I woke up this morning and I literally wanted to continue laying in bed, so much so, I hit my snooze alarm for an hour. Quite frankly, the thought of going for a 50 mile bike ride was annoying to me. I was living in a glass half empty kind of world; no, actually, I couldn't even find my cup...
I'm quite confident everyone can relate to this. It is kind of like being pooped on by a bird... Waking up, not knowing whether you should laugh, cry, stay in bed, get up and face the world. You are simply at a loss and the bird is in a tree laughing at you...
When I'm having moments like these, there is only one way I know how to deal with it. That is by getting out of bed and dealing with it. I literally haven't sat on my couch since before I went on vacation. I know this, because there are mountains of items on each of my couch sitting spots in both my living room and family room (basement). Believe it or not, this is not a normal condition of my house... To be quite honest, I can remember the last time I sat on my couch because it included copious amounts of TV, a TV binge if you will... But I honestly can't remember when that happened. It has been at least two and a half weeks, because I haven't flipped on my TV since I took my no TV challenge almost two weeks ago.
On top of all of this, I have found myself fatigued lately. I have plenty of things I could blame my fatigue on, but what good does that do, unless it is the REAL reason for the fatigue. If I blame it on the wrong thing, I literally won't be treating the problem that is causing the symptom.
So today, I got up, took a quick shower and found my way to my friend's house by way of McDonald's for a Diet Coke. We sat down at the kitchen table to eat our breakfast while talking about the bike ride we were about to go on. We were also checking the weather and recognizing that it was going to rain any minute. 50 miles were on the agenda, and neither of us really wanted to go. I do believe Sue obliged only because of me... Sue knows me so well, that when she said something to me, and I started obsessing, she immediately asked me what was wrong because I WAS obsessing. Apparently I obsess over things when something is wrong. Something even I didn't know about myself. I didn't know how to answer her question. It literally took me all of 1.93 miles to figure it out... I didn't want to ride today either. I don't even know at what point I admitted my disinterest in riding, but regardless, in true Sarah fashion, we charged on.
While on this ride, we talked about everything, yet nothing. True friends can do that... But one of our more meaningful conversations led me to the true reason for my fatigue. What might that be? Very little rest, when I should be recovering from a race. Sure, the half marathon wasn't even close to my fastest, as a matter of fact, it was my slowest. It was also one of my most enjoyable races, but rest is an important component of accomplishing any endurance event. Instead of resting, Sue and I rode our bikes in Canada on Monday, walked and hiked several miles on Monday and Tuesday, drove home on Wednesday and met for a bike ride on Thursday and Friday. I visited very dear friends all day on Saturday, which included a 4 hour car ride, and here we were trying to ride 50 miles. Not my smartest week on record.
Sometimes when I do to much, it is very hard for me to determine whether my cup is half empty, or half full. It took comments from two different people, over the last week, for me to realize I have not been my typical self. As a matter of fact, I was living, not only in a glass half empty world, but in a world in which my cup was tipped over on its side, with the water drying up because I didn't even realize it had spilled. OK, so this may sound dramatic, but the reality is, I need to pay attention. If my mind and body are speaking to me, listening is the only option. After all, burnout can come quickly for an aging lady like myself, and I want to be able to laugh about my misgivings, rather than not know that I am even having them... So, what is on the schedule for me this week? My regular workouts, but also a healthy dose of rest, so I can laugh about my cup tomorrow.
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| Sue just got pooped on... |
When I'm having moments like these, there is only one way I know how to deal with it. That is by getting out of bed and dealing with it. I literally haven't sat on my couch since before I went on vacation. I know this, because there are mountains of items on each of my couch sitting spots in both my living room and family room (basement). Believe it or not, this is not a normal condition of my house... To be quite honest, I can remember the last time I sat on my couch because it included copious amounts of TV, a TV binge if you will... But I honestly can't remember when that happened. It has been at least two and a half weeks, because I haven't flipped on my TV since I took my no TV challenge almost two weeks ago.
On top of all of this, I have found myself fatigued lately. I have plenty of things I could blame my fatigue on, but what good does that do, unless it is the REAL reason for the fatigue. If I blame it on the wrong thing, I literally won't be treating the problem that is causing the symptom.
So today, I got up, took a quick shower and found my way to my friend's house by way of McDonald's for a Diet Coke. We sat down at the kitchen table to eat our breakfast while talking about the bike ride we were about to go on. We were also checking the weather and recognizing that it was going to rain any minute. 50 miles were on the agenda, and neither of us really wanted to go. I do believe Sue obliged only because of me... Sue knows me so well, that when she said something to me, and I started obsessing, she immediately asked me what was wrong because I WAS obsessing. Apparently I obsess over things when something is wrong. Something even I didn't know about myself. I didn't know how to answer her question. It literally took me all of 1.93 miles to figure it out... I didn't want to ride today either. I don't even know at what point I admitted my disinterest in riding, but regardless, in true Sarah fashion, we charged on.
While on this ride, we talked about everything, yet nothing. True friends can do that... But one of our more meaningful conversations led me to the true reason for my fatigue. What might that be? Very little rest, when I should be recovering from a race. Sure, the half marathon wasn't even close to my fastest, as a matter of fact, it was my slowest. It was also one of my most enjoyable races, but rest is an important component of accomplishing any endurance event. Instead of resting, Sue and I rode our bikes in Canada on Monday, walked and hiked several miles on Monday and Tuesday, drove home on Wednesday and met for a bike ride on Thursday and Friday. I visited very dear friends all day on Saturday, which included a 4 hour car ride, and here we were trying to ride 50 miles. Not my smartest week on record.
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| Sue getting over the poop... |
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