Warrior Princesses Rest Too

Happy Thursday. Some fitness thoughts here, free of charge. Of course if you like what you read, there is more where this came from (shameless business plug, apologies).

It's rest day here, and technically my off-season, but I've got one more race on the calendar (Ragnar Michigan), so I am trying to maintain my fitness. It's a run so I have backed way off my swim and bike, and am focusing on a little speed work, and some light stability and strength endurance.

So what do I do on my rest day? Foam roll since I don't always have time on longer training days, and it really does amazing things for your muscles. Drink lots of fluids, a little yoga, meditate for 10 minutes, and just absorb the training from the last few days. I am working really hard on absorbing the 400m repeats I did on Tuesday.

There was a time I didn't believe in rest days, I thought rest days were for the prissy-ist of princesses. But I have found myself fatigued, overtrained, burnt out, sick and injured enough in my almost 30 years as an athlete to appreciate the magic of rest. I've also learned to recognize warning signs of the above issues and now have the wisdom to head them off early, usually.

I generally coach myself through my season, but I find that it's those days when I am feeling off, and my resting heart rate is elevated that I need to lean on a coach to help me make the call. Coach Kat is thoughtful and wants her athletes to be strong on race day, she is flexible and willing to make changes to plan as needed. Athlete Kat really wants that mile total at the end of the week, or all the boxes checked for the strength workouts on her schedule, come hell or high water, and her obsession can sometimes be dangerous. Luckily I have other coaches and athletes in my life I can lean on and can trust.

I have had to shift my thinking, and look at rest days as necessary elements in any training plan. I train hard, and I rest hard. I schedule them into training plans, and have learned to take them as needed based on what my body is telling me. If I were your coach (and I would love to be your coach), I would schedule rest days, and also keep a close eye on your heart rate, sleep, appetite, muscle fatigue, and performance to determine the appropriate training load and rest you need.

My "professional" advice is, know your body, it needs rest for the training to work. You aren't going to win Strava, don't worry about impressing everyone out there. And when you have to be a princess, always be a warrior princess.