Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Wednesday Ride

So I don't have class on Wednesdays and it's not a day where I need to spend the whole time working... so I've decided that I will ride on Wednesday mornings. I missed the bus today and didn't get up with my alarm...but I'm trying not to dwell on it and so I packed up the car and headed for the Silver Comet Trail. The humidity has quit for a few days so it was warm, breezy and dry for the whole 27 miles. Beautiful. I was shooting for 30 but my legs protested and when the asphalt turned to concrete slabs I turned around. I was 4 minutes faster on the return trip so that's good... I give partial credit to having warmed up and the rest to the fact that I think there's more false flats on the way out... ;) I like the flat, no more than 2% grade. It's a far cry from the 14% grades I was riding in VT. Still, I'll find some hills soon enough.

Been eating whole, healthy foods and I feel SO much better today. I've always said I have to work my health from all angles...nice that my body gives me such accurate feedback!

Train safe.

ps. I'd like to note that more than HALF of the people I saw riding and roller blading today were NOT wearing helmets. And many of them were kids. What's WRONG with ya'll???

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Baby Steps

Ok the slow process of reminding my body what it's like to get up early and go to bed early is underway. I spent a lovely hour this morning walking and jogging and enjoying the quiet sunshine. Yesterday I could only manage getting up at 9... today it was 8. Tomorrow I'm shooting for 7. I know, it sounds pathetic. The reality is, I'm a night owl by nature. I've been operating on 5-6 hours of sleep when I know I need 8 or 9. My body has adjusted to a 2-3 am bedtime and a 9 am wake up...and I usually ask it to get up earlier than 9 and just barely make it to 4 pm when I lie down for an hour and crash. It's insane and I don't feel good. So the plan for now is to get on a 6-7 am wakeup and an 11 pm bedtime with at LEAST a walk in the morning. It's still not always going to be the 8 hours that I need, but I'm hoping that changes in diet and adding some exercise will give me more energy during the day.

I'm working hard too at not beating myself up for having to basically start over. I'm really heavy again and even though my aerobic base is still strong, I'm a far cry from where I was for Timberman. Apparently repeating myself is necessary. It's just the way it is.

So, one more hour up and it's off to bed for me. I miss seeing 5:30 am and a pool full of friendly faces. I may really have to re-think my swim team as it swims only at night. :( Doesn't work for me. Especially with such tragic coaching.

Trying to stay positive!