The Trouble with Rest Days

“Idle feet are the devil's playground” – Anonymous

Baseboards – specifically the cleaning of baseboards; that is my motivation.  I keep lists of things to do so I don’t find myself looking for something to do and staring at the molding and thinking “I could clean the baseboards.”  My Puritan ethic compels me to be ever active.  It is ingrained in me.   The trouble is that when I see what other things I could be doing with my time, and I do a value comparison, I start to wonder if my efforts would be better used elsewhere. 

Even rest has to have a purpose.  Since the beginning of this year I have rested 10 days.  I know this because Tyler knows this and also because these are the kinds of statistics I track.  Yesterday I found myself staring at those baseboards.  Then I remembered there were some 1 x 4s and other scrap wood in the garage and I’ve been meaning to play with that new pocket jointer I got for my birthday.  So, I built myself an end table. 

The reason I chose to rest was because today I ran the Highlands Ranch Half Marathon.  The race started in Daniels Park and ended at the Highlands Ranch Town Center.  The course followed a route along which I imagined cows were herded when the town was first settled about 140 years ago.  It was a fine late summer morning; a scattering of clouds puffed along by a soft, five mph breeze out of the east.  The temperature was about 55 degrees a gun time. 

There were a few familiar faces in the race.  Fellow Runners Roost teammate Matt Peharda was the overall winner.  Deb Cunningham won the female 50 – 59 age group.  Dave Pierce finished second in the male 50 – 59 age group.  It was a 1 – 2 finish for Phidippides Track Club as I was fortunate to finish first in the 50 – 59 age group (4^th overall).

As I waited for the start, noticing many runners with compression socks and Garmins, I overheard two runners discussing a training method one of them had read about.  My mind drifted through their conversation, but I heard the words research, university, data and results.  I thought about what they were saying, not about the new training method, but about the professors who spent the time studying it. 

We live in an era of great discoveries in athletic performance.  Through scientific research and actual competition, we’ve seen improvements in speed, endurance and stamina.  Our ignorance shrinks by fractions.  What we know is dwarfed by what we don’t know about our bodies’ capabilities.  Are these results asymptotic or limitless?