Archive for June 30th, 2010

We finally got a break today: 67 degrees with low humidity and a breeze.  I mentioned to my 3:20 forum friends how funny it is that in the Spring, I’d have thought 67 was uncomfortably hot.  Now, it’s heavenly.

So…yesterday I did 8 w/hill sprints (been a long time since I did those) and today was 10mi with six 2-min fartleks.  It took me a couple to get to speed and I avoided looking at the Garmin till after each one was over, so paces are goofy: 6:58, 6:55, then 6:35, 6:32, 6:40, 6:37.  Recoveries went from 1:28 to 1:47 (one longer when I stopped to get a drink).  All in all, a fair 12 minutes of speed, not fabulous but good for getting back into it.

More Sleepy Thoughts
Since that last post about sleep, I’ve been reading more on the subject; its recovery properties, athletic articles, regular people articles and I am kicking myself in the head for not paying attention sooner.  This small thing is no small thing.  Though I can’t imagine why I ever thought it was.

Going from 6 to 8 hours is huge!  When you do the math, two hours comes out to 8% of a day, that’s a substantial chunk of life.  Now, I can see that time being more valuable spent awake than asleep if I had kids or a big fancy job, but I don’t.  I’ve been spending that 8% putzing around! What. A. Waste.

Of course, it’s very much a work in progress – adding 2 hours is a lot so I’m currently in the lie-there-forever-before-falling-asleep stage.  Last night, this was exacerbated by an hour of helicopters buzzing around and then some sporadic waking, so I still only got 6-6½ hours.  But I’m ok with this, life changes take time and that is something I’ve got plenty of.

Oh, and here’s an unexpected bonus about going to bed early: I’m eating less.   Getting my ass on the bed by 9pm for 10pm shut-eye means 3 less hours to snack.  And since I’m on this scarily healthful kick of fruit salad for dessert and evening snack, I have a feeling optimum race weight is going to find itself with little or no input from me.  Add to this: improved recovery, alertness, motivation and mood elevation…what’s not to love?

Well, ok, what I don’t love is it makes me feel old going to bed so early, but this will change when it gets cooler in the Fall.  For now, they say to stick to a rigid schedule, which makes sense, so I’ve picked 10pm to sleep and 5:30am to rise, eventually 6am if weather permits.

Who is this stranger inhabiting my body, anyway?  Honestly, I’ve no idea.  I’ve heard she’s a close relation to this bad girl…not sure I believe it, though.
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