Low-Bat

With my good friend Tanya at Cafe Claude.

Friday night I was out with my good friend Tanya. Cafe Claude, a little French Cafe in an alley close to home. I had Escargot, Cheese and a lot of bread...oh and wine. Guess how well I felt the next morning on the bike:) Not too good.

But it wasn't the French wine or food that slowed me down this weekend. It's several weeks of hard workouts and not enough recovery. I'm skirting the edge of over training I think. I noticed it three weeks ago when I would wake up tired despite my 7-7.5 hours of sleep a night. I guess the changes I've incorporated to my training this year is just hard enough that my body has a hard time recovering. Besides, I don't get those hours of sleep on Sundays because I'm loving the pre-dawn starts. Sleep earlier you might say...ha it's the hardest thing for me, harder than a 100-mile race. I've been keeping an eye on it but I didn't do a very good job handling it this week. I had a fantastic run the weekend before and it was enough to upset the tenous balance. Another telltale sign was that I started eating more crap than usual. I was lacking the self-discpline to keep things in check. I promised myself more sleep if I just made it through the weekend but it wasn't to be. I rolled out of bed Saturday feeling okay. The plan was to volunteer for a couple of hours with the newbies in our TAG triathlon training group, ride for a couple more after that and later that afternoon a swim in the bay. Didn't happen:) After two hours of the training ride I felt like I was bonking, energy just plummeted. I knew it wasn't bonking though because I was drinking my energy drinks, eating my GU's. I cancelled the rest of the day. When I got home I didn't even change, I just plopped down on the couch and napped for 2 hours. When I awoke I didn't feel any better. Strange. So I just continued to take it easy. Sunday I cut down my 6 hour run to 3.5 hours. I was much better Sunday but still flat. Took it easy and expected nothing. Soon as I hit home I crashed again.

Weekend reminded me of the time I forgot to charge my cellphone. I only noticed my phone was almost out of juice as I was about to leave the house. Expecting some calls I plugged it in anyway, a bit of charge is better than none right. Unplugged it when I really had to go, it wasn't enough but it was something and fortunately it lasted. What little rest I got Saturday was not enough but it carried me through Sunday.

So it's clear that I'm gonna need more recovery time or cut down on my "activities". I'm gonna try upping the rest thing first. I'll see about getting my sleep up to 8-8.5 during the weekdays and I'll see about getting more sleep prior to my pre-dawn starts on Sundays. If I do all of that and I'm still waking up tired, undisciplined in my diet and not having that zing in my workouts during the week then I'll start eliminating or shortening some workouts. Hopefully it doesn't get to that. Cut out more of the TV probably. Be more efficient with my daily schedule. Stop hanging out with friends. Haha I was just kidding on the last one. I do enough of that already - neglecting friends. I do need to go through my schedule and make changes for the short term and mid-term.

The main problem I think lies in the fact that I just enjoy too many things and I need to choose. I like being the run director for my triathlon club and all the responsibilities that go with it. I like being a volunteer in the TAG triathlon group. I love training for ultra-marathons and triathlons. I enjoy my church community especially teaching Sunday school, in fact if it was up to me I would be doing that every weekend or at least more than the twice a month commitment I have now. I love my work despite the sporadic schedule and sometimes frantic deadlines. I like it when my friends ask me to design stuff for them even though it always takes time and no pay. I enjoy taking small vacations in the form of dvd movies. I love my moments of doing absolutely nothing as an anti-dote to all the busy-ness. All of that takes time though and I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say that there's just not enough of it.

As for Blogging? Don't worry that falls under "therapy" and won't see any "budget cuts" anytime soon.
Wish I could be like Dean and function with only 4 hours of sleep. Eh it wouldn't work anyway. If tomorrow I woke up with the ability to function and train with only 4 hours of sleep I would pile more stuff on the schedule.

I think what I need is better time management and restraint not more time. For the short term, more rest.