Embracing rest day is crucial to improvement

With so much focus on improvement, many runners struggle to allow themselves rest days. As your body adjusts to your mileage, rest days may seem unnecessary or cause fear of slipping back out of peak shape. However, rest days are a crucial part of training and can prevent many issues like injuries and burn-out.

Rest and recovery time helps prevent injuries.

Running day after day with no rest does not give your body time to recover from the impact of running. Not taking the necessary time to rest and recover can lead to overuse injuries like stress fractures. Taking one day off can prevent you from having to take weeks off for an injury.

Muscles need time to recover and grow stronger.

Aside from preventing injuries, muscles need time to recover and grow stronger. According to The Conversation, a longer rest period is needed in order to build muscle. Without the proper rest and recovery, runners are prone to overuse injuries.

Your mind needs a break too.

While running is good for stress relief, it can also heighten stress levels. Running increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol because your body cannot differentiate between running for safety and running for fun. Taking a day off, gives your brain some time to rest. Overtraining syndrome can also result in poor sleep and depression. Rest days give both body and brain a chance to recover.

You’ll come back stronger than before.

Rest days prevent injuries and soreness, allow for muscle growth, and provide a break from psychological pressure. While it may be hard to take a day off after a good week of running, rest days are just as important as work-out days. If you don’t let your body recover, then you won’t be able to perform your best. As Olympian Alexi Pappas says “if a pencil stays too sharp it'll break. So smile, rest up & eat a steak!”

Embracing Rest Day is Crucial to Improvement