Some Days Are Not Meant For Working - A Ramble

I like to think that I can plug through a decent amount of unpleasantness; sleep deprivation is not one of those things. I need 7 - 8 hours of sleep a night. I can function on 6. When the training miles go up, naps are the best. Less than 6 hours and I am a goofy, nonfunctional zombie as I am today. I have been very seriously trying to be productive at work, but I cannot focus on anything so here I sit at my computer screen trying to pass the hours until I can call it a day. I suppose I could beat myself up about it it, force myself to go work out and be miserable in my exhausted state, but I surprised (or attempted to surprise, he always figures my surprises out) my husband with tickets to the Bob Dylan concert last night so we didn't get to bed until after midnight. Well worth surprising my wonderful hubby, but I'm pretty worthless today. We're going to a Team Z info session tonight (which I'm really excited about!) and I plan to hit our new, super comfy bed with new cute sheets as soon as possible when we get home.

So this rambling is about the importance of sleep and this blog is supposed to focus on triathlon stuff. I can't work out when I'm tired, bottom line. Didn't sleep week, OK, fine, I can push through, but under a certain number of hours and there just isn't much of a point for me. We're a week out from the Storm the Fort Oly in Tennessee though and can't have too many more sleep deprived nights. I need to think that through though because I am kinda sorta the host of a bachelorette party on Saturday night and am supposed to get my last long bike right in before taper on Sunday morning. Hmmmm. Balancing life and training can be tough. 'A' race was the DC Tri though so this one is mainly to get another race under our belts in preparation for a 70.3 next season!

Enough nonsense. More coherent (no promises) thoughts next time.

Training = Hard = Happiness

Training makes me happy. I started to think about why in particular that is because its not like I'm eager to get a hard work out in each and every day. Most days I have to drag myself out of bed at 5 AM and/or down to the gym at lunch time (escape from my desk or whither away at my desk makes that choice a little easier), but work outs make me happy! In my pondering, I think that part of it can be attributed to a sense of accomplishment. A good solid training session is exhausting and sometimes painful, but the sense of accomplishment afterward? Priceless. I noticed that with each new distance tackled, I want to go further. Earlier this season I was saying, "I don't think I can run the Army 10-Miler" that my husband and I, and a few of our friends signed up for. Then I ran 9.25 miles as part of my triathlon training last week; I negatived splitted the run and I could have gone farther (at least I could have if I didn't run those last few miles so quickly). Training plans force you to make progress and that progress feels so dang good! It's sometimes hard to explain to those not addicted to exercise/training, but a fellow triathlete (albeit an Ironman) that I met in the pool the other day summed it up nicely: "Traithlons are like crack." There are worse things to be addicted to, right? I must admit that I'm kinda antsy and want to get going on next season's 70.3 training NOW. I'll have to remind myself of that next year, but at the moment I'm really looking forward to getting some serious miles in.

Just some Tuesday afternoon thoughts after a crappy 5:30 AM bike ride this morning (biking in the dark is NOT my thing) and some strength training and pilates at lunch. Feel the burn....

I Ran 9.25 Miles!

... without even stopping to walk. AND I ran my 8th mile in 8:36. Wooohooooo! Mile 5 was pretty slow at 10:31, but for the 9.25 miles I managed a sub 10 min mile average. How exciting (for this person who has never really been a runner)! Now I have needed to eat two breakfasts and was hungry for lunch right after my midday yoga class as well. The energy is lacking a bit so I have a feel that's partly driving the intense hunger-- body get energy from food since I can't nap at work.

I've been kinda bummed about training since we've been inconsistent with all we've had going on, but this is our peak week before the Storm the Fort race and so far things are going well. I think we might be overcommitting ourselves a bit - hosting a bridal shower at our house (which we moved into less than a month ago) in a week, then Storm the Fort, then off to Bali. Not that I can complain about any of these events- they're all awesome!- but there is a lot going on. And although training for these races is a big time committment, its also what keeps me sane. I am so much happier (and pleasan to be around) when I get my work outs in and tend to get very (very) cranky when I do not. Still trying to take to heart that whole 'go with the flow' thing, but that little piece of paper (aka my training plan) with my daily work outs on it is way too important to me. I hate putting a red "X" through a work out (meaning I didn't complete it) even though my husband and I made our plans knowing we'd have to skip 1-3 of the short duration work outs per week. Even though I know that, I still don't like skipping. I'm working on it.