Rested feet are less swollen feet. Also, I have a lot of pictures like this. I could make a weird lounging foot collage.
Let’s just go ahead and admit it – running is hard on the body. Yes, it’s a weight-bearing exercise that builds bone density, but it is jarring. You are literally pounding parts of your body into a hard surface, and the whole body feels the impact. Rest and recovery days, therefore, are vital to maintaining a healthy running practice and avoiding injury.
At least every other day that you run needs to be a recovery day [aside – read that article. It’s pretty entertaining. I am a fan of any writer who can work in the phrase “vegetate like an eggplant.”]. That means you are running at a marathon-ish (i.e., slow and steady) pace. Recovery days are great, because they still give you aerobic benefit, which can actually speed up recovery more than total rest does.
But some days need to be full-on rest days.
A rest day is not sitting on the couch all day, doing as little as possible. It’s still good to incorporate some kind of exercise that’s easier on the joints, like swimming or some of the safety moves we talked about a few days ago. Rest days mean you are avoiding the moves that jolt your body so that it can recover. An experienced runner needs a rest day at least once every week and a half, while a novice probably could use two in that time frame.
How do you know you’re not getting enough rest days? Simply put, you will feel like crap. Pushing yourself too hard as a runner almost feels like you’re coming down with the flu. If you feel bad, do what your body says it needs. Rest.
On Monday, I practiced daily rest by turning off all media a few hours before bed and reading with a cup of tea. How are you practicing daily rest?
M. Suzanne Terry 
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