Chapter 12: Rest is Important
For those keeping up with the foil journal, I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates this year. There's been a lot going on!
First and foremost, I continue to be committed to making real, genuine content written by me (Alex). There's so much AI slop out there these days and while it's an amazing powerful tool, I'm going to keep my journal 100% human-made. Honestly weird writing that down. Human-made. Anyways, lets get into it!
These past few months have been pretty eventful. After getting back from an incredible two week tow foil trip in Peru, I came home to my local break on absolute fire - for two months straight. Swell after swell after swell.
At first, I couldn't get enough. I would prone foil until my arms gave out - and then hop on my tow boogie until my legs gave out. The next day I would rotate SUP foiling in just to work more muscles. I was loving it.
But as crazy as it may sound, I quickly found myself getting 'foiled out' from 2-3 sessions per day, everyday, for weeks on end. To mix things up, I started traditional surfing again - and to my surprise - felt like I was surfing better than I had years before prior to foiling. For those who haven't picked up a traditional surfboard in a while, I highly recommend giving it a shot again when the conditions and crowd are right.
HOWEVER, one thing I was avoiding at all costs during this epic period of swell was a rest day. I had foiled 60+ days in a row and refused to let my streak end. Even when I woke up exhausted, sore, and stiff with zero desire to foil I still went out and pushed it. And then one day while surfing and tumbling in a set wave - I felt my board pull hard to my right as my body spun left, tweaking my knee on the inside (MCL). My initial thought was "woah - that was a close call". But I shook it off and kept surfing.
That week, I started taking Advil every morning to keep my knees inflammation down but kept foiling and surfing every day. I could see a tiny swollen bump in my MCL but I figured it was minor enough to keep foiling. And I honestly didn't feel like the injury was holding me back so I just kept at it - turns out I was foiling with a grade 1 MCL strain...
A week after pushing it way too hard while injured, I woke up with screaming hot sharp pain in my right knee. And my streak sadly came to an end. What may have only been a minor injury had I rested quickly turned into a 6-week nightmare in the middle of the best summer of surf I had experienced.
Lesson Learned - Rest is important.
I just turned 38 a few weeks ago and am quickly learning the importance of rest days. Being sidelined for 6 weeks in the middle of the summer while everyone around you is raving about the best waves of the day is brutal. But on the bright side, it makes you appreciate having a healthy body more once you recover.
What surprised me the most recently is rest days aren't just about letting your body physically recover. Your mind recovers too. Lately I have been forcing myself to take 1-2 days off after a week of intense surfing/foiling. And on those rest days I like to review videos of myself or get inspired of others. Take those days to imagine new style, flow, or techniques you'd like to try the next day you are out on the water. Otherwise, you may fall into the same trap I was in earlier this summer where you are just out there foiling mindlessly going through the motions.
Anyways, have to get to work now - but if you haven't taken a rest day in a while - this is your reminder!
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