Learning to Rest

It's really hard for me to rest, especially when I have the time to workout. I woke up this morning around 5:40am, doing the usual internal workout psych up. The motivational pep talk soon turned into a debate. "I've worked out pretty hard this week, my arms ache, my legs are stiff, I should probably rest." "But my clothes are laid out! My lunch is waiting in the fridge to be packed!" "Rest is an important part of training, you need to accept that." "But I'm already up and started to get ready!" I'm still debating as I'm typing this, thinking I could bust out a couple more sentences before throwing on my workout clothes and rushing out.

Rest days are important for muscle and body recovery. It's hard to let it sink in sometimes that over training can lead to a decline in performance, and can be counter productive. I should have learned my lesson last month when I got sick. After some searching, Dave Scott, six-time Ironman Champion gives me more reasons to rest today:


While I'm not at the point he talks about, where I feel unable to get my heart rate up, and my body just feels heavy and tired, I have been there before. It's not hard to recognize when you're body is starting to feel worn, but when you're in good shape and have pushed yourself before, it's really hard to tell yourself to rest.