It’s amazing what a decent night’s sleep can do for your mental and physical state … and especially in preparation for a pre-dawn run. For the last two weeks, my sleep routine has been early to bed, wake up at 3am, doze off about 5:00am and wake up again at 6:00am. Obviously, that is not the sleep pattern for optimal performance. Last night was an improvement … later to bed (11pm), up at 4:25am, doze off again by 5am and up and ready to go by 5:45am. Now this is not the “ideal” scenario, but I’m making progress.
I’ve been trying to “Think Spring” as a way to fight the annual February blues and it seems to be working … I know we are only 8 days into the month, but I’m pushing the positivity. Those good vibes found their way into my easy run this morning. No aches or pains to speak of and the legs felt relaxed, although not necessarily light. I wasn’t checking my watch, but sunrise had to occur by 6:45am because I didn’t need to run around the Reservoir (lamps) and instead hit the Bridle Path guided by the sky. The other change to the morning routine was that I ran without headphones for the first time in at least 5 weeks. If you recall, I ran “free” from August 2009 to January 2010. In hindsight, I returned to headphones to fight the grind I started feeling on daily runs and LRs. Given my new routine (2 days with CPTC, 3 days solo), there should be enough variation to avoid boredom. That said, I would much prefer to run “free” and listen to the sounds of nature and the city while I’m running. Also, I’m being told after the fact that people try to say hello to me in Central Park, but I don’t hear or notice them … which bums me out. I have a bad anti-social habit while running and any opportunity to chat I would love to take.
Back to the run … it was fairly nondescript aside from the hearing sounds of nature while I am running in it. 4 loops around the shorter Bridle Path plus the run to and from CP resulted in 8.04 miles at a 9:14 pace. Like yesterday, I felt stronger at the end than the beginning … probably a negative split as I had to remind myself to throttle back on the final couple of miles. Lastly, I’m glad I was able to get decent mileage in this morning as yet another “Storm of the Century” is expected to hit our fair city by mid-week. I’ll be indoors tomorrow night, off on Wednesday, back in the park on Thursday night (weather permitting) and off again Friday. Even if Thursday proves impossible due to the snow, I do have the option of running at the indoor track.
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marathonmaiden February 8, 2010 at 11:54 pm | #1 Reply | Quote oh man i am craving a good night of sleep right now!! sleep is sooo critical to training. let’s make a pact to try and commit to sleeping right
…says the girl who is up at midnight currently haha
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A Marathoner February 9, 2010 at 2:36 pm | #2 Reply | Quote Not sure what happened. I used to be a great sleeper.
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David Dierking February 9, 2010 at 11:41 am | #3 Reply | Quote The “storm of the century” is nailing us here in Wisconsin right now…..and it’s not pretty. There’s white everywhere and it’s supposed to get worse this afternoon. Get in your runs while you can!
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Yasmin February 9, 2010 at 6:08 pm | #5 Reply | Quote I’ve been the same with my sleep! I get one night of good sleep for every three nights of patchy sleep!
And I love your think spring idea! In these cold snowy days especially
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catms916 February 10, 2010 at 12:07 pm | #7 Reply | Quote Hey, I just stumbled onto your blog! I’m a fellow New Yorker and runner and a Central Park regular so I totally relate to you on the February blues. It’s been so miserable out recently! I did a 13-miler this past Saturday and was not so fond of the high winds, extreme cold and flecks of snow poking me in my eyes. Ugh.
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The weather has been a bummer, but I am holding firm to my mantra “think Spring”. Before you know it we will all be complaining about the heat and humidity.
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