Active Recovery

The concept of Active Recovery was introduced to me last year while training for my first road racing season. Active Recovery was to be used in lieu of total rest and be no more stressful than walking.  

As time passed I learned that rest and recovery are just as important, if not more important than hard efforts. Active Recovery became a vital component to maintaining balance in my training regimen. 

I was giving some thought to all of this last week...I took the notion of Active Recovery away from the context of training and looked at it in a new light, one which acknowledges the other parts of our being (spiritual, mental, emotional) and I started to realize that the concept of Active Recovery can be used in these spheres as well. 

Emotionally, I've been in AR mode for nearly two years...and I'm ok with that...there was a time when I gave 100% of myself and I'm sure that time will come again, just not now. Spiritually, I sat in AR mode for years, trying to figure it all out...and then I took a walk in the woods and everything made sense. Mentally, it is a challenge to put racing thoughts to rest, but I do my best to leave them behind while on the trail or on the road.

There are people who give 100% all of the time. There are people who don't listen to their bodies when they are hurting (in any of these spheres). Sooner or later it will catch up to them.