Listening to Your Body Is Important!

Today I’m feeling sick. I’ve got a sore, itchy throat and body aches. It’s nothing worth skipping work for, but enough to make me skip my run for the extra rest. Why am I sick if I’ve been eating my fruits n veggies? A quick look at my training log that I keep on Dailymile.com shows that I’ve taken one rest day in the past 12 days. I haven’t allowed my body to fully recover from bouts of exercise. I’ve been overtraining – getting too much exercise. My running pace has been great, my legs have mostly felt great and my enthusiasm has been great – but my calf cramped up at the end of Wednesday’s run, Wednesday night I had difficulty falling asleep and now I’m feeling run down and a bit under the weather.

It’s really important to listen to your body, to rest when your body needs it and to recognize your overtraining symptoms. Here’s a list of some typical symptoms:

• Feeling washed-out, tired, drained, lack of energy
• Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
• Pain in muscles and joints
• Sudden drop in performance
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
• Decrease in training capacity / intensity
• Moodiness and irritability
• Depression
• Loss of enthusiasm for the sport
• Decreased appetite
• Increased incidence of injuries.
• A compulsive need to exercise

My typical symptoms are anxiety, difficulty sleeping, irritability, muscle cramps and illness. So today I’m taking a day off, and I’m treating myself to a relaxing lunch with my colleague’s who don’t exercise at lunch. I may even go to bed early tonight.

Taking rest days when you need them are important! If you don’t like resting, you can always take an “active rest” day. Instead of your usual exercise do a much lower intensity activity during that same time period (go for a walk, spend some time stretching on a mat at the gym etc…). By paying attention to your body you’ll be able prevent the physical and emotional burnout that leads to abandoning your exercise routines.

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• Health Tip: Dealing with Muscle Cramps (nlm.nih.gov)

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Today I'm feeling sick. I've got a sore, itchy throat and body aches. It’s nothing worth skipping work for, but enough to make me skip my run for the extra rest. Why am I sick if I've been eating my fruits n veggies? A quick look at my training log that I keep on Dailymile.com shows that I’ve taken one rest day in the past 12 days. I haven’t allowed my body to" data-image="http://fitnesscheerleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/overtraining-95x120.jpg" data-site="Fitness Cheerleader">