Day 221, 144 To Go

August 9, 2013

Its Friday!  Time to Paaaartayyyyy!  No, not really.  Maybe if I was still in my 20s...heck, maybe if I was still in my early 30s.  Now?  Partying gets me too tired and it makes me unable to function.  Seriously.  I know some of you older folks can still party, but I bet you can't get up and run 8 miles on Sunday either.  So, it is a trade off.  I am probably getting the short end of that stick, although my stick will probably last longer too.  So there is that.

Nothing special on the agenda for tonight.  Just a quite night home with Honey...after our run, of course.  Then I have a full night's rest to look forward to.  I have always loved to sleep.  At the same time, I actually hate going to sleep.  I know that is a contradiction, but on the one hand, I hate all that wasted time.  On the other hand...ahhhh...sleep can be wonderful.  Speaking of sleep, that brings me to rule #15 from The 25 Golden Rules of Running from Runner's World magazine...

15. The Sleep Rule 
Sleep one extra minute per night for each mile per week that you train.

So if you run 30 miles a week, sleep an extra half hour each night. "Sleep deprivation has a negative impact on training," says David Claman, M.D., director of the University of California-San Francisco Sleep Disorders Center. "The average person needs seven and a half to eight hours of sleep, so increase that amount when you're training."

The Exception: The extra sleep may not be necessary for some high-energy folks.

This rule sounds like an EXCELLENT rule to follow.  So excellent that I fail to follow it almost every night.  I really could benefit from this rule because I am chronically sleep deprived.  Well, it isn't that bad, but I probably get about 7 hours of sleep a night.  They (what the hell do "they" know anyway) say that you should get about 8 hours of sleep a night.  According to this rule, that would add about 20 mins of sleep a night to my expected 8 hours.  So instead of only being deprived of 1 hour of sleep a night, I am being deprived of 1:20 every night.  Thanks rule # 15!

I often feel like I was run over by a bus in the morning, and I know it is because I don't sleep enough.  I have a TV in my room and they (there "they" are again with their science and shit) say that having a TV in your room makes you sleep less.  This is 100% true.  If I didn't have a TV in my room, I would probably be in bed and asleep by 11 or 11:30 every night.  Instead, I am up until 12:30 - 1:00am every night.  That is about 1 - 2 hours of sleep less per night.

Sure, I could exercise will power and not watch, but I really love my TV.  What to do?  I sense a New Year's resolution in the works.  Actually, I have a few in mind already:

1. Continue running every day (just less)
2. Stop drinking soda (or limit myself to 1 or 2 a week max)
3. Eat organic (not easy where I live...lots of unhealthy choices and NO organic stores)
4. Go to sleep earlier and get at least 8 hours of sleep a night (this would entail cutting down on my TV)

That's all I have so far.  It is a daunting list...but I have, so far, met my challenging resolution for this year (221 days and counting!) 

Here are our numbers for today:

Time: 25:00

Distance: 2.12 miles

Pace: 11:46/m

Max Pace: 10:10/m

Calories: 185
Avg HR: 105

Max HR: 119

 It was an easy run for both of us today.  I'm not sure Honey would agree with that, but as far as pace is concerned, it was easy.  Gotta take it easy to prepare for the long run this weekend.  Later folks!

Run for Life!!