Ep. 380 Why Rest Days are Non-Negotiable

 Welcome to the not your average runner podcast. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running coach and your running BFF here to help you start running, feel confident and love the journey no matter your size. Now if you’ve ever felt like you just weren’t meant to be a runner, think again. I believe that running is for all bodies, even yours.

This podcast is your warmup buddy. Giving you tips, motivation, and the support you need to lace up and get moving. I’ve helped thousands of women become runners, and now I want to help you. Let’s go.

Hello, my running friends. How are you today? I always think about where you are when you’re listening to this show and how much fun it is that we get to hang out together every week like this.

So I just want you to know that I appreciate you. Thank you for listening. So last week, Andy and I went to the Big Eagles Super Bowl parade in Philadelphia. It was incredibly fun. There were like one and a half million people who came out along the roughly five mile parade route. The vibe was just so positive and joyful.

But, oh, it was a hard day on the legs. So, we were standing in three 30 degree very cold weather for about four hours and by the time you know we got the parade was over when we got back to the train and then we had to wait there and then we had to walk home from the station and blah blah blah. My legs were just toast and honestly it was only about five miles of walking total but I think it was the four hours of standing in 30 degree weather, like shoulder to shoulder with all these other people that really did it.

And I did, I kept trying to stretch while we were standing around, but there were so many people, it just, it really wasn’t possible. And of course, my low back was already hurting because the night before. We were at a Brady Bunch murder mystery dinner theater, which was just as much fun as it sounds. Um, and we were sitting on these really hard chairs for a few hours, and when it was done, you know, I stood up wrong and I tweaked my back.

And, cause I am 57 and that is just how life is now, I guess. If you know, you know. Anyway, I thought that was actually the perfect lead into our topic today because I had a run planned for the weekend. And even though, yeah, I could have gone running cause I, you know, I took some Advil and the aches and pains went away.

I realized that my legs were just really tired and that I needed to listen to my body and rest. So I did. I took the whole weekend off, did a little bit of gentle stretching here and there, some chores around the house, but like mostly I just let my legs rest. And by Monday I felt great. I felt super energetic.

My aura ring was giving me all the crowns for my recovery stats, which always makes me happy. So I thought, you know, maybe we need to talk about rest days on this podcast because it is something that too many runners. And I know, I know you’re thinking like, but if I want to approve, I should run more or I don’t want to lose my momentum and I get it.

But here’s the thing, as your coach and you’re running BFF, rest days, my friend, are non negotiable. Okay. Your rest days are just as important as your running days, maybe even more so. So let’s talk about exactly why that is. And the first thing that we need to get out of the way is that rest is not laziness.

It is strategy. All right. Every time you exercise, especially if you’re doing running and strength training, you are breaking down muscle fibers. That’s how it works. Okay. And so the muscles don’t get stronger while you are running They get weaker while you’re running, they’re getting broken down. They get stronger while you are resting.

That is when the improvement happens. It’s when you are not doing the activity. So you stress the system and you rest and the system comes back stronger. Okay? Without rest and recovery days, your body doesn’t get a chance to rebuild those muscles and that leads to burnout, injury, and exhaustion. Right? So if you are running a lot, and you are always feeling achy and tired.

Maybe your joints feel cranky. Maybe you always feel like you’re on the verge of an injury or you’re getting injured a lot. That’s actually your body saying, hey, can we just take a break? I need to, I need to fix the muscles that you’ve been breaking down so that we can get stronger. So when you skip rest days, you are way more likely to experience Overuse injuries like stress fractures and tendinitis and IT band syndrome, which often come from pushing too hard.

Okay, you’re also way more likely to experience fatigue and burnout. All right, if you feel overwhelmed by running, um, or tired, or you’re like, you know, your runs start feeling like you’re wading through peanut butter, right? That is fatigue and burnout. And it happens from not resting enough. Uh, when you’re tired.

And you’re over trained, your workouts are going to get weaker, right? Your pace is going to slow, it’s going to take a lot more effort to maintain your pace. You’re going to stop seeing progress, all right? And this is the thing that most people don’t understand, is that over training can cause mood swings.

Now, yes, I get it. When you go for a run, often it boosts your mood. Right? We feel better afterwards, but if you are overtraining, it can actually make you irritable, anxious, and all kinds of, like, really uncomfortable feelings because your body is like, ah, we don’t know what to do, right? So, There’s a balance, right?

Rest days keep you fresh, strong, and motivated so that you can see improvement in your running, so that you can get the amazing mood boosting effects of running. But if you’re doing it too much, right, if you’re overtraining, if you’re not giving yourself enough rest days, you’re actually undoing all of that progress, and you are potentially, you know, creating some mood swings for yourself as well.

So what does a proper rest day even look like? And I know that like most people when they think of taking a rest day, they’re like, okay, so I just have to like sit or lie down the whole day and not do anything. And I mean, yes, that’s one way to do it. But really. You know, there’s a lot of other ways to create a rest and recovery plan that don’t require you to just lay motionless.

And if you really need a day like that, we always, we all do from time to time, we all need a day where we do nothing. Um, go for it if that’s it. But most of the time, it’s not that you need to be. motionless, right? It’s not that you need to do nothing. It’s just that you need to prioritize activities that are going to make your body feel better and, and promote recovery.

Okay. So here’s how to do it. First things first schedule rest days. All right. Don’t just wait until you feel like it, build it into your plan. And depending on your mileage, One to three rest days per week is ideal. All right. The more miles you are running, the more rest you need. All right. So if you’re training for a marathon, I want you getting like maybe two to three rest days a week.

If you’re training for a 5K, you could probably get away with one to two. You’re going to listen to your body. Okay, so I just told you not to take rest days only when you feel like it, but if you are feeling extra sore, you’re gonna swap a run day for a recovery day, or swap a strength day for a recovery day, alright?

Your long term success is more important than hitting those weekly mileage goals. Now, what counts as rest? Well, actual rest doing nothing for sure counts at it, but counts as it, but also active recovery is kind of what we’re going for here. So easy walking, gentle yoga, gentle movement, uh, foam rolling using, um, uh, massage gun or getting an actual massage.

These are all things that are considered active recovery. All right. And these can help keep your body moving. Keep your, you know, keep. everything going, but not like taxing your muscles in such a way that you end up. You know, creating problems for yourself. So think active recovery and when I say easy walking, I don’t mean going out there for a power walk I mean a stroll just go out Enjoy the fresh air or hop on the treadmill walk slowly while you’re watching Your favorite show like that’s what I mean by easy walking and gentle yoga.

I don’t mean taking a power yoga class I mean taking like a restorative floor yoga or a chair yoga class where it is truly gentle and you’re just moving your body through various your joints, through various ranges of motion and stretching versus, you know, working like super hard to maintain a difficult pose.

Now the other piece of course, of your rest and recovery, uh, plan. is to prioritize sleep and nutrition, right? So good rest, you know, one night of good sleep is amazing, but like prioritizing that rest and recovery as part of your daily routine. So fueling your body property properly, getting all kinds of hydration, um, and, and getting the best quality sleep you can.

So I know that not everybody is able to get a solid seven hours a night. I get it. Right. But make sure that the sleep you are able to get is. as helpful as it can be, right? So five hours of really solid, high quality sleep where you are not scrolling your phone for like two hours before you go to bed or, um, you know, you’re not like waking up all night long because, you know, you had a few drinks in the evening and like it’s kind of messed up your sleep like that is.

It’s really, really critical to your recovery and this is not me saying like, don’t drink alcohol. But, you know, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve like really started to recognize the things that impact my sleep and, uh, caffeine. You know, I can’t even drink caffeine anymore. I know there are people out there that can drink caffeine with no problem, like even in the evening and still sleep just fine.

But if you are struggling with your sleep. sleep, start looking at different types of sleep, sleep hygiene routines and different factors in your day that may be impacting your ability to get a good night’s sleep. All right. So do your best to prioritize it. And again, I know it’s, we live in a crazy world right now and we all have crazy lives.

So you’re not expected to be perfect. Just do your best. Now, the bottom line here is. Taking a rest day does not make you weak. Okay, and I know that there are just so many folks out there that are like, but if I skip a day, I’m going to lose momentum. If I skip a day, I’ll be cranky, right? It doesn’t make you weak.

It actually makes you a smart runner. It is prioritizing. your body in such a way that you’re able to make like more efficient progress because if you’re pushing through fatigue, um, if you are always in pain, like that’s not a badge of honor, my friend. It is a shortcut to injury and overtraining. So if you want to run stronger, longer, injury free, rest days are non negotiable.

Okay, and again, you can do other things on those rest days to move your body. You’re just going to be super, super gentle with it. And I know that, you know, that may be like a little bit of a mind shift for you, but just give it a try. Here’s, here’s, let’s make a deal. give it a try for two weeks and see if you don’t feel better.

And if after two weeks of giving yourself one or two sort of gentle movement rest days instead of trying to run or do hard workouts every day, if in two weeks after that, you’re like, I’m going crazy. I feel worse. Fine. You can go back to doing it the way you’re doing it now. But if you notice like, Oh, actually I do feel a little bit more rested and running does feel easier now that I’m like taking a little bit of time.

Um, to let my body rest. You, you know, you will be doing yourself a huge favor. Okay, my friend, that is it for today. Now, if this episode gave you permission to take your rest days seriously, I want to hear about it. So tag me on Instagram. I’m over there at not your average runner. Um, tell me how you are making rest part of your training and if you need a supportive community that gets what it’s like to train as a plus size runner, please come and join run your best life.

It is where we talk about training and mindset and everything in between. Head on over to run your best life. com to learn more or hit up the link in the show notes. Okay. That is run your best life. com or go to the show notes and grab the link there. And as always, Remember that you are a runner, no matter your pace, no matter your body size.

And I will talk to you next week. Real quick, before you go, I’ve got a fun challenge for you. Take my exerciser personality quiz to find out exactly what kind of exerciser you are and how to make running feel easier and more enjoyable. Just head over to not your average runner. com slash quiz to take it and get your results.

That’s notyouraveragerunner. com slash quiz.