Elevated Heart Rate and Rest Days

Your training plan or your habits tell you to go out for a workout, but something is off.  Just laying in bed before even sitting up, your heart seems like it's racing just a little bit.  Or maybe your heart rate feels elevated when you move around.  Walking down a hallway and putting on your workout clothes gets your pulse beating up in your throat?  Hmm...  What's going on?

Most likely, you spend a long time going at a strong effort yesterday.  Even though you slept well, ate well, did everything right, your aerobic system is still trying to catch up.  If you have an elevated heart rate when just casually moving around, you need another day off.  Working out today will not help you get faster.  In fact, it will make you slower.

Here is where we have the real problem.  Your body is telling you one thing, but your schedule and wants are telling you another.  What do you do?  Here is your answer - The body is reality.  It is what is going on.  Everything else is just a plan or a want.  Success comes with paying attention to reality and reacting accordingly. If reality is telling you to take a day off, ignore the lure of wanting to be more than what you really are.  You will get there, but only by paying attention to what is going on right here, right now.