Rest Period

Just like everyone else, I know we need to schedule times of the year where we "rest". This means no hard workouts, no long workouts and lots of extra sleep. Well, I've got the "no hard workouts" down. No problem. I'm actually enjoying my running pace right now. It makes me wonder how the heck I went so fast for 26 miles! At this point, I sometimes feel like I'm struggling at a 10:30 min/mile pace. So, I drop back and go even slower.

No long workouts? No problem, nothing over 60 minutes. (OK, so my swimming takes 75, but we do stop and talk between sets). Most of my workout sessions at this point are 30-40 minutes.

So now for the extra sleep part. Should be easy, right? Um, no. I'm not tired. This past week, I have not been working, so I've had the last 4 days to rest, relax, do whatever I want? But I've noticed that I've been more productive (as far as household chores go) than I have in the last 6 months. I can't sit still. How do you tell someone to rest when they can't? I've noticed I can't even sit through a 30 minute television show without getting up at least 3-4 different times to....do the dishes...start a load of laundry...check my email one more time, or whatever comes to my mind.

And you'd think that I could plan to sleep in and hold to that plan. Today, I actually planned out my day and wrote "SLEEP IN" at the top of the schedule so I didn't have to feel guilty that I wasn't actually doing anything for the first couple hours of what would normally be a work day for me. Didn't work. Couldn't sleep. Must get up and do stuff. But then once I'm awake and start doing the things I thought were so important, I realize they probably could have waited a few more hours while I slept in. Why is that? Stress? From what? Well, other than the fact that I need to find a job!? The holidays are over. No stress there. I don't get it.

So now I'm looking for ways to help force me to relax. I started drinking tea. Ick. Supposed to be calming, right? Just doesn't taste good to me. I don't find myself particularly relaxed after drinking a cup of tea. Reading. Great, most of my reading material centers around what good workouts to do to work on my weaknesses. Just makes me more motivated. Maybe I need to try and read a good, fiction book. Yeah, OK, I'd need some suggestions on that. Last fiction book I read was Marley and Me last year. Finished it in less than a week...hey, it's easy reading!

I'd like to know if anyone can give me some good ideas to force me to "rest". I'm afraid that by the time I figure out what works for me, it will be time for me to start building my base all over again....