As I come to the end of this intense block of training I must admit to looking forward to the odd rest day. For the last 12 weeks I think I’ve had 3 days of not running. One was after the City to Surf marathon (call me weak!) and the other two was my attempt at a taper for the Fremantle half. On top of that I’ve been running twice a day for the most part and have ran 14 times a week on a number of occasion recently.

This intense training is working though as I’ve ran a 5k, 10k and half PB in that time, something I considered beyond me as I move into my 5th decade. (does that sound better or worse than 50?)  My mate Jon , I mention him a lot, has started to compare me to Thelma and Louise in the cliff top scene where they are about to drive off the edge. Always the optimist is Jon. He feels that with the intensity and distance of this training block the only output is the ‘I’ word. (injury for the less informed) He’s probably got a good point and I’m not saying that won’t happen.

So many runners give it away because of the constant stream of injuries. They can occur when you least expect them. My friend Mike got second degree burns when he was getting a massage and they put a heat pack on his calf. He was asked to call out if it got too hot but in typical ‘man mode’ Mike just lay there while his skin started to burn. He did admit it was a tad uncomfortable afterwards. another one of friend Gareth often says running is something he does between injuries. I’ve mentioned that before in a post but it’s worth repeating.

So will a rest day cure all these ills and save you from the ‘I’ word, it probably won’t do any harm. I personally prefer a recovery run to complete rest because I still get to run. I must admit though todays second run was into a stiff headwind and I was glad to finish. It didn’t feel like a recovery run I had planned, I was just plain knackered  at the end.  In this situation I am a big believer in listening to your body, if you have ‘niggles’ be careful. These can easily turn into ‘strain’, ‘fractures’ or even ‘breaks’. This means more time out of the game so sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do, as well as a trip to your local health care professional for some advice and/or remedial work. Today I was physically tired but the legs feel ok, no niggles to speak off, so tomorrow it’ll probably be back up at 5am for my pre-work 10k and then something light and easy for lunch, maybe a 12k trail loop in Kings Park. You need to remember, I’m getting on, I’ll have plenty of time to rest in my box…..