Today I said "Screw Exercise"!

DX2JX2
DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I normally do some light cross training on my rest days from running but this morning I said screw it. I slept an extra hour and didn't even bother putting on my fitness tracker to count steps.

You know what? I feel great! It's so nice just to relax and I never realized how anxious I really get about hitting my totally arbitrary step goal on rest days. I'm pretty sure I can actually feel my body thanking me for the break.

I wouldn't have thought that I needed a true rest day this much if you were to have asked me but I guess I did. What's surprising is that I can feel that even a light amount of work (10,000 steps and/or 30 moderate minutes on the elliptical) creates more stress on my body than I give it credit for. For the first time in a long time, I can tell that my body feels totally relaxed and refreshed.

I know I'll be out there for another 5 miles tomorrow morning (and my long run on Saturday) but just a reminder that as much as we all love our 'active recovery' days, sometimes it's not the worst idea in the world to give yourself a day of true rest.

Replies

  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    Carpe Somnum!
  • bendyourkneekatie
    bendyourkneekatie Posts: 696 Member
    Conversely I said screw exercise yesterday and today I feel sluggish and awful:(
    I'd spent the whole morning sitting on my *kitten* at the hospital with my kid (just an allergy food challenge), but then 'tom' hit hard and also whatever pms hormones had been giving me awful insomnia all week changed and I felt like I'd been hit by a tonne of bricks and totally out of character I opted to not go for my run :(
    Hopefully the 6.5 hours of cardio I'm doing over the next three days will help me feel less like a bloated beached whale (bro).
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    heee, I did my exercise, but not what I normally do, then I sat outside in the sun with a drink.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Sounds like you needed a rest day anyway.
  • bkstein40
    bkstein40 Posts: 41 Member
    I used to be that way, worried that if I missed a day of not hitting my steps for the day the world would come to an end. But this summer I made goals to run a full marathon and 5 half marathons. So up until last week, I would take a complete rest day on Sundays where I would do just things like catch up around the house, yard work etc. and not worry if I met my step goal or not. Now I am back to Friday's as a I call it a recovery day to let things recover. Monday which is a run day is one of my best run days because I just can't wait to get back out and pound the pavement. You have to give your body time to recover, my so called rest days are my walk days. I run 4 days a week, walk 2 and recover 1. My body does thank me for it and so will yours. Sleep can also be a good way to recover as well, no guilt in that.

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