Recovery 101: What Rest Days Really Do

vkuhn0692
Dec 3, 2025
2 min read

Updated: Dec 10, 2025

How I learned to stop skipping rest days — and actually got faster.

If you’re anything like me, rest days used to feel… uncomfortable. Almost guilty. I’d look at my training plan, see a blank square, and immediately think: Maybe I should just squeeze in an easy run or I can at least hop on the bike for 30 minutes.

For a long time, I equated training harder with racing faster — and I learned the hard way that it doesn’t work like that. After dealing with some burnout earlier this year, I finally started to understand…

👉Recovery isn’t the break from training — it is training.

Here’s what rest days really do for your performance and how I’ve built smarter recovery into my routine.

🧩 Why Recovery = Performance

1. Your body rebuilds on rest days

When you train — swim intervals, long rides, tempo runs — you’re actually breaking down muscle fibers.

Adaptation happens after, when your body repairs and strengthens those muscles.

Without rest? You just accumulate fatigue faster than your body can adapt.

2. Rest protects your long-term consistency

Anyone can push for 3–4 hard weeks.

A triathlete improves over 6–12months.

Rest days reduce:

Chronic soreness
Overuse injuries
Hormonal stress
Mental burnout

Consistency > intensity. Rest allows you to come back and perform better and stronger.

3. Rest keeps your motivation high

Ever notice how a planned rest day makes you excited to train again the next morning?

That’s your nervous system resetting.

When I skip rest days, training can start to feel like a chore.

🫠 My Personal Lessons From Overtraining

I used to fear rest days because I didn’t want to “lose fitness.” Here’s what I learned over years of racing:

Lesson 1: You can’t out-train exhaustion

The season where I pushed “one more workout” constantly? I saw slower paces, heavier legs, and zero mental fire.

Lesson 2: Feeling tired isn’t a badge of honor

There’s a difference between fatigue and exhaustion…It’s a sign your body is asking for recovery — loudly.

Lesson 3: Forced rest is way worse than planned rest

Injuries = months lost. Rest days = 24 hours gained.

🛠️ How to Recover Like a Triathlete

Prioritize stretching, foam rolling & mobility
Stay consistent with good nutritions, stick with things that you know make you feel good
Remember that sleep is the ultimate performance enhancer
Know the difference between needing an active rest day vs a full rest day