The Sport I Was BORN For!

Ittttts Friday! Just in case you forgot . Before getting to the most exciting story I have read in quite a while, I want to touch on something I have yet to blog about that seems to come up rather often.

Rest Days

Don’t roll your eyes, hear me out.

You can log on to ANY running website or given, “Healthy Living Blog” ANY day of ANY given week and read about:

A) Some study confirming the importance of taking rest days.

B) Some expert’s declaration of the importance of taking rest days based on their experience.

C) More commonly, a blogger’s personal epiphany where they realized the importance of taking rest days.

I am going to be frank.

1. I get a little sick of reading this information time and again, so I don’t. This is not cynical, read #2.

2. #1 is likely because I have no problem taking an Off Day. Yes, the lack of endorphins and movement make me feel a bit sluggish, but the extra 1 1/2 hour of sleep feels phenomenal!Due to the vast amount of information on recovery put out daily, clearly many people struggle with it, so it’s great these articles pop up so often for those people.

It is one thing to read about a study, or read someone’s opinion, but personally, when I see the evidence in real life, it feels tangible and it feels real.

I recently  had a health assessment which included full blood work for an insurance program. Thankfully, everything looked great. There was a test indicator which came back high. I am not in the medical field therefore, I am not going to name which, because I don’t want anyone jumping to conclusions.

After speaking with the nurse doing the assessment, she said it was likely elevated due to exercise.

According to her (and much of the internet), exercise causes microscopic tears to our muscles (the source of DOMS) which, rebuild with rest. In my case, it was nothing to worry about.

For those who may struggle with taking an off day each week, remember that our bodies literally need that time so they can come back stronger more resilient, and achieve our ultimate goal of…being more fit!

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The Sport I was Born For!

Can we talk about the greatest sport ever created and the one that I was clearly born for…

Photo Source: Runner’s World via New York Road Runner’s

The oh so brilliant and  hilarious Mark Remy of Runner’s World recently posted about the sport of Skyscraper Stairwell Racing, specifically, the Empire State Building Run-Up. In this race, runner’s race up all 86 floors of the Empire State Building!

Now, I talk all of the time about my love of the stair master, I mean I really, really love it! I also work on the eighth floor of my building. I take the stairs whenever I HAVE to go up or down because our elevators break daily and I have absolutely no desire to get stuck in those ancient guys. I also am just terrible at sitting all day and take, “stair climbing breaks” occasionally throughout the day to stretch my legs.

Now here is the REAL reason I was made for this sport:

The reason the gentleman’s arms are outstretched in the above photo, and the secret to his (the winner’s) success, is this, he literally, physically,  holds the competition back!

Jockeying for position, pushing people out of the way and climbing stairs, where do I sign up?!?!

I’m not even kidding, I seriously want to look into this!

How do you feel about rest days?

I love em!

Would you ever do a skyscraper race?

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