Week 2

Monday: 7 hours sleep

                Rest Day

Tuesday: 7 hours sleep

                Was supposed to get up at 5 to swim, but my alarm didn’t go off so I ended up doing it between classes (300 wu, 25x16, 1x400, 25x16, 200 cd: 1700 total).  It was kind of nice, the pool was emptier, the sun was shining through the windows, and I had a normal breakfast 2 hours before working out; I might try to swim at this time more often.  I had time for some strength and core work before heading back to class.  Went for a 30 min Z2 run from lab, really had trouble keeping my heart rate in check.  It could have been the return to altitude, the air pollution in the valley or how much dessert I ate over the weekend.  Or maybe trail running in a hilly area isn’t good for keeping your heart rate in a certain zone.  I was feeling pretty stressed from class and lab stuff so it was good to get out in the sunshine for a while.

Wednesday: 6 hours sleep

                Yesterday I discovered that I really only need half an hour to get ready in the mornings, instead of the hour I’ve been giving myself.  So I slept in ‘til 6 this morning, rode my trainer for 30 minutes and ran for in the semi-dawn for 15 minutes.  I feel great, pumped for the day!

Thursday: 5 hours sleep

                I was very thankful this morning that I wasn’t scheduled for an outside run, since we had really high winds (40-60 mph with gusts up to 80).  Instead I swam (300 wu, 8x50 drill, 1x300, 3x200, 1x300, 200 cd) and biked (30 min @ Z1, ~100 rpm).  I finally cut the ends off my flippers last night so they were short enough to use for drills.  It was weird to do a workout without flippers after using them, I felt like I was moving at a snail’s pace!  I felt so fatigued and awkward for most of my workout. I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep (there was a late Gonzaga basketball game) or if it was in my head after using the flippers, but until my last 300 I was struggling.  I had some toast with coconut butter before swimming and my stomach didn’t hurt at all, so I’ll probably start having that regularly. Biking was fine, even using a really easy gear it was difficult to spin over 100 rpm and keep my heart rate in zone 1 (120-137).  Of course I was completely guessing at my cadence, so I could have been going way too fast.  I have a bunch of talks/presentations to go to today; it’ll probably take a small mountain of cookies to keep me awake.  Maybe I’ll go look for a healthier snack now…  

Friday: 6 hours sleep

                I got up early this morning and studied a quiz that afternoon instead of running for 45 minutes.  This was a good choice, because it was cold and dark and I needed to study, but also kind of a bad one, because later in the day I ended up really frustrated and stressed out at things that normally wouldn’t have that great an effect on me.  I ended up going for my run soon after I got to lab (and tried to pour a gel only to have it leak before it set).  It felt good for the first half but my stomach started complaining and I ended up walking a lot of the way back.  I didn’t end up eating a mountain of cookies the night before, but I did have a couple pieces of pizza.  Normally I do okay with pizza, but the cheese on this was really weird and disgusting, so I’m blaming that.  

Saturday: 9 hours sleep

                I meant to get up at 6:30 so I would have time to ride my trainer and then bake something for a brunch I was going to.  Instead I woke up at 8 to a dry, sunny, beautiful day that would’ve been great for an outdoor ride, but I didn’t feel like I had the time to get dressed for outside and still make it to brunch.  So I rode my trainer for 1:30, which was pretty boring and made my butt hurt.  I got to enjoy second helpings at brunch though; there was some really good French toast with berry topping, German pancakes, cheesy hashbrowns (which I really liked even though I don’t like cheese or hashbrowns), quiche, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and mimosas!  

Sunday: 8 hours sleep

                Went for a 1 hr run in the morning, it was below freezing so I wore a hat and a long-sleeved shirt under my windbreaker. I was way too hot after about 10 minutes though, I think I need a wind-breaker vest sort of thing.  The rest of the day was spent recovering in lab and doing homework.

Week 2 wasn't that bad.  I managed to get all of my homework done with out losing too much sleep.  I even did alright on Friday's quiz, even though I was sure I failed it at the time.  I went Christmas decoration shopping with my friend Sarah on Friday night and went to a hockey game on Saturday.  So it seems that hanging out with friends without drinking too much or staying up too late won't be too much to ask for.