A Loooong Day

Last night I got out of work around 10:15pm.  I get home, get a snack, wash up, and get in bed.  I have to read at least a few pages before bed, but I hit the lights at 11:33 (yes, I'm that exact with my timing) and I'm off to dreamland.

I have to get up early for work in the morning, so I had set my alarm for 5:40am.  You know how your body sometimes knows that the alarm is set and it wakes up just a little earlier.  I love it.  I feel much better waking up naturally than waking up to an alarm.  Too bad it didn't work that way for me last night.

I wake up and think "Ahhhh...  I'm up before the alarm.  Score!"  I lay there a minute allowing my body to slowly get up.  I grab my wrist, hit the backlight button on my watch... 

00:37

(yes, I keep my watch on military time)

What?  It's not even 1:00am yet?  I pulled the covers back up and went right back to bed.  The next time I woke up I kept thinking "Wow, that was weird.  Why would I wake up so soon after going to bed?!  Oh-well.  Time to get up."  I grab my wrist and...

01:40

Who's playing these evil tricks on me?!?  It continued in that fashion at least a couple more times before I remember waking up to my alarm.  Yup, my body didn't even have the decency to wake up just before the alarm.  Instead, let's wake up multiple times throughout the night and THEN let the alarm wake me up.  Great idea body.  If I wasn't attached to you, I'd fire your ass!; kick you out on the street where you belong. 

Aaaaaanyways, at 5:40am, I get up - I've had maybe 5.5 hours of broken sleep - and get breakfast.  I grab my stuff and I'm out the door; work by 7:00am.  Now, being a group fitness instructor, I don't have the luxury of being able to hide in a cubicle or at a desk for the first few hours of the day while my body slowly adjusts.  People are there at 7:00am sharp looking for an awesome, upbeat class to get them going!  "Good for you..." is all I can mentally respond. 

Now, a little side story...  My aunt is getting married this weekend.  She lives in North Carolina and I'll be flying down to be there Friday through Sunday.  With that said, I had to rearrange a bit of my training schedule to fit into a shortened available. week.  Therefore, I had previously decided - well before the broken sleep - to put my Wednesday run on Tuesday and double up the swim and run.  You can make your own call as to what you think I thought of that after work today. 

After work from 7am to 2pm and delaying as long as possible while I wrote out my upcoming workout, I put on my gym clothes and did a legs strength training workout.  I would detail it here, but my bed is looking quite inviting and I know I'll write it out for the Weekly Training Review anyways.  I'm sure you can wait.

Then I jump into my running clothes and head out for a 4.18 mile run with some good hills.  That first mile felt like I was wearing one of those lead lined chest protectors you wear when getting an X-ray that was made into pants.  My GOD my legs felt heavy!  Eventually they lightened up and I got down to a comfortable 7:10 pace.  It was a good thing I ran around work though.  If I had come home first I would have never made it back out. 

Then on the way home, I stopped at the other gym and hopped in the pool for a 2000 yard swim.  Swimming felt great since I had only worked my legs so far, but I could feel the energy level dropping fast. 

Things I've learned today...

1. Triple workouts after an early shift don't go over well and need to be better planned.
2. Running near work instead of going home first is a great idea!
3. Swimming always feels like the end of the day's workouts unless it's early on the weekend.
4. Always have an extra meal on hand.

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Questions

1.  Have you ever condensed your week's training?  Good idea, bad idea, indifferent?
I feel so tired today which is great because I worked hard, but hopefully I won't be mentally out of it for tomorrow's bike ride.

2.   Do you wake up early when you have to set an alarm?  Do you normally use an alarm?
I use an alarm twice a week for early shifts, but otherwise I never do.  Therefore, when I do set my alarm, my body/mind is primed to wake up quick thinking I've overslept.  

3.  Who would vote 'yes' for instituting nap time back into our daily work schedule?
I certainly would!


Swim fast.  Bike smart.  Run hard.