The Power of Rest and Recovery
I’ve been reflecting lately on the power of rest and recovery… in running and in life. In 2017, I embarked on a year-long run streak where I ran every day, at least a mile, but often more than that. It solidified for me a real commitment to running and to myself. I was in the midst of a lot of life transitions that year; I graduated from my MBA program, moved back to Boston, was building my consulting practice, grieving my divorce, and had started training and fundraising for my first marathon. Life was busy! The runstreak forced me to focus on myself and my wellbeing for at least 15-20 minutes a day, a luxury some of us don’t feel like we have. I was so proud of my commitment to the runstreak, even when I had to hop on a hotel treadmill at 11:30pm after flight delays or lace up my running shoes before the sun came up in order to get my run in.
When January 1, 2018 rolled around, I knew I had to incorporate some rest days with no running into my marathon training. I begrudgingly did, even when the first few weeks I was so antsy on my rest days that I snuck into Zumba class at the gym when I should have allowed my legs to recover from a tough run the day before. But even though I took a couple of rest days a week, I also trained for and ran 3 marathons back to back to back within eight months that year. So while I didn’t run everyday, I also never took any real time off from intense training; my long runs continued on weekends and so did my strength training and speed workouts. It was exhilarating and also exhausting!
This year I knew I wanted to train smarter, not harder. Not only am I sticking to and enjoying my rest days off my legs entirely, I am also incorporating easy, recovery runs into my training. The pace is relaxing and I find that my legs need the easy movement on these days. These recovery runs allow me to give my tough, speed runs my all and prepare mentally and physically for my long runs on weekends.
It got me thinking about how much this idea of more frequent rest and recovery can apply in more than just running. As a recovering workaholic, I know what it’s like to work round the clock until my body just gives up and I’m down for the count for days. Or to finally take a vacation, only to spend the first few days comatose in bed. Or to cancel on plans with friends on a Friday night because you’re so depleted that you can’t imagine doing anything social after a full week of work.
Any of this sound familiar?
What would it be like if we created lives we didn’t need to constantly recover from? What if we found small moments more frequently to focus on ourselves and stop, rest, recover? How can we prioritize filling our own cup as much as we fill others?
Our Spark Sisterhood retreats are meant to be moments of rest and recovery for YOU. Join us for a weekend away to fill your cup at an upcoming retreat. Visit our Current Retreats page here.
