Thursday, February 28, 2013

In recovery

For a few weeks, the Mr has been convinced he's overtraining especially since he had pretty much every symptom from various websites signs of overtraining.  We talked about scheduling a recovery week but weren't sure if that was wise so close to our vacation in a few months.  While I may have been technically cleared by my chiro of Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome...my foot problems are far from over.  There is still a lot of pain involved with my leg muscles and tendons.  But like an idiot, the next day I decided to do Power 90 original which is pretty tame in the array of things I could've done.  I did fighter kicks and x-work which is nothing more than alternating your feet forward and backward and I was cleared for both.  My already pinchy arches didn't appreciate it and gave me a few zingers.  The finisher was balance board work when I went to do my side to side PT exercises and a pain shot up from my arch up into my leg.  Since ignoring my body is what got me into this muscular issue in the first place, I decided I was not willing to risk a major setback and I informed the Mr we were taking a few days off to recover.

Saturday was our normal rest day and I tacked on Sunday through Tuesday.  It was very hard to get used to  and Sunday the itch to exercise was strong and torturous.  I had to tell myself that this was in both of our best interests even if it felt counter-intuitive on some level.  Each day I could feel my feet improving.  I still did my morning stretches to keep my calf muscles in check and the new PT stretches the chiro suggested because I need to build up the tendons on the front of my ankle which made me sore but that was the only soreness by last night.   When we finally got back to it last night with Paul Katami's Ultimate Kettlebell workout, I was glad to be back to it.  I did well and got a good burn...885 calories, which I think is the highest I've gotten with that.  I did balance board work afterward and was a little apprehensive since the last time I was on it the pain sent me shooting off but quick.  Luckily I was able to do all of my PT exercises and during the workout, I felt the lowest amount of arch crampage to date.  I won't lie, my feet are tight so I need to roll them and do some massage to loosen them up.  Tonight is back to cardio so that'll be the real test.

For those who may be tempted to say "it was worth it but too bad you broke your 4 year exercise streak."  I don't consider it breaking our streak at all.  I've always said our streak was we haven't missed X years of scheduled exercise...I never said we exercised every day or whatever.  This was planned scheduled time off.  People doing P90X have scheduled recovery weeks where they do active recovery and other hardcore exercisers schedule complete rest weeks every 6 months as a reset.  I like to think we were somewhere in between.  This was a necessary part to our routine and will make us stronger.

Have you ever had to schedule recovery time off?  How long and did you feel it helped you?

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18 comments:

  1. I think the recovery days have been exactly what we both needed. I feel like it was just enough to let muscles heal but not too much so that everything atrophies. Definitely something we need to incorporate more frequently.

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    1. I think so too. My feet are a little grumpy this morning but I'm hoping they take to cardio okay tonight and tomorrow. I'm thinking this should be an every 6 month thing.

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  2. I am insanely proud of you both for scheduling those days off. Sincerely. It had to have been very tough to make yourselves rest when everything in you is telling you to get down there! It showed in your renewed workout, bigger calorie burn, baby!! Way to go, both of you, listen to your bodies, they may be crazy and hard to understand but when they're telling you something that loudly, best to listen! :D

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    1. Aww, thanks girl. Trust me, it was a hard mental decision to think of but once I felt that pain shoot through my foot, I knew it was my body saying "I need a break!!" Let's hope it does us some good!

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  3. glad to see you did this, think it was a wise choice. Enjoy your day!

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  4. I'm glad taking those days off helped. You definitely need to not reinjure your feet, and it sounds like your Mr. was ready for a short break as well.

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    1. Definitely. Now I need to exercise to combat stress so break's over regardless!

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  5. You know what you could/should say to someone on the internet who actually cares about your 4 year exercise streak? "F YOU!" That exercise streak is something you set up for yourself and a few days off of NEEDED recovery doesn't negate that. Who cares what any negative nelly on the internet think anyway?

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    1. Oh I know but I also know how people think. I'm beginning to realize scheduling recovery time is just as important as scheduling exercise.

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  6. Oh, thank goodness! I have wanted to suggest this for so long, but I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. (Well, not ALL the time.) Here's hoping this is both restorative AND that it jumpstarts your system.

    Several of my exercise books suggest taking a week off from big-deal exercise every 8 weeks. I've never been comfortable with that, but my work schedule seems to get overcrowded every 3-4 months and I count that time as my lifting break. It does help with my workout energy, but each time I swear that I'm not going to stop doing a few push-ups during the break. Those things are killer for starting over. :)

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    1. I'm always up for suggestions, it's just up to me whether or not I put them into action. :) I hope so!

      I don't know that we'd do it every 8 weeks either but I'm thinking maybe every 4 months isn't a bad idea as long as the diet is still in check.

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  7. It always good to take days off...good for listening to ur body....way to go!!
    take care
    Manasa

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    1. I'm trying! Hopefully I've learned SOMETHING from this whole thing!

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  8. I think you definitely made a good choice to take that time off. Planned time off is not slacking or giving up or anything like that! Your body needs to recover...

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    1. Yes it does. I just wish my foot didn't feel like I hadn't taken any time off after a pretty light impact workout. I'm getting really sick of dealing with this. I would hate to think this is my life now.

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  9. My trainers let me know I was overtraining at one point and told me to stop doing anything until I got a good night sleep. Apparently bad sleep is a side effect of oivertraining. It took about 3 days and when I went back to it it felt better than ever. So I got careful to schedule breaks.

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  10. I'm a firm believer in recovery time as well as set days off after workouts that run several days in a row. The body needs time to repair those little tiny muscle tears. Planned time off is effective and shows good balance with a change in thinking. Too much of anything isn't good, including exercise with no breaks. So, no, you did not break your streak whatsoever. You gave your body what it needed at that time. THAT is what health is all about. You're taking care of your bodies in every way.

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