Active Recovery (I'm trying to be good!)

Free image by David Castillo Dominici via www.freedigitalphotos.netI know I'm tired when I don't want to go running. 

My legs are tired. My arms are tired. My eyes are tired. I'm just plum worn out. 

I stayed up until past midnight watching the Olympic opening ceremony, then the baby has been teething so we're getting no sleep, then I woke up Saturday and ran ten miles, plus I worked two hours organizing a storage unit, and then stayed up late  Saturday night watching the Olympics again. All of that after a week of amping up my strength workouts and fatiguing my body means I am just really, really tired.

It happens. But I still want to keep training because I'll get mean and cranky if I don't! BUT, if I keep this up I'm going to get injured and not be able to train at all. So, I am trying to be good and listen to my body and get some rest. When I got up this morning to workout, and the whole time my run was just looming in front of me like a big boulder that I had to climb over, I listened to that little voice in my head telling me it's okay to not be a machine every day. 

I hate that voice.

But it was right. I finished my strength workout and put my running stuff away. I got on the elliptical and did intervals, which was also good cardio and a nice break. Maybe I'll run tomorrow. 

I'm really bad about overtraining. I just go go go and never give myself a break, and then I get so tired that I can't function at all, which pretty much cancels out all of the great training I did. So, these tips from Women's Health were a perfect reminder for me today that active recovery can be a great way to give your body the rest it needs without feeling like you're slacking off from your workout. It's great for people like me, who like to feel like we're giving it our all every day, even on days when we shouldn't.

Get out there and get healthy today, even if it means doing nothing!