On Sleep

Sleep seems to be the cure for much suffering. It heals the body and mind, physiologically and chemically. It can also be a marker as to how much you are stressing your mind and body. If you need more sleep, you are working harder than your previous normal.

Over a week now after the Ironman, and I hardly need to sleep at all. For 4-5 days, all I could think of was sleeping, but once my body recovered, it became an energized shell of my former self. Training has pushed me into another zone of productivity, and now that I am not training with the same intensity, I am able to be more productive in my office, with my kids, in my writing, etc, on less sleep. I am back to my old routine, up at 4:30am, in my office to write until the kids wake up, then working on The Baby Alex Foundation during nap times (I used to nap with them when I was training), and then again in the evenings I back in the office to work or read after the kids have gone to bed. I am still training, gearing up for a 50K in October and a 50 miler next March, but neither of them takes the same effort as a multisport event done well.

I learn much about sleep from watching my children. On Mondays, they nap for a good 3 hours. They are exhausted from new weekend experiences, playing with friends, staying up a little too late. And when they are sick, my children nap and nap and nap. And they recover, quickly usually, unlike I did when I was training and not getting enough sleep. Night time is a bad time to teach them something new--they need a good sleep to process the days' experiences and before they can learn something new.

The one element most new long distance athletes forget to factor into their life is sleep. They can plan their day around work and training, but they forget to plan sleep into their schedule. Often, it just isn't possible, especially if there are children involved. But somehow, the body manages to adapt. I know that my health high will wear off over time and I will be back to needing 8 hours of sleep a night and not being as productive as I want to be during the day. I'll know then it's time to train for another Ironman.