my extra rest day

I took today off. It wasnt a rest day and I wasnt incapacitated in such a way that I was unable to workout. No, I decided under my own volition, to not put on workout clothes, go to the gym and partake in a WOD. The timeline is like this:

Yesterday was a rest day... a day when I can freely not workout and know no guilt or fear that I may be lose out on valuable training time. To some, the rest day may seem like common sense while to me it is new revelation of glorious blessing. I had always adhered to the school of thought that resting was week & lazy. Wow, I would love to give a little speech to (or punch to the face) whoever put that idea in my head!!! So, yesterday, when I woke up with cold like symptoms I figured it was the perfect day for me to be under the weather. Unfortunately, my mind didn't tell my body about the timeline I had created for the cold!! As the day progressed, I began to feel worse and though I had several items left on my to do list I decided to head home and to bed. Of course, I was thinking about todays WOD and how I was determined to make it. It was a Team Capstone WOD, specially designed for those of us who want to compete....I HAD to be there!!! But at midnight, not able to sleep,I gave in and made the decision to not workout. Great! Decision made....not so fast, Katie, do you really know yourself at all???

After sleeping in till 8am I got up, feeling better than when I finally fell asleep, and went to work. I found a homeopathic something or other in the "natural" section of Market Street and I began taking it. I felt better, really I did. I worked until 3:30 when I had to pick Shane up at the auto shop because he didnt have a car and thats when it struck me..."I can go do a WOD!!" And yes, I was feeling much better than yesterday and even earlier today and could have completed the WOD. But as I bounced my working out idea off the hubby & began to really assess how I was feeling I began to get the nagging sense that it wasnt such a good idea to go to the gym. And then, like a revelation from God, I said to myself "this is not a sprint, it is a marathon". Honestly, that analogy has never been part of my go to analogy library. I generally thought it was stupid. But in that moment, I knew it wasn't a good idea to workout today. I had been listening to my mind all day, telling me that I was losing ground and being lazy by not working out rather than listening to my extremely soar throat, my nose that cannot be breathed through or the throbbing headache which was yelling "REST!!!!" And in a moment of logic (there are very few, so prepare yourself) I made the decision not react out of my fear but to take an extra day of rest for my body to heal. I would do it for my muscles...why not for my immune system? So I did. I took a shower, got ready and went out for a nice dinner with Shane. And Yes, I have all night fought the nagging voice in my head saying "you could have done that WOD"..."you should have done that WOD"... and in response I remind myself that taking an extra "rest day" for my body to fully recover whether muscularly or from illness is so much more beneficial than a half ass effort on the WOD and a crappy time on the board just because I was too afraid and full of pride to rest when my body was telling me to. Now, as I prepare to go to sleep, hoping that I will get to workout in the morning I am resolving to make a marathon decision when the alarm goes off at 5:15am. Wish me luck!!!