better just like that, and it isn't a battle anymore.

Hope you had a great rest day!

[EmilZatopek]

Personally, a rest day for me is just as important as my intervals, or my longer endurance runs, or even hill repeats. To me quality of training is more important than quantity. A rest day is important to me because allows me to recovery from hard training. When I study my training journal my best runs (not only time/distance wise, but overall feeling) mostly follow a day off from running. I have 1 or 2 rest days a week, on those days I just try to get some stretching done.