There are days when you are tired from work. But it is a psychological fatigue, convincing you that you are tired rather than really being tired, from a physical point of view at least. In those cases it happens that the most sensible response is to run, because the unexpressed demand of your mind is to go for a run, or to do something else, possibly outdoors.
There are others when your body is really drained and fatigued and you drag yourself around the house seeking comfort on the couch or in bed. Excluding cases in which one is debilitated by illness or overtraining-that is, cases in which it is legitimate and normal to be tired and have no desire to move-there is another type of fatigue that is more difficult to interpret. It is more insidious and is often confused with the natural, physiological one. I call it over-rest fatigue.
How to flush him out
Like many, I am also a victim of it at times. It often happens on weekends. You sleep more, do nothing in particular, and are generally relaxed. You juggle a book and a movie and a certain subtle and constant sense of general dissatisfaction. Eventually you convince yourself that you are tired, damn tired, hopelessly tired. You get around to reading something and your eyes glaze over, you look at what movies are on Netflix and they all seem equally interesting and equally uninteresting (this is a curious effect of oversupply: you have so many things to choose from that, suddenly, you don’t care about any of them anymore).
Then a thought peeps out, “What if I went out for a run?” Suddenly the mind begins to converse with itself in one of those magnificent, tight dialogues that are all between your two ears:
“What do you say, a jog?”
“Are you crazy? Can’t you see that you are a rag?”
“Yes, however, I’m fed up with being indoors, I’m craving air, feeling tired legs.”
“But you’re all tired, don’t you feel? You’re a wreck, I tell you. You need to rest.”
“I’ve slept 329 hours in two days, I can’t take it anymore, if I haven’t recovered by sleeping this much, it means I’ve crossed the threshold of recovery. I’ve recovered so well that I’m even tired of recovering.”
“Crazy! You’re overworked, you’re getting on the right track to make a hit, I told you, you’re also of a certain age.”
“Oh will you stop jinxing it? I’m rested, even too much. And I feel like going out.”
“Whatever, I told you.”
“Are you angry?”
“…”
“Okay, I’m going out.”
“Stro…”
“What?”
“Nothing Nothing”
This kind of output, needless to say, has never disappointed me. As soon as the legs start to turn the physical and mental fatigue disappears. It is replaced by the pure joy of feeling the fresh air in your face and your muscles getting back to work. Because there is also the kind of excessive rest that fatigues you more than makes you recover. That is why it is so important to follow the recovery times that the coach indicates to you and not to run on it and do your own thing: it is in those brackets of calm and rest that you find the energy to face the rest of preparation in the best possible way.
But when you know you’ve had enough rest and can interpret your body’s signals correctly, you can also understand that it’s not really physical or even mental fatigue: it’s over-rest. Finding out when you are in this condition is easy:
- If you have had enough sleep
- If you are not recovering from illness
- If you are not fresh from a week of grueling workouts.
- If you have been running or swimming relatively little
- If you have been feeding yourself well and consistently.
- If you are in a period of calm
then you have virtually no reason to be tired or not so tired that you don’t go out for a run. Excluding other more serious and hidden reasons that may give you general exhaustion or weakening, when you fall victim to over-rest there is only one solution: tire yourself out in a genuine and effective way by going out for a run. The result is guaranteed and will be especially beautiful.
(Photo by Bruno Aguirre on Unsplash)