Rest Days Stink. Literally.

A paradox: On days when I run, shower, then ride my bike to work, I smell fine. On days when I don't run and then ride my bike to work I'm smelly. I mean it's not nauseating, but I do have to spend a few awkward minutes taking an armpit sink bath.

While there is probably a reasonable physiological explanation for my odor paradox, I'm not going to go the science route. It's just not my style. Instead, I see my stinkiness on rest days as a metaphor for the rest days themselves.

Ever since I started running, I've hated rest days. There were periods of time when I would run twice a day and not take a single day off. I thought I'd get out of shape or, worse, fat. But it's hard to ignore chronic pain kicking you in the ass (or legs). "Oh really? Every article on training I've ever read was right? So the shin splints and exhaustion are from over training?" Duh. I knew I had to force myself not to run or cross-train to save my own physical health, especially when I began training for marathons. Trying to run through pain for six miles is do-able; trying to do it for 26 is just stupid.

It's been a few years now, and I still hate rest days just as much as I always have. But I write them into my workout every week because experience has taught me what the experts already knew. Rest is necessary and beneficial. My head knows that these day-long breaks will allow my muscles to recover and come back stronger even if my body doesn't.

Bottom line: rest days may always be stinky, but it's a stinkiness I can handle.