Rest and Relaxation

If you're like me, I'm so so sorry. Wait. I meant to say, if you're like me, then when you throw yourself into something, you throw yourself into something. However, this excitement and motivation can lead to injury when it comes to exercise. I tend to forget that I've been pretty sedentary for a loooooooooooooooooong time. In the spirit of total transparency on my journey, I've not been truly active for about 12 years.

I used to be very active. I even used to be an athlete. My mind remembers and thinks it was just yesterday that I set a 50-yard dash record in school, or that I played baseball, volleyball, and soccer on a regular basis. My mind forgets that it's been a over a decade since the last time I went on a long hike, an open water swim, or an hours-long bike ride.

So when I tried my two walk-runs a day, I felt great. I felt like I was trying to let that athlete lose again. And I kept going. And kept going. Now, I'm sitting here with some sharp foot pain, most likely from not stretching well, but I'm sure my physical condition overall had something to do with it. And I regularly had shin pain in the last couple of weeks. But I was going strong twice a day and didn't want to stop!

On Friday, I decided to switch my morning run to yoga, partly to take it easy on achy joints, but mostly to make myself stretch when I couldn't be bothered to stretch properly before/after the AM and PM workouts. On Saturday, I decided to have a dedicated rest day.

Sunday and yesterday, I had NO shin pain. None. Not even a twinge. As an aside, I do have some pretty bad top of foot pain today, but I think that's a stretching issue, which I'm working on, but as far as the running-caused pain, it was gone. All from a little yoga and a little rest.

It's hard wanting to be healthy, wanting to be athletic again, waiting to feel great - and my body not being able to keep up with my demands. I have to make a conscious effort to have a rest day. To stretch. To not wear myself out trying to be the person I used to be.

I have to remind myself that I'll get there, but it will take a lot longer if I injure myself.

Are you like me? Do you try to go-go-go at the risk of your body not being able to keep up? How do you make yourself step back, take a rest day, and let your body recover?