Running Toward Myself

Rest Isn't a Four-Letter Word...IS IT?

Taking a rest day isn't THAT big a deal, dude!

Too often as athletes we get too wrapped up in the old adage, "The Mind Runs the Body." There is a time and place to whip that motivational quote out of your bag of tricks, but it's NOT during TRAINING. During training your MIND has to move over sometimes and let your BODY have its say. Learning to honor and respect your body's signals, whether that be requiring rest or heading toward injury, is imperative to reaching race day fit, confident, and healthy. Employing the "Mind Over Body" mantra throughout training can only be a detriment to your overall goals. However, on race day, all bets are off and pushing through pain and discomfort is essential. During training, not so smart. It's better to be under-trained than over-trained or any of it's evil step-brothers, most namely injured or burned out!

After a very successful weekend of training (45 minutes swimming, 8 miles running, 22 miles cycling), I have to admit I was ready to harness the power come Monday and keep the mojo going with a short swim followed by a nice early morning run on Tuesday morning. The way I figured it, if I didn't bottle the 'good-stuff' from the weekend, it'd be gone. Of course, my body had other plans as it remembered pretty quickly on its own that Monday is typically a REST day. Napping, lounging, and indulging all evening....didn't I remember that is usually on tap for the first night of the week? How was my body going to expect to be ready to turn around and do it all again if it didn't get its usual time to knock-off and take it easy? I guess in this case the body truly DOES run the mind when it comes to training because my BODY said, "REST," and my MIND went along with it. Bravo, BODY....way to win!

After plenty of rest I am now ready to get back to my training this afternoon with a renewed body, mind, and spirit. I'm glad common sense won out and my body told my mind where to shove it. Trainer smarter...not harder. Who woulda thought?