Post Marathon Recovery Going Good. Post Work Recovery Not So Good.
October 25, 2009
I feel completely recovered from the marathon, no muscle soreness or marathon related fatigue. The big problem now is getting enough rest from work! This new shift (2nd shift 3:00pm to 1:00am) isn’t going to be an easy thing to get use to. After about 28 years of going to bed anywhere from 7:30 to 8:30pm and arising anywhere from 3:30 to 4:30 am has made it very difficult to adjust. Find it very hard to stay alert after 9:00pm at work, then after the drive home and a quick bite to eat I manage to get to bed by 2:00am only to awaken by 3:30 and not being able to get back to a sound sleep. So, I have been getting up by 8:00 which only gives me 6 hours of very restless sleep. I’m use to getting at least 8 hours of sleep.
It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t do any thing between getting up and going to work, but I need to do my running and it has really taken a toll on the effectiveness of my running. Tuesday was a decent run even though I was feeling very tired, but I think the lack of sleep hadn’t really caught up with me yet. The rest of the week was really rough for running.
Friday night I got 11.5 Hours of good sleep! I just don’t stay in bed that long so I know I was feeling really exhausted. A couple of hours after I was up I went out for an easy 8 miles and it went really well. Amazing what one good nights rest will do for you. Last night I was able to get 10 hours of good sleep. I was only able to get this good sleep Friday and Saturday night by reverting back to my normal sleeping habits. What I really need to do is force myself to stay up late even on weekends to help with the adjustment. Or maybe I can get use to a routine where on work nights I’m up late and adjust to sleeping in, then on weekends I can do my normal sleeping habit (early to bed, early to rise).
Anyway, I hope whatever routine I end up with, it doesn’t take long to adjust. I need my quality running time!
Enjoy every step!
Al