struggling with rest days

ka97

I'm curious how others out there handle "rest days." How frequently do you take them? Do you schedule them? If you don't schedule, how do you know when you need them?

I don't schedule my rest days. I find it hard to fit everything in as it is, I can't fathom how to fit it all and take a day of rest. My approach has been to try to cross train, avoid overworking the same muscles on back to back days, and in general create an overall balance for the week. I figure there will always be times when life happens and I can't get in a workout, so then that becomes a rest day. If necessary I rearrange my schedule so I don't miss the same workout two weeks in a row. And then I also figure, I'll listen to my body, and if I need a day off, I'll take it.
It's that last part I'm struggling with. Sometimes I'm good about it; I can recognize when my body needs a break and take it. But other times, lots of times, I'm just not sure. I'll hit a point when I'm tired, and don't feel like training or working out. But I don't know if my body really needs a break, or if I'm just being lazy or unmotivated. Or I'll think, you just had a day off # days ago, or you haven't been burning enough calories to need a day off.

Any suggestions for differentiating when the body needs a break, vs when it just thinks it needs a break?

scott091501

I take one day on the weekend as an "off" day. Really it's just family and errands day.

The struggle you're dealing with is one that I dealt with for the first year and a half I participated in this sport. It lead once to ITBS from running too much and I was on the verge of more overuse injuries when I finally broke down and got a coach. My opinion is that most triathletes need a plan if not a coach. You need an objective 3rd party to put an intelligent plan together and then you follow. Whether that's a coach or a paid plan from somewhere like Training Peaks is up to you and your budget, but my feeling is that even spending $100 for a solid semi-custom plan is a better investment than the money you'll be giving to a doc and phys therapist from over doing it on your own.

hellonursejamie

I completely agree with you. i tend to over do things and ended up getting hurt due to over use. I had 5 whole months to revaluate and ended up getting a coach. He is worth his weight in gold. Not only does he plan my workouts for my AB and C races but reels me in when he thinks that I might be taking on too much. I have to decide if I want to do a long course race or several short course. If you can afford it, it is well worth it.

Canuck_TriFit

I try to schedule one rest day per week. But a rest day for me might still entail doing an ab/core exercise (20-30 minutes max). It depends how I feel, sometimes it is a total rest day and I'll do the ab/core workout the following day with another workout.

Drudoo

My rest days are on Friday. Usually my only excercise will be walking the dog for 30 mins. The rest is great to have before my long rides on Saturday morning.

ka97

Thanks! Sounds like I need to try to make a point of scheduling them.