I can't turn off my brain and its thoughts very easily. And yes, I've tried and still occasionally use all sorts of methods and aids and some work, sometimes.
When I do sleep, I dream and those dreams range from cryptically bizarre to real time real life mundane day to day stuff... And everything in between. I analyze dreams that aren't straightforward and often am inspired by ideas and solutions my unconscious mind shows me.
I have dreams that turn out to be premonitions such as the death of someone I love or people I haven't thought of in donkey's years who I then bump into. I relive some of the happiest moments of my life - those are naturally favourites I wish would happen more often.
I can wake up from a dream and return to it by asking to do so while I am falling to sleep.
So, really even when I do sleep, my mind is still busy. Depending on type of dreams I've had, I awake well rested and content or exhausted and troubled.
Last night, I had a night of the latter type until around 02:30 when Sealey scratched at my door wanting in. Lately, I've shut my door on weeknights to dissuade her from sleep with me. She snores loudly and can be restless - neither are good for a light sleeper who has to get up at 04:30 for a workout of an hour to 1.5 hrs before work.
Some nights I let her in midway through as I have discovered I actually fall asleep faster with her beside me and I am either too tired to be disturbed by then or she sleeps silently and is still, fearing I'll kick her out (which I rarely do and probably should, once she's there).
For any early riser and especially one with early morning workouts, it's brutal when the alarms go off (I always set 3 five min apart).
For someone doing Ironman training, rest and sleep are as important as the actual training, if not more. I am taking naps and/or resting during the when I can but I work full time so it's mostly on days off that I can manage that.
I try to go to bed early I am getting better at that but that means less time with Barry & Sealey. Often, like today, I leave the house without seeing them at 7:15am and don't get home from the pool until 20:30. If I am in bed and sleeping by 21:30, I'd get 7 hrs. Ha! That isn't possible. Swim sessions wake me up so I'm only too keen to catch up on our day until at least 22-22:30.
Given the above scenario, I try to limit evening workouts away from home to 3 during the week and 1 is on Friday so at least I don't have to get up as early on Saturday morning.
I need to get better at turning in earlier on those other evenings. I find this a challenge but I know I'll benefit greatly from it.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, I run on my treadmill over in the garage for a minimum of 1 hr in the morning and swim at the Canada Games Centre afterwork. The sessions are varied which keeps it interesting. Right now, my Tuesday run includes 20 min of tempo at heart rate zone 3. This morning, the warmup wasn't pretty but after 20 minutes, I was ready to push myself. As always, I felt like a million when I was done.
Back to the house, I download the hrt data from my Garmin to my TP on Training Peaks and input the distance, it calculates all sorts of neat stuff. Same for cycling and swimming and strength training or any x training, etc
I find this online system super easy to use (iPhone app too) and it really motivates me to see my progress instantly. I haven't skipped a workout yet and I credit this software and TP.
Just had a look at my swim plan for this evening. It's a new one - yay! They are sometimes repeated for a couple of weeks but then change which I love.
Not doing Masters this year. None of the schedules at CGC pool work well with mine. Distance to and from Mt Uniacke is the main issue. I value and miss a coach's input, so I plan on hiring on for one on one analysis periodically. Lane swim can be busy so I do get to swim with others - some faster, some slower. It's not ideal but it is what it is. I did sign up for a wee swim camp with the Halifax Tri Club and the coaches are my absolute favourites - Kevin & Heidi from the Sackville pool. I bet I gain more correction in the short time with them than I will from anyone else. Can't wait!!
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