On the Importance of Rest Days
By Sue Joyner
Rest days. You either love them or you hate them, but rest days are vital to incorporate into training. While the frequency of rest days can vary from person to person based on age, experience, and type of training, they should still be integrated into each person's training to some capacity. Why are rest days so important?
Muscles need time to recover
As we train our bodies are undergoing stress which causes small tears in our muscles. Our bodies need time to repair the damage which is why a rest day is so important. If we aren’t giving our muscles the time off to rebuild and restore, then we just continue to break down already broken down muscle. This will result in a lack of strength gain and a body more susceptible to injury.
Helps with injury prevention
Stress fractures are a common injury in running often caused by repetitive force or overuse. This combined with poor nutrition can significantly increase the risk of stress fractures and other injuries. Taking a rest day helps decrease the chance of injuries because it gives our bones time to repair and rebuild the damage as well as our ligaments, tendons and joints. This will result in stronger bones that will better withstand the high impact of running.
Our minds need rest too
Keeping a consistent running schedule takes time, preparation, dedication, and discipline. While these are healthy habits to instill in our lives, it’s important to schedule time to give our minds a rest. When we prepare a rest day, we can better enjoy the break, allowing our mind to rest or engage in other activities that bring us joy. This helps us better appreciate the days we do train, as well as helps prevent burnout.
Improves quality of training and performance
Taking time to rest, allowing our bodies to recover, and giving our mind a break, allows us to press restart when we get back to our training. Our bodies will be able to train harder and perform better because we have given our bodies the necessary time to repair and prepare. Try running your next long run on fresh legs. Be intentional with rest before your next race. It’s amazing how much stronger and faster you’ll feel.
Time for other things
Running can easily become an addictive sport. Once we race our first race, experience our first ‘runner’s high’, or set a new PR, we often come running back for more. However, this can cause us to neglect other areas of our lives. Family, friends, nutrition, self-care, and rest time are often the first to be neglected. Intentionally scheduling days to rest allow us to give these important parts of our lives more attention and energy. While physical health is extremely important, leading a “Healthy Lifestyle” means we are taking care of our physical, mental, and emotional health. Make time for other things.