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When to take a rest day?

chavi's picture
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started by chavi on February 9, 2007

So, I was doing really well and feeling strong come Friday morning 5am after a long, hilly ride on Thursday. I had a good recovery with the help of a massage and managed to do a great endurance swim set with the squad (8 x 300m on 6minutes with 30 secs rest between - its a lap a minute but it was nice and long). Straight after, we went for a run which was 5 x 400m on the track (200 tempo, 200 sprint).

To top it all off, in the afternoon, after work, I was feeling a bit energetic (I use my lunch break as nap time) and I went and pumped out some weights - just some chins, rows, shrugs, snatch pulls and some shoulder presses, etc.

Got to bed at 930, up at 5 for what is normally my long ride day and geez, I was tired. I thought Id push it out anyway so I had a powerbar to try and pick me up a bit and a cup of coffee.

Out on the bike, had some good sprints that were strong and the ride was moderate with some hills. I could only push out a little over an hour on my normal route and cut it short to come home.

I scoffed down a protein and carb shake (which is 15/20, not much just a snack) then did my normal 20 minute routine of stretching to which made me want to crawl back into bed.

Now, Im not holding back on any detail, I then ate a cup of cooked brown rice (yum!) with baked beans and just because I felt like I was craving something similiar to meat - topped it off with some tuna.

My question is this: is that a lot to eat and if so, is it because Im tired and should I have taken the day off? Calorie wise thats a lot for me in the morning and its only just gone 8am.

Thanks for reading.

chavi

"Commitment means struggle, it means effort and always sacrifice".

Airborne's picture
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Airborne posted 1 year ago.

Many coaching philosophies (including the one I follow) stress that your hardest workout day of the week should ALWAYS be followed by an EASY one. That means taking the day off, staying off your feet, and generally just relaxing. There's no sense in pushing on that second day, because you're only inhibiting recovery from the previous day's efforts.

Anton's picture
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Anton posted 1 year ago.

On Star Trek (Next Gen) Worf is always saying,usually during some punch up with the Borg "Perhaps today is a good day to die!"
Every morning I wake up and ask myself..."is today a good day to rest?" While I have regulrly scheduled rest days...usually Monday or sometimes Friday....I don't hesitate to rest if my morning pulse is elevated..or I'm too tired...or I feel...bad. Now I have learned through the years when it is time to rest and time to workout even though I feel like crap...and that is the tricky part...it takes experience to know when you are better off watching DVD's than working out. You have to find what works for you.

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
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Airborne's picture
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Airborne posted 1 year ago.

Anton;61979 wrote:
On Star Trek (Next Gen) Worf is always saying,usually during some punch with the Borg "Perhaps today is a good day to die!"
Every morning I wake up and ask myself..."is today a good day to rest?" While I have regulrly scheduled rest days...usually Monday or sometimes Friday....I don't hesitate to rest if my morning pulse is elevated..or I'm too tired...or I feel...bad. Now I have learned through the years when it is time to rest and time to workout even though I feel like crap...and that is the tricky part...it takes experience to know when you are better off watching DVD's than working out. You have to find waht works for you.

That's good advice. Just stick to the old adage: when in doubt, leave it out!

Remember that your abilities as an athlete are a concoction made with equal parts stress, rest, and fuel. Just as you're almost always better off with an extra hour of sleep than an extra hour of exercise, you're often better served taking a day off when you feel, as Anton says, bad.

RV's picture
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RV posted 1 year ago.

Take all your scheduled days off - don't use them to catch up a missed workout.
The easy answer is take a day off whenever your body needs it or sometimes when the mind needs it.
Tho, it is sometimes tough to distinguish normal soreness from building fatigue or just lazy!
If you are following a plan appropriate to your fitness level - there should be plenty of time scheduled in there for rest and recovery.
However, like said on a previous post - "If in doubt - leave it out"

RV

It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss

chavi's picture
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chavi posted 1 year ago.

Good advice because it definately caught up with me. Saturday I pushed out the ride as I said, I had a pretty busy day house hunting and then comes Sunday morning 530am...I was tired, had that really bad runny gut that I usually get when Ive been training hard and ran about 200metres and had to use a public toilet to let it all out again. Not a good sign. Sorry for the overload of info but do others experience this?

Im scheduling rest days as of now but I might just do weights on those days. And I wont use them to make up for the lost run for today! That would be silly.

"Commitment means struggle, it means effort and always sacrifice".

OzTriGuy's picture
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OzTriGuy posted 1 year ago.

I take every Monday off. Training stresses your body, but then for it to get stronger it needs an opportunity to repair. Some serious athletes won't take a day off though, but I know in the running world they might take an easy day next. Pros don't always have to work full time like the rest of us and hence may be rested without taking a day off. If I feel tired or run, may be even a sniffle, I take the day off or only do one session if its a double day. I usually find I come back stronger and put in better quality sessions after my Mondays off.

RULE NUMBER ONE: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Red5's picture
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Red5 posted 1 year ago.

My coach has me take every Monday off as well. I always go long on the bike and run over the weekend and he insists I chill out Monday, and that includes no swimming.

_______
Bryan

Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!