Rest hard today to play hard tomorrow!

In a society that’s go, go, go all the time, it’s hard to prioritize rest, relaxation, and recovery.

Summertime is often such a busy time of year, filled with patio dates, music shows, hikes, trips, and all the things. I was warned it’s especially frenzied in Portland. There’s an energy in the air once the sunshine appears after months of rain and gloom. Not to mention we have daylight here from 5 in the morning until nearly 11 at night.

But there’s a theme in the air right now about slowing down. About resting. About recovery. Seriously, it’s everywhere.

Fitcation

If you’re like me, you have to sweat a little bit in order to really relax. So a fitcation is the perfect balance. Our upcoming EMPOWER Race Series in the Bay Area and EMPOWER retreat in Vancouver are the perfect opportunities to sweat, relax, and have a blast with a great group of people.

Jamie, Nicci, and I had so much fun on our road trip to Sonoma in March, and I can’t wait for all the fun adventures next week to SF! We listen to music, talk about crazy things, eat amazing snacks, stop for run breaks. It’s a great pre-cation to the retreat, an opportunity to relax a little before we have to turn it on.

Rest days

There are so many fun things to do in the summer! Hiking, running, biking, swimming, surfing, paddling… Most races happen this time of year, which means a lot of us are training and training hard. I love the energy that brings, but then there’s also the risk of overtraining. Alyse and Elle remind us to slow down and NOT overtrain! Alyse was so excited to be running, that she went a little too hard, to fast and injured herself. Now that she’s back to pain-free running, she’s taking it slow and easy to keep it that way.

Mix it up, stretch it out

We need to make sure we’re taking true rest days, but also cross-training, finding the right workout routine for you, stretching, and taking care of ourselves physically.

I’m trying to make more of an effort to roll out my sore muscles. In class this morning I got stuck lying on my Plexus Wheel (aka I didn’t want to get off of it). And I’m SO excited that we now have The Beam in the studio!

After flying and traveling for weeks, I have so much neck and shoulder tension that lying and stretching on The Beam is going to just melt away for me. Brittney has some great ideas on unwinding after evening workouts, including gentle stretching using The Beam and a hot shower. So relaxing!

Get 20% off your own Beam with the code flex&flow.

Todd Durkin said so

When we were going hard at BlogFest in Vegas this past weekend, Todd Durkin gave our keynote speech. (He also won the IDEA World Jack LaLanne Award this year! Onesie goals, for sure.) A theme of his speech was the importance of recovery. Physically and mentally. If the guy who sends his clients videos of his workout at 5am to challenge them to get up and sweat tells you to unplug to get a break from life and take rest days to let your body recover, then you know how important it is!

Life is a series of sprints

This is a topic that my love and lady boss inspiration Jamie is dwelling on right now as well. I know it’s a real thing if she’s feeling the “slow down” vibe too. In that same keynote speech at BlogFest, Todd says that “life is not a marathon, it’s a sprint. It’s a series of sprints.” In order to get back from one sprint to sprint harder the next time, you have to recover hard between rounds.

Turn inward

Last month while I was home was a time of quiet. A time of turning inward. Of recovery from months of intense emotion and stress. I still got my sweat on, but largely felt low energy, didn’t talk much, and just wanted lots of quiet time. Without intentionally turning everything off, I naturally just slowed down.

Fuel up

I always need a good reminder to fuel up to hit it hard. Sometimes I get so busy running around that I either eat whatever is convenient or don’t eat. This week we’re getting nutritious and delicious with the #EBKitchenChallenge! We’re pairing Eggland’s Best eggs with some fresh summertime veggies, and featuring them in our own unique way. Join in for all the yummy inspo and you could win some awesome prizes! 

Disclaimer: I work with the aforementioned brands in affiliation with my role at Sweat Pink. All opinions are my own. I truly appreciate all of the brands that support the Sweat Pink community.