Rest is Best

There’s a saying that goes around, or at least I think it does, suggesting that “rest is best”. I usually build a rest day into my weekly training but I rarely take more than a day or two- I try to use other sports to give myself a rest from running and vice-versa. My week usually looks something like:

Mon- spin
Tues- run
Wed- circuits
Thurs- run
Fri- rest or spin
Sat- rest or run/race/event
Sun- long run or race

So it’s rare that I get more than a day off. Some people may think I’m obsessed, over training or stupid. All true, but I’m mainly scared of turning up in the desert and failing. I have pretty much stuck to the training plan above, for the last 12 months. It get’s re-jigged for meetings, work travel, races etc. but for the most part I rarely take more than a day or two a week off.

Looking back at my calendar (the offline version, not my Garmin Connect Profile) it’s easy to see that the last weekend I had free from any sort of training or racing was September 2012. I hadn’t realised it had been going so well. If you’re in the middle of a training regime, I definitely recommend looking back at your history and getting an idea of how it’s going. You’ll probably be surprised!

I don’t want to get over confident, but if I can keep this rhythm for the next 6 months I’ll be thrilled and I should be well on my way to the MdS. Before then, I’m checking out the idea of a rest weekend!

So what do I do with a weekend break?!? Well, I spent a weekend in Paris with Lucy. She’s been very patient with my training over the last 12 months. I’m rarely there on a Sunday morning when she gets up and I’m often planning our weekends away around trail marathons and training routes. So this one, was going to be free of running, sweating, spinning and exercise in general. I left the trainers at home to avoid the temptation for an early morning jolly. As much as I wanted to run the Champs-Élysées at sunrise, I thought better of it :). Lucy also didn’t seem too keen on walking up the Eiffel Tower, rather than taking the lift. So, despite a subconscious effort to squeeze a bit of training into our tour of Paris, the weekend mainly consisted of sightseeing, eating, sleeping and drinking wine. It was amazing. I probably enjoyed it so much more as I had earned the rest and could enjoy some time with Lucy without the Sunday run looming!!

So, here I am on the Euro Star back to Londres, with a map of Paris on the table, trying to figure out how many miles we clocked. It wasn’t training, I promise! I’m just intrigued to see how many miles we covered :).

I had a great weekend- it seems there is some truth in the old saying of “rest is best”…. But, not too much!!!

Rob

P.S. I think we covered well over ten miles. Somewhere close to a half marathon. That’ll be my slowest half to date 🙂