Sleepy Lessons

In the house I sit
My undies twisted in fit.
Why?
Because I don't want to be sick.

My sore throat has gone away.
Thank heavans - today is my day...
But...
In the house, I had to stay.

With all that being said.
No longer do I feel dead
So...
Tomorrow I'll train and get ahead.

Sheesh.

You know that feeling? That whisper of a sore throat that is kind of there, but you're not really sure... That happened to me last night. Alas, my 3 nights of 6 hours or less of sleep per night caught up to me. What does this mean?

Well, for starters - its my own bloody fault.

I know better, I need sleep!

More importantly, I need to listen to my body when it is CLEARLY sending me "warning" signals.

So when my alarm happily chirped away at 4:40 this morning, I could tell I was just off. While brushing my teeth, I thought that my pulse seemed a little high - but I nearly jumped through my skin after putting on my heart rate monitor and seeing the numbers read: 95, 98, 100, 103, 99.

Eeek!

Granted, the over 100 signal was probably my own flippin' reaction to seeing the numbers in the 90s, but for Pete's Sake! Geeze Louise!

Immediately, I nixed my Master's Swim, sent Coach Jen an email explaining my predicament, and jumped back into bed. The sheets were a little damp from my night sweats, but I was soon fast asleep.

Long story short, after speaking with Jen this morning - I was given a new assignment for the day: get as much rest as possible, take it easy, relax, do what I need to do, and we'll get back into it tomorrow. So, like the good pupil that I try to be, I did.

Can't remember much of what happened, as my body alternated between deciding if it should either be sick or be healthy.... but I only went outside once at 4 pm.

I was, however, a little stir-crazy...(Let's face it, Tabbitha can only keep my company for so long... she's not the greatest conversationalist, as the conversations tend to be one-sided. Like Courtenay and Greg talk to Charlie, I talk to Tabbitha. I SWEAR, she understands. Like when I tell her to attach Nate - she does! Perhaps she just likes attacking, though... hhhmmmm.)

I was VERY tempted to do some core work, or hop on my bike. Or just do something, anything, to take my mind off my not-so-sore throat. After watching a very helpful swim technique video on UTube (emailed by said Coach), I shot an email back and asked if I could practice with the chords. I was bored - cooped up. I had SO wanted to swim and was really looking forward to my long ride up in Milton, past the Peanut Farms and woods of the Blackwater Forest (the weather was not stormy, like what is predicted for tomorrow...)

"NOT TODAY SPARKY" was her reply.

She replied about 2 minutes after I sent my plea. She just knew.

Great. So again, being the diligent pupil I am, I remained seated with my chords in the closet. Big sigh.

But, it forced me to think about what I learned, why I was stuck inside (and missing my swim and bike...) Because up to this point, I MADE THE CHOICE TO NOT LISTEN TO MY BODY AND NOT GET ENOUGH SLEEP! No one forced me to stay up late, when I knew I needed to get up early the next day - I, my friends, did that all on my own.

Bloddy Hell, I know better!

But, the news isn't all bad...

I also learned something new....

I'm becoming a better athlete - because I AM beginning to recognize some of the signs that my body puts out. Very rarely do I take my morning heart rate - but today, I felt that something was off, and I did. Additionally, in the past, IF I skipped a workout session or pushed it off - I NEVER told my old coach about it. I just never felt that I could - so I would ALWAYS make up work on my own. And as a result - I would get (more) sick or injured.

Today was a big change for me: I admitted that I wasn't at 100%, made a decision, stuck with it, told my Coach, and followed her plan.

In the world of Marit - a person who likes to go "all guns blazing, full stop, break-neck speed, at 220%" this was HUGE!

So sure, it sucked having to miss my workouts. But its a lot better for me in the long term. And, I reasoned, it's not like I was deliberately trying to get out of my workouts... I know enough to know the difference. I learned that I DO recognize when I'm feeling bad AND that I take the initiative to do something about it, rather than pretend that everything will be okay.

Hooray!

So instead, I watched some mindless TV, read from a few different books, anwered my emails, snuggled up to Tabbitha, drank a heckuva lot of tea, ate a chocoalte truffle (or two), and took it easy. Guilt-free recovery, in my book.

And next time, I've learned to recognize my signals before I hit this point. Get enough sleep, listen when your body is tired, applaud what you've accomplished, but recognize that part of being human is needing time to sleep and to recover.

Cheers! To healthy and happy training. AND my new day tomorrow - I can't wait!