Work In. Erin Taylor

rest days.

      Most athletes—and humans in general—are so geared up that they struggle to wind down and recover even when the opportunity presents itself (like a rest day). As much as you might like the idea of relaxing and even value the importance of dedicated recovery time, if your habit is to do the opposite it can be tough to give yourself permission to slow down. And when you do finally create space to move in the opposite direction, it’s likely to feel uncomfortable. You have to practice the transition. If a triathlete doesn’t practice the transition from biking to running, the body is confused and it will show in the performance. Similarly, your body will resist rest if you don’t intentionally practice the transition from training to recovering.

      Scheduling rest days is admirable, but it’s not enough. It’s working in that helps your body become receptive to rest. You apply strength and courage to keep going even when your workouts get tough, and working in works the same way—don’t back down. Working in helps you to manage the discomfort of shifting gears; it facilitates a smooth and effective transition from work to rest so that you can assimilate all of your effort, truly rest on your rest days, and recover for real.

      Use Your Nervous System

      We tend to approach recovery with different tools and techniques—foam rollers, compression, massage, physical therapy, and even different approaches to sleep and nutrition. It’s ironic that our restorative activities tend to first focus on our muscles, even though they are the part of our body that naturally recovers the quickest because they receive direct blood flow. You might be less aware of the system that has the biggest impact on your ability to restore body and mind after a big output: your nervous system.

      Your autonomic nervous system regulates your body’s instinctive, unconscious actions and influences the function of your internal organs. It includes your brain, spinal cord, and nerves; and it regulates many bodily functions, such as heart rate, digestion, blood pressure, and respiration—all of which keep you going and moving forward, and play a critical role in movement, exertion, and ultimately performance.

      Your nervous system sounds the alarm by way of a chemical stress response when you’re confronted with life-threatening events, often referred to as the “fight or flight” response. This is governed by your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which under duress triggers a reaction where blood pressure increases to supply more oxygen to your brain and muscles, and all your systems are optimized for you to defend yourself or run for your life. Your focus narrows to meet the challenge. This is all incredibly useful if you’re attacked in a dark alley. Or running from a tiger. Or, more likely, when the fight is on for first place or a new PR in the last 100 meters of your race.

      On the opposite end of the spectrum, your relaxation response is governed by your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS)—this is where you rest and digest. Since your nervous system is designed for self-preservation, your PNS should kick in once threatening events have passed to slow your heart rate, aid in digestion, and return you to a baseline of calm. It broadens your perspective and helps you to be more aware of where you’re at so that you can more clearly discern the most appropriate course of action, rather than just react. Strengthening your PNS increases your resilience and helps you to more easefully manage whatever comes at you.

      The problem is that because we are doing so much, all the time, we get stuck in fight or flight and can’t wind down. As a result the SNS response is easily triggered by normal day-to-day occurrences like rushing to get to the gym, or triaging a full email inbox. When you’re in this frame of mind your brain perceives the threat of failing to hit your pace in a key training session the same way it perceives the threat that you might be late for your meeting because you’re stuck in traffic. While you need to get fired up to nail your workout, getting amped up in gridlock confuses your body with unnecessary stress and deprives you of spending time in a more relaxed state. The physiological design of the nervous system is disrupted by the pace of life. Stress management might be a big motivator of your workouts, but without consistent, effective PNS activation you’re merely creating a vicious cycle of SNS stimulation.

      We’re so busy that we marginalize recovery and keep putting it off, quarantining it to the off-season or rest days rather than prioritizing and normalizing it as a critical daily occurrence. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that even when you do have the opportunity to rest, relaxation can feel elusive. If tension lingers long after your workout is over, or if you find yourself lying awake at night with your mind abuzz, you’re well aware of this all-too-common scenario. You have to intentionally calm your nervous system in order to shift from effort to ease—from SNS engagement to PNS response. Use your nervous system to full advantage to optimize your recovery. Now more than ever, optimal recovery requires tangible skills, practice, and diligence—it requires you to work in.

      HOW DO I KNOW WHEN TO STOP?

      It’s hard to know when it’s okay to slow your roll and, more important, when to allow yourself to stop. Don’t wait for someone else to tell you to rest. You don’t need permission. You are the only one who can put your foot on the brakes. Your performance and overall well-being will suffer if you power on. You might feel too busy to slow down, but, ironically, it is the times when you’re most frazzled that it’s critical for you to work in.

      Your body will tell you everything you need to know about what it needs. Learn to listen to its cues. Here are some signals that your body is asking you to work in:

       Your breathing is erratic

       You’re mentally unfocused or feel out of control

       You’re finding it difficult to maintain a broad perspective

       You’re “going through the motions” and not really getting the benefit out of your workouts

       You feel like you’ve hit a performance plateau

       Your workouts are adding to your everyday stress rather than helping you to manage it

       You find it difficult to wind down even when the opportunity for rest presents itself

       You feel exhausted yet you are having trouble sleeping

      When in doubt, don’t be afraid to err on the side of rest. Trust yourself to start recognizing these signs as invitations to work in and you will sharpen your intuition and your ability to be more flexible in your approach, which will serve you well in all your pursuits.

      When I Do Stop, What Should I Do?

      Once you learn to listen to your body, how do you effectively transition from working out to not working out in order to make the best use of downtime and rest days? How do you ensure productive recovery? How do you recover for real? Working in equips you with two key skill sets to accomplish this:

      Recovery is personal. And despite any beliefs you have about its place in your training and life, consider the fact that it doesn’t have to be confined to evenings or weekends or vacations. It shouldn’t be relegated to downtime or your perceived lack thereof. Waiting until you’ve crossed everything off your to-do list to relax is like running to stand still. In fact, it probably won’t ever happen. Don’t wait for injury or burnout to force you into recovery mode. Do it now.

      GET REAL

       So many factors have a significant impact on the recovery process—nutrition, hydration, sleep, and more. Ultimately, it’s up to you to understand what your body needs, listen to its cues, and respond accordingly.

       Getting clear about where you’re at with your restorative input is a great place to start. Then you can begin to chart a tangible