Unplanned Rest Days

I blame winter.  I like to say that if I lived somewhere else – either somewhere warmer, or somewhere with more daylight hours, I wouldn’t suffer this temptation.  I have no way of knowing whether that’s true since I’ve only ever lived in Ohio, but I’m aware that it’s a sorry excuse.  I’m talking about the temptation to skip my workout and take an unplanned rest day.  You know that little devil on your shoulder.  The one who doesn’t show up until around 2:15 p.m. when he just pops his head in and leads with some seemingly benign comment like, “How you feeling?  Has this been a long day, or what?”  And pretty soon, you’re kind of nodding, and you say to the little devil, “You know what, I’m not sure what it is, but yeah, it feels like it’s been a long day.  I’m really going to struggle in that workout later.”  And then it goes on a little something like this…

Workout Devil:  “What workout did we have planned again?”

Me: “Well, I hadn’t really decided for sure.  I was thinking maybe I’d go a little easy on myself because I ran yesterday.  Maybe I’ll just do a few weights when I get home.”

Workout Devil: “Yeah, that sounds good if you end up having time and you’re not too tired.”

Me: “Good point… If I’m already this tired, I bet I’m gonna have a really hard time getting fired up when I get home.  And it’s so cold today, the idea of changing my cloths into anything other than pajamas sounds horrific. Plus I’ve got like six things to get done before bedtime.”

Workout Devil: “You’ve been so good lately, and you need a rest anyways… Why don’t you just take the whole night off and get back to it tomorrow?”

And the rest is history… Next, I’ll toy with the idea of doing a workout during my drive home, all the while knowing that I’ve allowed myself to consider the possibility of scrapping it.  And once you’ve given serious consideration to the idea of scrapping your workout, all other potential plans have a really hard time competing with that wonderful, glorious, indulgent plan.

And, at least today, I want to blame winter.  I tell myself that if the sky weren’t gray, I’d have more energy.  If it weren’t so cold out, I wouldn’t be getting signals from my body that I need to stay inside, eat more fat, and hibernate.  In fairness, those things don’t help, but more realistically, the temptation to scrap my workout happens all through the year.  I’ve spent some time thinking about it and I’ve come up with my short list of the 4 biggest factors that lead to skipped workouts.

1. The Problem: Having too much work on the to-do list.  It’s not unusual for a to-do list to get filled up with other “urgent” demands, and when it does, we feel a lot of pressure to achieve the things on the list at all costs.  If you recall from my post on monotasking, it’s important to have realistic expectations for a to-do list, and when it gets too full, something gets bumped.  Ultimately I know it’s up to me to decide what gets bumped.  I also discussed Stephen Covey’s explanation of the difference between an important task and an urgent one.  A workout falls into the “important” category, but it’s always tempting to replace it with something from the “urgent” category.
2. The Problem: Getting too little rest. (i.e. Either not getting enough sleep, or over-training.)  Being tired, either mentally or physically (or, as is so often the case, both) is probably the most common reason I’ll end up skipping a workout.  It takes mental energy to stay motivated and make the choice to follow through.  Being physically tired obviously has an impact on the quality of the workout, but I tend to think that mental fatigue is the harder obstacle to overcome when it comes to actually toeing the starting line and doing anything.  Maybe your body is tired and you do a crappy workout, but if your brain can get you there, then you’ll at least accomplish something.
3. The Problem: Wishy-washy planning. Any time I leave my workout plans open-ended, I put myself at risk of skipping the workout.  This issue is directly related to problem #2. Trying to decide what workout to do, in and of itself, is too taxing for an already tired brain at 4:30 p.m. That brain often decides to just bail out.  I can’t trust my tired brain to make the right decision, so I’m better off if that decision has already been made.
4. The Problem: Fueling poorly.  What’s that expression?  Shit in, shit out?  We all know it’s true… Don’t expect to feel much like working out if you’re not feeding yourself well and staying hydrated.

Well, that brings me to this evening.  The perfect storm of excuses, fatigue, and winter weather led me directly to a glass of wine and a seat on my couch next to the space heater and my puppy dog.  Ok, let’s break it down.  First, I’ll set the scene.  Today, central Ohio was overcast and dull.  It was one of those days that looked like it was either dawn or dusk literally all day long.  It’s like the sun never rose.  On top of that, in the midst of what has otherwise been an unusually warm winter, today was just effing cold.  It was cold outside, and it was cold inside my office, so I spent the afternoon daydreaming about a blanket on my couch and my pajamas.  (In case you’re wondering, I’m extremely satisfied with my #currentsituation involving both.)

Next – my problem list.  1) Yes, I had a lot of other “tasks” on my to-do list.  None of them was overly important in the grand scheme of things.  They included such beauties as “write a blog post” and “make pizza dough for tomorrow.”  Nonetheless, they are things I wanted to get done, so they weaseled their way in to take priority over my workout when I allowed them to.  2) Sure, I’m a little tired.  I’ve been getting plenty of sleep, but I’ve had a big couple of weeks of running, and the reality is that my body is probably in need of a little break. That doesn’t mean I needed to be a blob all night though.  3) Oh, my planning was wishy-washy for sure. I knew I didn’t want to do another run today, but instead of planning my alternate workout, I left it open-ended.  4) My fuel situation wasn’t half bad, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the other challenges I set up for myself.

So what’s the plan, Stan?  I think we all know that we’re not supposed to go to the boss without a problem unless we have a solution in mind, and as the CEO of my own training schedule, I expect to hear some kind of strategy proposal now.  Ok, ok, message received.  Let’s fix this.

My strategy to avoid unplanned workout days:

1. Have a realistic to-do list.  I said it before, and I’ll say it again.  I gotta get real about how many things I’m putting on that list or else the important things will keep getting squeezed out in favor of the “urgent” ones.
2. Utilize planned rest days appropriately. Keep in mind, I’m suggesting that we avoid unplanned rest days, but I’m all for planned rest days as part of a training plan.  Sometimes you gotta give your body a chance to recover.  It means heading to bed on time and building workout volume gradually and using rest and easy days when necessary.
3. Planning, planning, planning! Mentally commit to the workout at the beginning of the day or the beginning of the week, whenever you plan your workouts.  You have to make the mental commitment when you’re mentally fresh, and then you can just go on autopilot and show up.  It means packing the gym bag so that you don’t have a good reason to drive home before finishing your workout.  It means planning your workout times responsibly too.  For me, that means I should choose the yoga class that starts immediately after work instead of the one that starts at 7:30 p.m. because I’ll have too much free time to debate backing out before the late class, and then that mental fatigue will try to talk me into backing out. And the worst crime of all, “playing it by ear,” is the way to nearly guarantee I’ll back out of my workout!
4. Be honest with yourself. If you’re being lazy, that’s one thing, but if your body’s trying to tell you something, that’s another.  Sometimes, despite having a workout planned, our bodies are giving us feedback to let us know that we need another rest day.  Take a good look at your training volume and recent schedule.  And if you decide that you need a rest day, you go enjoy that day, and be sure you get good and rested for tomorrow.

So yeah, tonight… I’m going to say that I needed this rest day.  Would it have killed me to work out?  Nah.  But let’s say that I’ll be stronger in the morning because of it.  And the glass of wine?  That was for my mental health.  Worth it.