My toughest lesson

This article touches upon the most difficult lesson I've had to learn so far in my marathon training: rest is important. In honor of this article, I'm taking the day off from running today due to fatigue.

Living Well: Make rest days and easy days part of your running regimen

Overachievers give local running coach Chuck Bartlett the most trouble.
"It's tough to get them to cut back on distance or pace or days," said Bartlett, director of the official Seattle Marathon training program. "Overachievers think if you do more, you do better."
Bartlett fired off several examples of why that is just not true.
"I have older runners who I give an extra day off each week than younger runners in the same training group," Bartlett said. "They bounce back more quickly and end up with improved race times (than older runners too proud or stubborn to take the extra rest day)."
While their bodies are less needy of multiple rest days per week, younger runners tend to run through pain and illness in the name of getting out every day.
"They set a PR (personal record) in the marathon or some other race but conveniently forget they had to take a half-year off for a more serious injury," Bartlett said.
One of the joys of living in the Northwest is we can actually run or exercise outdoors year-round without uttering the words, "wind-chill factor." But while we don't regularly risk frostbite or falling on ice and snow, there is still the potential for overdoing it...continue article