My recovery days usually happen by accident.   Last Friday, I took my kids to the pool armed with my gym bag, ready to work out as they began their daily swim team practice.  But the sun was out, the weather was warm and I dropped my gym bag poolside and chose to relax and watch the kids swim.  Today I slept in.  whoops.   Actually, it is important for any athlete (even an amateur like me) to schedule days to recover from their workouts.  I used to consider it a rest day – really just a break and an excuse not to workout … but once I started running more and adding more miles, I began to appreciate that day and recognize it as a true recovery – not just rest.   I’ve fallen into the overtraining trap before – trying to get just one more long run in before a race.  But through trial and error, I have finally learned that by actually following the recovery plan in my training schedule, I will have better training days and better performance on race days.    I try to keep the day some what consistent … but then again, so what if recovery day is not always per schedule – sometimes the day just calls for itself …

mebb2

happy Friday :-)