Thursday, January 31, 2008

I Can't Fight It

So, I've had this problem/issue since I was a little kid. Often I wake up in the middle of the night for some reason and then my mind RACES RACES RACES over everything I have to do and OMG, it's getting late and did I do this already? and I can't believe I have so much to do tomorrow and oh no now it's 3:37am.

So, since I was probably 8 or 9 years old, I turn my alarm clock around. I have to, or I drive myself nuts. And this has worked pretty well.

So the plan was to work out before school so that I wouldn't have to do it when I got home. BUT, JayZ usually gets up once a night, unless we are lucky and he sleeps totally through, or to about 5am. The past 2 nights it's been around 2am.

It doesn't even matter if I get up or if Matt does. I'm up. And then I start to worry.

And then I can't fall asleep for, oh, about 2 hours.

Ugh.

So I had wonderful runs Monday and Tuesday, when he slept the whole way through. But since then I haven't because I've had the most random sleep schedule ever and been totally stressing about it.

So, I've decided on a new plan of attack.

  • I will run at least 2 times during the week. This will happen Mondays and Wednesdays when Matt can get home fast after his school lets out. That way I can still spend good quality time with JayZ but Matt can play with him while I run...or JayZ might even take a little catnap, which would make me feel even better. I just don't want to miss anything.
  • Runs won't be more than 6 miles for now, so I will be done in less than an hour.
  • On the weekend, I'll do my longer run of 8-10 miles Saturday, and then either swim or run on Sunday.
  • Core work will be done almost every day that I can, since I can have JayZ on the floor with me.
  • A Friday 5 mile-ish run will be added when I can, to give me 4-5 runs and 1 swim for the week.
  • I'm going to not worry as much about riding for now. I should be getting some spinervals DVDs soon so when I do I'll sneak them in on the weekend...maybe on Sundays. Something's gotta go, and since my early race is a half marathon, I feel like for now I can put cycling on the back burner. I know I should work on my limiter, but I just don't have enough hours in the day for now, and Steelhead isn't until August, so that buys me a little more time.
  • Next year, when I get more settled and JayZ hopefully sleeps through most nights, then I will resume early morning runs, since I do actually enjoy them.

This way, when I get up at 2 or so, I won't put so much pressure on myself to hurry up and get back to sleep for 5am's wakeup call. Plus, I will be leading a 7am review session for APUS History every week starting next week. I will get to school relatively early all days and use that time for grading/planning, since even that still gives me some extra morning time.

So that's the plan.

Whew.

Now if I can just get through today without falling asleep...

11 comments:

Matt McSkimin said...

I never knew middles of nights could be so long. Perfect feedings, changings, and getting back to sleep take an hour- unfortunatley it's not always perfect. And our babies didn't come with snooze buttons, so when they go off, we're up.

jbmmommy said...

I'm always saying to myself "if I fall asleep NOW I can still get 3 hours. If I fall asleep NOW I can still get two and a half hours." Ugh. Cutie's always up between 2 and 3am, so the 4:30am wake-up is tough. Good luck with whatever schedule works for you.

Kim said...

sounds like a great plan there lady! you are definitely leading a great mommy/wife/athlete's life!

Janet Edwards said...

Try not to stress out too much. It is your first week back. You will get it all figured out!

I hate waking up and overthinking things to the point I can't get back to sleep!

GetBackJoJo said...

And it begins. Welcome to working mommy land! You're officially a part of the club!
Sounds like a good plan.
You're doing good.

Hollyfish said...

I've been reading a lot about meditation and depression lately... and the difference between our "DOING" minds and our "BEING" minds and it strikes me that some of the meditation exercises might help you turn off your brain (the doing mind) when you're trying to fall back asleep. Check out Jon Kabat Zin and his beginning meditation book... in all your free time. ;)

triguyjt said...

i like how you are gonna work in the core work while playing around with the little guy on the floor....
very clever
good luck

Brian said...

Try the 6 mile run after the feeding. That should help you get back to sleep

Jennifer P said...

It's tough, tough, tough, that's for sure. Core on the floor with babies is the best. You've got a great plan and if things don't work out according to plan, try not to beat yourself up over it -- you're still way more fitter and active that a lot of non working mommies! And then before you know it, it will be summer again!

Rae said...

Wow, that's quite the plan! I'm the same way, once I wake up I am just UP. I've always been so jealous of the people that can just fall asleep anytime, anywhere.

Kurt said...

Finding that balance is always a challenge. Good luck with the plan it looks like a smart one (which is nothing short of what I would expect).