How to know when to take it easy….

Workout:

60 Minutes Elliptical-Read an awesome book and the time flew by.

30 Minutes Stairclimber- Love people watching, plus I feel cool being above everyone…..power goes to my head.

School rocked today.

A student brought me an oatmeal raisin cookie this morning.  I was too impatient to wait until lunch to eat it.

I crumbled it onto my oatmeal and it was the best decision I have ever made.

Hey at least I wasn’t eating this for breakfast…..Dang it, now I am craving a huge donut.

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Onto the title of this post…..

We have all been there.  You know what I am talking about.

Your head says yes.

Your body says no.

Your pants say yes.

Your joints say no.

So how do you know when to take a day (or more) off of exercise.

**** Remember this is what works for me, but my Mom tells me everyday that I am the smartest girl she knows, so I probably am right.

Basically I am just sharing the conversations I have with myself when I am trying to figure out if I need a break or if I am just being lazy.
When to take a break:

1. You haven’t taken a rest day for a while?  I recommend a rest day once a week.  The times I have gotten injured (2 foot fractures and a knee injury) I was not taking ANY rest days.  Correlation…yep but I learned from it:)

2. You are injured.  You know the difference between being sore and actually injured.  Listen to your body.

3. You are sick and exercise would make you worse.  Colds=I still workout.  Anything below the neck= time to take a break.

4. Your family/friends need you.  We are all a little crazy about our workouts but relationships should come first.  You can always exercise tomorrow but today A HUMAN needs you.

5. You just did a race/long run etc. where you gave every thing you had.  I mean you really pushed yourself.  Let your body heal.

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When to tell yourself you are being a lame-o and to just get out there and workout.

1.  “I ate so much junk last night/this weekend….its not even going to make a difference whether I work out or not.”  Who cares.  That was yesterday.  If anything, do it for your mental health, your heart health and stop thinking about calories.

2.  You are bloated, hormonal and cramping because of aunt flo.  Exercise makes it better.  Millions of women have ran marathons, done triathlons and gotten a killer workout in while on their period.

3.  But my muscles are sore.  Great, that is awesome, you must have worked hard yesterday.  Today you should workout different muscle groups and try something different than whatever made you sore.

4.

Fill in 4 for me:)  What is something that tries to keep you from working out…..what do you tell yourself to get out the door???

-“I am so cold, I have so much to do today, but I have cramps…..blah blah blah.”

Any morning cookie eaters out there?

-Probably once a week.  I cannot tell a lie.

 

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36 comments

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Is that you on the ground????

4. I wake up late it's freezing outside and the schooling consumes the day, it gets hard to get a work out in.

5. Hmmm I'm having a hard time with this because I get nutso if I don't work out and it has to be BAD for me to miss a workout!

Love your donut!!!
No I haven't had cookies for breakfast, I told you I have fatty fear LOL!!!

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gosh, this is hard. To me, my body has to say yes and mind has to say IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOU! If I have to convince myself 2x then I call it a day or go to hot yoga. At least I'll still sweat there. hehe.
LC

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gosh, this is hard. To me, my body has to say yes and mind has to say IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOU! If I have to convince myself 2x then I call it a day or go to hot yoga. At least I'll still sweat there. hehe.
LC

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gosh, this is hard. To me, my body has to say yes and mind has to say IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOU! If I have to convince myself 2x then I call it a day or go to hot yoga. At least I'll still sweat there. hehe.
LC

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I eat 2 breakfasts per day. One, nice healthy stuff. Two? Cookies!!! My cousins who come visit me during the summer have busted me doing this but now join in happily. (PS.I exagerate. I do not do this every day. Maybe 6 times per year, but it is GREAT…)

My excuses: 1: I am old and broken
2: I have not had enough cookies for breakfast, and therefore can not function.

I really try to get off my fanny and do something extra (aka: run) because I really notice the difference in the long run. Maybe not TODAY but I appriciate delayed gratification. (thank heavens.)

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crumbled cookie in oatmeal, making a mental note to remember that one. yum.

i am learning that rest thing the hard way. don't rest and overstress your body and you end up on a doctor's ordered rest for 12 weeks. that's a high price to pay, I don't recommend it.

great post.

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#3 is totally true- IMO. The better the shape I am in, the less symptoms I have.

I rest 1-2 days a week on average. :)

Is that photo you?

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Hmmm the cold is a big one for me, but I got a treadmill last year so no excuse. And I'm getting a bike and trainer soon, so even LESS excuses.

Probably my bigger problem is once i'm working out, working through the pain (not injury pain, just damn this sucks pain) in order to go longer. It's all in the mind, I'm working on it :) And it feels oh so good when you tough it out and feel accomplished!

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I've been having these internal convos in my head all week… And lo' and behold I'm at the gym reading this post. :)
I'm currently dealing with (what I think) is runners knee. I had to take a cardio day off this week and my body was SO thankful! I hate taking days off but I've found that finding the power to tell yourself 'no' once a week is incredibly helpful. I'm cross training and if my knee hurts at all, I'll stop. Icing and my new found love for foam rolling have also helped a lot!

If I could have my way, I'd eat cookies for lunch and dinner every day. Breakfast is my favorite meal to surpass for a cookie!

And a #4 reason to not be a lame-o:
"I don't wake up and run to give me that extra boost of energy. I don't spend hours at the gym to relieve stress. And I didn't start taking yoga classes to spend even more time with my friends. The truth? I want to look good naked. Doesn't everybody?" *nike

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BTW tyhanks for the leg/arm compliment…how much is my dad paying you?

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4) I walked around campus a ton today…that counts as a workout right? (WRONG)

not a morning cookie eater, but to be fair…I rarely see the hours of the morning. I am a student and as such I sleep in usually and wake up in between the hours of 10-11, which is lunch/brunch time.

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#3 FTW. Last month, I didn't even notice it sneaking up on me (TMI!).

4. It's sooooo coooooold outside. Bleh. Shut up and run. Whiner.

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I'm not opposed to an occasional morning cookie!

Here's a number 4…
You were ready to step out the door running, but your husband came home from work early, and brought you a coffee toffee twisted frosty from Wendy's.

Now, not only did you not exercise because you had a frosty in your belly, not you NEED to exercise because you have a frosty in your belly! I ran the next morning when that happened.

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No cookies for breakfast but I made brownies last night, so as I was putting them away I had to make sure they were still good ;)

Something that keeps me from working out- not wanting to get ready for the gym. I usually feel like I should look a little more appropriate for the gym than for a run where no one will see me.

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4. I stayed out too late last night and I'm too tired. Get up and do it anyway, and learn your lesson. :)

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oh. yeah. our cook serves cookies with our oatmeal about once a week. it's hard not to eat any.

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I usually take one rest day a week, so any other day that I am not actually sick I work out regardless of what my head wants to do (it doesn't have to fit in the pants around here).

I love cookies, too much, great now I want to go bake :)

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My entire office are morning cookie eaters. I bring in cookies all of the time because I love baking, but do not enjoy getting sick because I overendulge on a dozen cookies in a day. Everytime I bring in cookies, they are gone before 9am…I actually just made oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies for a party tomorrow. I ate three.

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I admit to being a morning cookie eater. I'll crumble them on my breakfast

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I admit that yes I am in fact a morning cookie eater. One day someone brought in cookies at 8am, and I ate it at like 9:30am.

#4 –
Oh its dark and gloomy outside, I don't feel like going to the gym/running. I just want to go home and get in my sweatpants.
GO TO THE GYM You lazy bum! Go and people watch, it will make you feel better!

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i workout 6 days a week…but i sometimes come up with excuses to cross train rather than run (horror of all horrors, i know).

i love that the examples you listed of times when you should rest are the times when i have the least problem wanting to run. i had an injury scare last spring with some IT band issues and instantly i NEEDED to be running, even though i knew i shouldn't. funny how the mind plays little tricks…

i need to remember number 4! i all too easily brush aside relationship building opportunities because i "have" to go running. those late game nights or morning brunches…i bow out. i know i'm lame… but its so much easier to track my progress in running, i mean i get glittery starts on my chart! no one gives me stickers for "hangin out" if they did, the story might be different :)

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Sometimes, I just want to sleep a little bit more… or it's so cold outside I don't want to leave. :(

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I love this post! Today I skipped my morning spin class because it was so cold outside and the car was frosted over (no choice here, my car is without heat for another couple of days…POO!). SO! I decided that I would go to my college's gym and do a treadmill HIIT session. I was sore from pump, but I could still do the heart-pounding, sweat-inducing run. It was nice!

I never let sore muscles get me down. Just switch it up! And, for morning workouts I lay everything out the night before. And, since it has gotten colder, I have been actually wearing some of my gym clothes to bed. Ha! Works like a charm. :)

Once my dad installs my new heater (probably early next week -yay!), I will be back to my 5:30am gym classes. I am so pumped!

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This happened to me today! I sooo didn't want to work out. "I've worked out everyday this week, so I don't really need to. And I'm going to run out of time…blah blah blah."

But I still worked out because I KNOW it's what's best for me!

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Lack of sleep prevents me from running. I mean who wants to leave their warm bed when it is 20 degrees outside. My motivation is my running route. I run by the airport, like planes fly 30 ft above my head, plus I watch the sun rise over the nation's capital, what's not to love? Plus it truly takes my breathbaway every morning.

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Morning cookies…. ahhhhh… memories! But no more.

Right now I don't have a number 4… I am super motivated (8 years off will do that to a person). And reading all these runner and mommy runner blogs, especially the ones from places like Minnesota and other cold places, puts a whole new 'wimp' spin on any complaints I might have! lol I am excited to run in the rain, in the cold, in the dark, bleeding, crampy, tired, pissed off … you name it!

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#4 But it's a blizzard and sub-zero temps, do I have to? Yes! Get out there! (Check in with me tomorrow and see if I follow my own advice).

Cookies, cake, cheesecake, pie. All are oh so good with my morning coffee!

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hungry runner girl,
VERY COOL posts. and guess what? i was your young women's basketball coach about three lifetimes ago. and you were so great!
i might need some tips on getting back in shape as it's been 5+ years since i've even slightly resembled a healthy human being. big time fat, super bad eating habits (can i blame higher education and a job?), and physically reluctant to get back into the grind of working out. cure me, fitness sensei.

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My #4. "My to do list is a mile long. I have laundry, and cleaning, and cooking, and blogging, and homework, and sleeping to do. I don't have time to work out." But I have to remember that I'll never regret working out, but I will most likely regret NOT working out. And if I am that busy and stressed out, even just doing 20-30 minutes of something, even just a couple times around my block will clear my head, kick in the endorphins, and help me de-stress!

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OK. I meant #2 earlier- how did I do that?

About #4…I tell myself that it's my only chance to work out, which is more or less true- it's my biggest window (early am). And i feel better the rest of the day having exercised!

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Oh man :( This hit home. I admit it. I was young and stupid, and lost a best friend over prioritizing a workout over spending time with her. I regret it to this day. She came to my house from an hour away, rang the doorbell, and I didn't answer it because I was exercising. She left knowing what I had done.

I did learn from that though. I will NEVER put a workout that high on my priority list ever again.

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4- I have been freezing all day and get home from work and it is cold outside (frosty ground) and I dont want to get colder. But what I do it wrap up with many layers and tell myself it will warm me up- normally after 15 minutes of running in the freezing cold and I get a little bit warm. Have never tried a cookie in my porridge but it sounds yum :)

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I'm currently embracing a couple months of "off-season" for the first time in two years and absolutely loving the unscheduled-ness of it but also starting to itch for a routine again. Because of that, I'm having a hard time remembering my good excuses :)

Wawa really is pretty fantastic. Next time you're in the Philly vicinity, it's worth a trip!

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That is the largest flippin donut. Did you eat that whole thing? Wow.

I take 1 day off a week, and sometimes two. But I feel so off on my rest days, and I wonder sometimes if I need the rest OR the sanity that comes with a workout more…

When I don't exercise … sick below the neck, activities important to the kids conflict.
When I do it anyway … arriving sweaty at school functions no longer bothers me, AF is the most important time to not miss a day, head colds I work through, but usually lighter.

Cookies for breakfast? All the time. But I hide this from my kids, so don't rat me out.

Last night's dinner … a huge bowl of spinach greens and spring salad mix, dried cranberry and apricot, blue cheese, a handful of almonds, and a grilled tender steak cut into thin strips and served over the salad. LOVE.

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OK, this is the post I needed to read. Thank you!!
My #4 would be "but it's sooo cold/snowing sideways/a freaking blizzard out there!" Um, that's what winter clothing is for, dear. :)
You mean cookies aren't universally accepted breakfast food?? ;)

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Right now in Kentucky we have two inches of ice, freezing rain, and its practically dark…hitting Pure Barre after work doesn't sound like a blast. But my friends are there…and I love the hot steam afterwards and my warm flannels.

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