LEARN: PLAN YOUR REST WEEK

EASY TRAIN TO PROPER REST...
One of the biggest mistakes athletes make when trying to improve their fitness is they undermine the importance of proper rest. Without rest, your fitness, speed and endurance simply will NOT improve.  Not to mention you risk other important areas of your training such as potential burnout, overtraining, injury and illness.

When we discuss rest, this includes proper rest after long and/or hard efforts and building proper rest / down weeks into your training plan. If you're following the online plans I have written for the clinic, the rest weeks have been designed for you already. That said, it's always okay to adapt it and take more rest or an extra day off if you need it. Rest weeks are NOT the time to push the envelope. Taking a broader view and applying the stress-recovery philosophy to your long-term training is an important part of becoming a well rounded and balanced athlete.

Here are some basic tips to consider when building your rest / down weeks. Put some thought into it this week so you're mentally prepared for week 5 which marks the first rest week of the clinic!

• Reduce volume by 20-50% depending on how fatigued you are, how big of a build the last set was for you etc… if you’re not sure, take MORE rest than you think.  Often if we're questioning it, it's because we need it.

• Try to get more sleep. Go to bed 1/2hr earlier every night this week. Leave your phones out of the bedroom.
• Make more time to stretch, foam roll and rehab exercises/mobility focus. **it’s a new time for us and we need to be even more responsible with our recovery as we don’t have the same access to practicioners. This isn't just for rest week - this is for every week!
• I encourage you all to be cautious of that fine line where you think the extra hours this week will pay off and really hope you’ll all back off enough and take good care so you can stay strong and enjoy the remainder of the clinic.
• CROSS-TRAIN and give your running body a break. (this doesn’t mean jack up the cross training hours though. It’s variety)