Talk about unexpected outcomes. You know how you always hear how exercising gives you more energy and helps you sleep better? Well, it's kind of true.
Kind of.
See, my energy and sleep deficiencies didn't come didn't show their ugly heads until I stopped exercising. As my eloquent coworker Rob pointed out, exercise is like heroin--you don't realize what it's doing to you until you try to stop. (A heroin addict will have to attest to this, as I have no experience on the matter.)
I hit a huge wall this week, my first without vigorous morning exercise in a month. It's been hard to get up in the morning, hard to stay awake (and FOCUSED) at work, and hard to keep my legs from being all twitchy and antsy all day and night. It's been even more difficult to go to sleep at night and stay there. The sleep thing--not cool. I have a slight obsession with getting enough sleep and nothing kills me more than to lose it in some way. Talk about crabby and dysfunctional.
I've been drinking coffee in the morning to fight the drowsiness, and I haven't "needed" coffee since I started boot camp. Seems a bit backwards, doesn't it? Getting up earlier and exercising before the sun comes up appears to be the perfect recipe for a caffeine dependency. Not so much.
The weirdest thing is that I wasn't a bad sleeper before boot camp and I didn't think I had low energy either. Did boot camp create these monsters or did I just not realize they existed until I took the drug away?
So, why the lack of exercise? Well, because I was told to rest. The ABC trainers encouraged campers to rest during this "week off" (it's a week off for people who are returning to the next session) and not do anything too strenuous. I guess muscles need time to recover. I did some scientific research on Facebook this week to survey my expert friends and uncovered some excellent information. Thank you Marathon Chris and ABC Brian for piping in and explaining that the most important thing to do is to listen to your body. Rest or not. Well, I'm listening to my body, and it turns out it's totally over this "resting" thing. It wants to move!
So, I made it move. And it may have helped ... a little.
So I need a plan. And I think I figured it out this morning. I need to workout in the morning on the same day I plan to run in the evening. Two workouts, one day. That way I get to sleep a little later on the day after exerting myself the most. Think that will work? I hope so. I'm trying it tomorrow for the first time, so please hound me if I offer excuses for not getting up early on Friday morning. NO EXCUSES!
Why, oh why is it so hard to get up and exercise when all I have to do is change clothes and move into the living room instead of driving 10 minutes down the road?
So, next topic: running! Wheee!
It's been great to get my legs moving again. I missed running. Unfortunately, I think my body got used to not doing it, and subsequently got used to not doing it while I was in boot camp. It seems as though I had built up some endurance for my thrice-weekly two-mile run and lost it during my 4-week "break" at boot camp (where I only ran about a half mile daily).
My legs just aren't very happy with what I've done to them by reintroducing running. More specifically, my calves aren't happy. Even my shins have joined the pity party a little bit. The leg strain is really reducing the length of my stride and my overall endurance. I'm currently running at about the same pace as the 90-year-old man that was walking at Veterans last night. No joke. I only passed him because he slowed down to turn around and see what the thundering noise behind him was (my locomotive breathing and pounding footsteps). He did offer a "Lookin' good! Drink lots of water!" as I sputtered past him. So sweet.
So, I've got some re-conditioning to do, looks like.
I have good news, though.
1. I ran 0.76 miles straight without stopping last night.
2. I know this because I downloaded a new app for my iPhone last week in preparation for my return to running. It's the app counterpart to the most amazing website. Thank you, coworker John, for introducing me to MapMyRun.com. Have you people heard of this yet?! Please check it out. You can plot your runs and enter your run data on the website (either as a registered [free or paid] user or as a non-registered user). The site uses a Google-like map and you just click to add your path and it tells you how long the route is. It looks like a normal road map, but you don't have to follow the roads to plot your path, which is SUPER helpful for me, the park runner. Also, if you register, it'll keep track of your data for you over time. The iPhone app just uses GPS to automatically plot and measure your route for you. Then it stores all the info (including calories burned, distance and time, and pace) on the website. WOOHOO!
(This is how I now learned that the "1-mile" path at Juilfs, one of my favorite parks, is not a mile. It's a bit short, which explains why my mile times there were always so phenomenal. Booo! But, but, but ... the path at Veterans is exactly a mile. Yippee!)
So, as you can tell, I've been running without Mr. C25K this week. I have not abandoned him; I was just experimenting with my new toy. I will return to him tomorrow, now that I know how long my running routes are. I'm ready to start busting through these puppies!
Remember, keep on me about the morning workouts. Please and thank you!
Kind of.
See, my energy and sleep deficiencies didn't come didn't show their ugly heads until I stopped exercising. As my eloquent coworker Rob pointed out, exercise is like heroin--you don't realize what it's doing to you until you try to stop. (A heroin addict will have to attest to this, as I have no experience on the matter.)
I hit a huge wall this week, my first without vigorous morning exercise in a month. It's been hard to get up in the morning, hard to stay awake (and FOCUSED) at work, and hard to keep my legs from being all twitchy and antsy all day and night. It's been even more difficult to go to sleep at night and stay there. The sleep thing--not cool. I have a slight obsession with getting enough sleep and nothing kills me more than to lose it in some way. Talk about crabby and dysfunctional.
I've been drinking coffee in the morning to fight the drowsiness, and I haven't "needed" coffee since I started boot camp. Seems a bit backwards, doesn't it? Getting up earlier and exercising before the sun comes up appears to be the perfect recipe for a caffeine dependency. Not so much.
The weirdest thing is that I wasn't a bad sleeper before boot camp and I didn't think I had low energy either. Did boot camp create these monsters or did I just not realize they existed until I took the drug away?
So, why the lack of exercise? Well, because I was told to rest. The ABC trainers encouraged campers to rest during this "week off" (it's a week off for people who are returning to the next session) and not do anything too strenuous. I guess muscles need time to recover. I did some scientific research on Facebook this week to survey my expert friends and uncovered some excellent information. Thank you Marathon Chris and ABC Brian for piping in and explaining that the most important thing to do is to listen to your body. Rest or not. Well, I'm listening to my body, and it turns out it's totally over this "resting" thing. It wants to move!
So, I made it move. And it may have helped ... a little.
- I ran on Monday
- Had trouble getting to sleep Monday night
- Took Tuesday off entirely
- Really had trouble sleeping Tuesday night
- Intended to get up early Wednesday to try the workout videos on my on-demand exercise channel
- Opted instead to sleep in to make up for the lost sleep the night before
- Ran Wednesday
- Slept much better Wednesday night
- And then skipped my planned workout this morning
So I need a plan. And I think I figured it out this morning. I need to workout in the morning on the same day I plan to run in the evening. Two workouts, one day. That way I get to sleep a little later on the day after exerting myself the most. Think that will work? I hope so. I'm trying it tomorrow for the first time, so please hound me if I offer excuses for not getting up early on Friday morning. NO EXCUSES!
Why, oh why is it so hard to get up and exercise when all I have to do is change clothes and move into the living room instead of driving 10 minutes down the road?
So, next topic: running! Wheee!
It's been great to get my legs moving again. I missed running. Unfortunately, I think my body got used to not doing it, and subsequently got used to not doing it while I was in boot camp. It seems as though I had built up some endurance for my thrice-weekly two-mile run and lost it during my 4-week "break" at boot camp (where I only ran about a half mile daily).
My legs just aren't very happy with what I've done to them by reintroducing running. More specifically, my calves aren't happy. Even my shins have joined the pity party a little bit. The leg strain is really reducing the length of my stride and my overall endurance. I'm currently running at about the same pace as the 90-year-old man that was walking at Veterans last night. No joke. I only passed him because he slowed down to turn around and see what the thundering noise behind him was (my locomotive breathing and pounding footsteps). He did offer a "Lookin' good! Drink lots of water!" as I sputtered past him. So sweet.
So, I've got some re-conditioning to do, looks like.
I have good news, though.
1. I ran 0.76 miles straight without stopping last night.
2. I know this because I downloaded a new app for my iPhone last week in preparation for my return to running. It's the app counterpart to the most amazing website. Thank you, coworker John, for introducing me to MapMyRun.com. Have you people heard of this yet?! Please check it out. You can plot your runs and enter your run data on the website (either as a registered [free or paid] user or as a non-registered user). The site uses a Google-like map and you just click to add your path and it tells you how long the route is. It looks like a normal road map, but you don't have to follow the roads to plot your path, which is SUPER helpful for me, the park runner. Also, if you register, it'll keep track of your data for you over time. The iPhone app just uses GPS to automatically plot and measure your route for you. Then it stores all the info (including calories burned, distance and time, and pace) on the website. WOOHOO!
(This is how I now learned that the "1-mile" path at Juilfs, one of my favorite parks, is not a mile. It's a bit short, which explains why my mile times there were always so phenomenal. Booo! But, but, but ... the path at Veterans is exactly a mile. Yippee!)
So, as you can tell, I've been running without Mr. C25K this week. I have not abandoned him; I was just experimenting with my new toy. I will return to him tomorrow, now that I know how long my running routes are. I'm ready to start busting through these puppies!
Remember, keep on me about the morning workouts. Please and thank you!
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