The Upshot of Insonmia (and other thoughts)

I have never been a morning workout person - in fact, waking up before 8am is pretty much unheard of for me.

I.Hate.Mornings.

Most of my training is done in the afternoons or evenings, and I have been really fortunate that my last two jobs have been really flexible and allow me to work around my training.

But given my ongoing difficulty with sleep, I find myself often awake early in the morning with nothing to do except, well, train. So I will go to the gym, get a run or a swim in, or jump on my trainer in my house.

This morning, thanks to Mother Nature's ongoing gifts of sleet, snow and rain, I was forced to do my 2.5 hour run on a treadmill. Yeah, you read that right - two and a half hours. On a treadmill. That broke my own record of 2:15, set just a while back.

The first two hours were fine, but that last 30 minutes were like running up the stairs of the Sears Tower with dumb bells attached to my ankles and bonfires behind my kneecaps. My heart rate for some reason skyrocketted and refused to come down, so breathing also became difficult.

But I got it done. That is all. No more to that story.

But 2.5 hours is a lot of time to do some thinking. And here is what occupied me for all that time:

1. Seriously, what is up with John McCain's wife? Just how does a 106 year old man land a 30 year old woman? And moreso, does anyone else think she looks a bit, well, plastic-y? She has this whole creepy, "I used to be a child beauty pagent star" thing going on. Weird.

2. I am really grateful for the recent support of friends, family and bloggers to my posts about anxiety. I have received the nicest emails and comments of support, and I really just wanted to say thanks. In the same way, I have also been working through some personal stuff, and have been really blessed by the insight and support of a fellow blogger. Your emails are invaluable. I can't say thank you enough.

3. Having said that, I had two really good face-to-face conversations yesterday with two guys that are recent Ironman finishers - one at my pool (after my longest swim yet) and one in my neighborhood. Much in the same way as you all have been supportive, these conversations have really boosted my esteem about my ability (especially the compliments about my swimming!), and soothed my freak-outs about the race (perhaps my trouble sleeping has to do the intensity of the training -never thought about that!) Even a few words go a long way, so thanks guys.

4. I really don't understand why people pass gas in the gym when on the treadmill. Gyms are not particularly known for their stellar cooling systems and superb ventilation, so when someone drops a stinky, it lingers. For a really long time. When you are running on the treadmill in front of me and you decide that excusing yourself for two minutes to go to the bathroom ('cause when you have such deathly gas, it's usually a sign you have to go poop - just a piece of free advice) is simply too much effort, and instead you just lay one down for the rest of the patrons to breathe in, I will stab you in the back of your neck with my eye daggers. Sure, you may not know I am doing this, but maybe one day, just one day, you will feel my scorn.

5. It's snowing here again. Again.

So I need to go change the ice on my knees now and get my butt to the office. So I am going to sign off. It's going to be a long day, but at least the run is already out of the way.

Yay for me.