Rest Days are Training Days

Today is an official rest day for me and I normally don't blog on rest days because well, there's nothing to say. I didn't swim, bike, or run today...period. End of story.

Wait, not so fast. I think rest days ARE training days because they help you to run/ride better the following day (if you work it right).

For instance, I ran hard yesterday and tomorrow I'm doing a long run. In order to get the most "bang for my buck", i.e., get the most mileage on my run tomorrow (and that's what a long run is all about: mileage or going as far as you can), I want fresh legs. I want to be chompin' at the bit to get out the door and the best way to do that is to NOT swim, bike, or run today.

This has been my strategy with long runs for years. I believe it really helps build endurance. The fresher you feel at the beginning of a long run, the longer you will run, and the more aerobic capacity you will develop. This is extremely important for marathon or IM training (which includes training for 70.3's).

And, the other important aspect to a rest day is eating intelligently. That means upping the carbs so that you have plenty of glycogen for the next day AND drinking plenty of water. It also means NOT eating the kinds of foods you know will wreak havoc in your large intestine tomorrow AM. For me, that means no gooey desserts or ice cream and I'll probably not have an alcohol either (saving the ice cream and beer for TOMORROW night!).

So, although I'm a total couch potato today, I'm essentially prepping my body (and mind) for tomorrow's long run. I'm writing this for those people who are new to endurance training (who are reading my blog now!).

Just fyi....