It's just another Manic Monday.
Ok, not really. It was actually a pretty typical Monday. I just heard a cool acoustic cover of that awesome 80's hit on my way home from work just now, and it's Monday, so ya know...
The weather, however, is pretty manic today.
Let me double check... hmm, yep! It's April. April 18. And there's snow on my lawn today...
Totally bogus, if you ask me. I mean, I know I live in Michigan and all, where the weather changes faster than you can say the word changes. A week ago, I was sweating my shins off, and today we reached a magical high of 39. Eww.
More snow, just so you can understand the heart of my (renewed) seasonal depression:
And just when they were starting to come back to life, too. Sigh.
On the bright side of today, I spent most of my Monday relentlessly following Twitter updates on the Boston Marathon.
I drooled over overall winner Geoffrey Mutai's record-breaking 2:03:02 finish (and you can read about how that time probably won't be recognized here!)
I pulled for American Ryan Hall who led the men's elite pack for awhile before eventually finishing in fourth with a 2:04:58. Later, Hall said he felt "relaxed" during the race. Um, relaxed? Holy. Moly.
I cheered the most for Kara Goucher (one of my Idols *swoon*), who was running Boston a mere seven months after giving birth. Post-partum Kara still ran an amazing 2:24:52 to finish fifth in the women's division. Love her.
While I've always said that Boston is just a pipe dream for my average feet, seeing all of those updates left me feeling very inspired and wanting to join, one day, in that historic race. We'll see.
We can dream, can't we?
And speaking of dreams, it's time to tell me how yours are going. Today is April Miles Bring May Smile Monday! Need to catch up? Read these:
April Miles Part One
April Miles Part Two
In this series of posts, you tell me about a goal you have this spring, and what you're doing to reach it! Simple.
This Week's Focus: Rest Days
Rest days are an important part of any training program, whether you're running, walking, cycling, swimming, yoga-ing, wrestling, log-rolling, etc...
Your body needs a chance to recover now and again, so even if you feel great, taking a day or two or three off per week will actually help you perform stronger and better when head back to the road, gym, pool, studio, etc... How many rest days you take is up to you. You know your body best.
Since Kevin and I are hitting the final 3 weeks of our training for the Kalamazoo Marathon, rest days are becoming very important. The last thing we want is to become injured at this point, so trust me, we take advantage of our rest days.
You don't have to be completely sedentary on rest days, though. I find it does my body good to get a little movement in. Taking a brief walk, stretching, or getting in a nice foam rolling session always makes my body happy.
In addition to foam rolling today, I also found some happiness from these friends:
Peanut Butter Puffins cereal and Duchess Grey Tea from TJ's. LOVE both of these products. My head fills with rainbows and puppies when I get to indulge in them. If you like regular Earl Grey tea, you'll adore the Duchess tea. It's a Sex and the City-fied version of Earl - more lemons, more bergamot, more sass.
Even the package is gorgeous, eh? Like spring in a bag.
So Tell Me: How do you spend your rest days? What do you do to recover in between training days? And how is your training going this spring?
Lastly, do you have any "treat" products you like to indulge in after a long workout or on a rest day?