I am in Control

I’ve been wearing an Ōura ring to track my sleep, activity, and readiness for well over a year now. I get meaningful data from it: it tells me how recovered I am and helps me to plan my training so I can prevent injury. But recently its been creating some unwanted side effects. If I don’t get a good sleep score, I panic and wonder what I did wrong. If my readiness is down, I do my best to “take it easy” and not push myself. I overassess over calories burned and miles walked. The whole thing was stressing me out.

So I took it off.

Sure, I’ll be missing some valuable data about how my body is performing. But guess what? I didn’t want to be a slave to this health-tracking device anymore. I’m in control of my body. I’m in control of how I spend my days and the life I want to create. My mind is more powerful than a readiness score. Whether I’m feeling good or not, I’m going to start pushing myself again, like the good-old days.

The ring taught me a lot about myself, like how I need to be in bed for 9 hours and how at least one day of week should be taken off. But I know this stuff now. It’s time to bring it into practice. I am in control, and nobody can take this control away from me.

Are you in control? Or are you a slave to your ring, or your watch, or your phone, or your grades, or your scale? Are you a number or a human being with a mind—the most powerful tool on earth?

The good news? You decide your fate. You just have to take responsibility for the outcome.

Rest Day

If I’ve learned one thing from my Ōura ring it’s at least one day off a week is absolutely essential for better recovery and accelerated performance. It’a simple but hard to practice. For accomplished and improving athletes, a day off may seem like a step in the wrong direction. Let this be a warning to you: it’s only going to benefit you in the long run.

The track season just started and my running is ramping up now to about 6x a week. I’m ready for it. I need to make sure my body stays healthy and ready for workouts, too. So rest days are important. Yoga days are important. Stretching before bed is important. Hydration is important. Staying awake form alcohol is important. Whole foods and less gluten and sugar are important. Balance is important.

This is my final circuit of the Division 1 athlete life. I’m going to do my absolute best to squeeze everything I have out of it. That includes rest days, like today.

Keep resting to keep getting better.