Rest Day Lessons

I learned a valuable lesson when I was training for the B&A Trail Marathon about the value of rest. I had turned 32 years old when I asked one of my Radford University college professors that had competed in marathons for decades for a training schedule.

Dr. Mick Stewart asked me what my goal was and I told him that I would like to run the marathon and do it in a respectable time under four hours. He then asked, “Can you run for an hour and a half straight?” I asked, “How far?” and he replied that it didn’t matter, just whether I could run for an hour and a half non-stop. “Sure, I can do that.”

Mick gave me a routine that that started four months out from the race day. On Wednesdays I would run for an hour and a half. On Sundays I would run for an hour and a half during the first week. However on Sundays my runs would incrementally increase, with the longest run being four hours. As race day drew closer those long Sunday runs began to taper back down to two hours.

I could not believe how little Mick had me running?! Mick told me the training plan had three purposes: “1) Reduce the pain of training. 2) Reduce the pain during the race and 3) Reduce the pain after the race”.

I completed that marathon with a time just under four hours. True to Mick’s plans I was never injured during training, I ran the race with no issues and most importantly felt fantastic after the race was over. Mick informed me that the key was giving my body the time to recover between training sessions and not overuse my muscles.

Today I rested from lifting and took the dog on a 3 mile walk wearing a 40 lbs. backpack.

Have a Great Day!