Rest Day Thoughts

This morning I set no alarm, yet found myself wide awake just before 5:00 AM.  It took me a few minutes to realize that there was no need to crawl out of bed today.  No need to tiptoe across my room and sneak downstairs to make the baby his milk before heading out the door.  No clothes were laid out for my run.  No buddies were waiting to meet me at sunrise for early morning miles.  Today is my rest day.  The one and only rest day I take each week.  I don’t always love the way I feel on my rest day, but in THAT moment – that moment when I realize I can stay in bed just a little bit longer – it is pure bliss.  I snuggled deeper into my covers and drifted back to sleep.

About an hour later my 5 year old son Will crept in bed next to me.  He had a new chapter book he wanted us to start together.  We cuddled up and read the first two chapters together before his sister and brother woke up.  Abby came in a little while later and remarked that she was so happy I was there.  We hugged and chatted about the day ahead of us.  I looked at the clock – 7:01 AM.  Most week day mornings this is when I am returning from my run, sweat soaked and happy and ready to get everyone going.  It seems that by the time I walk in the door the hustle and bustle is under way and I’ve missed the opportunity to snuggle quietly and have sweet talks with them.  By 7:00AM my big kids are demanding breakfast and craft supplies and they are arguing with one another (nothing drives me crazier than this) and talking back to me and telling me things aren’t fair and losing their tempers…BEFORE I know it.

I knew by 8:00AM today that I was going to struggle a bit without my run.  I BELIEVE in the value of rest days and I am diligent about sticking to my plan of one rest day per week – at least – even if my body isn’t asking for it.  But as the day goes on, it gets to me and I start to feel off balance.  I start to feel antsy for my outlet.

Rest days have so much purpose – they give my sore muscles a chance to recover from the week’s hard workouts first and foremost.  And this week I have had some awesome workouts:

– Fastest 5K yet on Saturday plus warm up and cool down for a total of 5 miles.
– Super strong (and HOT) 14 miler on Sunday, average pace 8:05.  I killed it.
– Easy 7 mile recovery run on Monday, followed by 45 minutes of strength training.
– 10 mile run on Tuesday, followed by an awesome Pilates class.
– Killer track workout on Wednesday (10 x 400s – 1:35, 1:27, 1:34, 1:34, 1:35, 1:32, 1:30, 1:33, 1:32, 1:31) with a warm up and cool down on each end of course.  Followed up with 45 minutes of strength training.

Rest days also make me appreciate my running all that much more.  They make me CRAVE my run.  They make me feel hungry for it.  It’s almost 3:00PM on my rest day and I will tell you this –tomorrow morning’s run can’t come soon enough!

How do you feel on your rest days?  Do you get antsy like me?  Or do you embrace them without any trouble?