Rest days are just as important as the days you do run! It’s easy to think that rest is just a waste of time, but you’ll be surprised at how much benefit there is in taking a full day off from training.
This could mean sleeping in and waking up late, or it could mean spending the whole day on chores around your home. Whatever it may be, taking time off will allow your body and mind to relax and recover from all the high intensity exercise that goes into triathlon training.
It’s also an important time for maintenance tasks like changing out your running shoes if they start getting worn down, or making sure your bike has everything it needs (i.e., lube). Resting can also help alleviate some minor aches and pains caused by overuse injuries caused by long hours of training each week.
Take a look at these 5 reasons you need rest days during triathlon training:
1. You’ll avoid plateaus
If you’re in triathlon training, you’re probably familiar with plateaus. These are periods where your results stay the same or even go down despite doing more of the same things. If that sounds crazy, it’s because it is! You want to be constantly improving your fitness and performance, but sometimes that can feel like an uphill battle if your body isn’t recovering properly from all of the hard work you’ve been putting in during training sessions. And when you’re trying to fit in rest days as well? It can get overwhelming fast. But rest is important for keeping up with all of these changes so that when it comes time for race day, every part has had its chance at getting stronger and faster through regular recovery days throughout the week.
2. You’ll give your body a chance to rebuild muscle and repair tissue damage
To begin with, rest days are needed to allow muscles to repair. Exercise causes micro-tears in muscle tissue, which can result in temporary damage that needs time to heal. If you don’t give your body any time off from training, these small tears will remain open and keep your muscles inflamed and sore.
Your body also needs rest days so it can recover from fatigue. Your heart rate will continue beating at an elevated rate until it returns to its normal resting level; if you continue training without giving it a chance to return to normal, you’ll push yourself into overtraining syndrome (OTS). OTS is a serious condition that results in chronic fatigue, depression and anxiety—not exactly what you want when trying to build strength for a triathlon!
3. You’ll prevent overuse injuries
Rest days are important for a number of reasons. Primarily, rest days help you recover from the day-to-day stress of training and racing. Rest days give your body a break from the constant pounding that comes with running, swimming and biking. They also allow you to recover from injuries that may have happened during previous workouts (or races). Finally, rest days are essential for preventing overtraining—a condition that occurs when athletes train too much and don’t allow their bodies time to heal properly between workouts.
- If you run 5x per week: On Monday, Wednesday and Friday do some type of cross training (swimming or cycling), then take Saturday off completely before doing another 5x run on Sunday. Tuesday can be an active recovery day where you only do light exercise like walking or yoga (if needed).
- If you swim 5x per week: On Monday, Wednesday and Friday do some type of cross training (running or cycling), then take Saturday off completely before doing another 5x swim on Sunday. Tuesday can be an active recovery day where you only do light exercise like walking or yoga (if needed).
4. Your workouts will be more effective
Rest days are important for many reasons. For example, if you’re training for a triathlon, rest days allow your body to recover and repair from the previous workout. They also give your muscles time to recharge so they can be stronger during the next workout. Another reason why rest days are so important is because they allow you to focus on improving your technique, which will make all of your workouts more effective—even when it comes down to just improving one aspect of your performance like footwork or arm movements!
5. You’ll enjoy the training process more
When you take a rest day, you gain the opportunity to do all sorts of fun things that make the training process more enjoyable. You can hang out with friends and family, or catch up on reading a good book. A massage feels amazing after a long week of training. If you’re lucky enough to live near the beach, going there for an afternoon is always welcome—and it’s also an excuse to take some time off from your computer screen!
Rest days are also important to prevent overuse injuries, plateaus, burnout, and injury. If you don’t rest your body from time to time then you will likely end up with an overuse injury that can take months to heal or even worse—a plateau in your performance. If you’re training too hard and not giving yourself enough rest then this is an easy way to burn out mentally and emotionally as well as physically.
Looking for more ways to ensure you’re physically and mentally prepared for race day? Contact me today to set up a free coaching consultation!
Train Right, Tri Right!
Coach MJ
