It's hard to schedule exercise around all this sleeping...

So much sleeping since school ended...I knew I was tired, but am I really this tired?  Granted, I'm coming off of a couple months of nightmare-filled sleep, so I now that my sleep is mostly dreamless, I know I'm playing catch-up, but still!  I can barely read or watch TV without falling asleep!  And then I sleep for a few hours!  I'll wake up every hour or so during a nap, but each time I feel like I was hit with a ton of bricks and getting up doesn't really feel like an option, so I fall back asleep.  After about 3 hours of that, I usually manage to drag myself off the couch for a run or food, but it's still not easy.  At night, I fall asleep fast, and stay asleep til early morning, but since I don't want to get out of bed that early, I fall back asleep, and then end up hitting the same cycle I get into with naps.  But I'm afraid that if I actually get up between 4 and 6:30 when I wake up naturally, I'll be even more likely to nap later...

I wouldn't really care about all this sleep, (I'm on vacation after all) but I keep missing out on perfectly gorgeous afternoons.  I should be running or biking or horseback riding or picture-taking!

I start my summer job tomorrow, so that will at least keep me too busy to nap most days.  I think.  I don't actually have a schedule yet, all I know is I'm working about 9-5 tomorrow.  Speaking of summer jobs, I love it when opportunities just fall in my lap without my having to put any effort into finding them...  The owner of the local brewery sent me a message the other day asking if I'd like a summer job.  My answer was yes.  Within a few hours of his original message, I had driven out to the brewery and signed all the necessary paperwork.  Sounds like my job will involve a little bit of everything.  Helping can beer, cleaning kegs, whatever other odds & ends come up, maybe even some bartending.  I'm looking forward to the chance to do something completely new and different for a little while!  And since I won't have to be there before 9, there will always be time to exercise first thing in the morning if I am so inclined (a/k/a if I can talk myself into getting out of bed).

This week : 

M : bike 17 / 16.3 mph / 1355 ft

Pub Run 3.2 / 7:32 / 56 ft

T : run 3.5 / 7:01 / 285

cooldown jog 0.8 / 7:56 / 0

W : National Running Day group run 3.6 / 7:28 / 0 ft

F : bike 24.6 / 17.4 mph / 1647 ft

Sa : long run 14.5 / 8:15 / 919 ft

Su : bike w/ Lauren 21.1 / 17.5 mph / 1335 ft

total miles run : 25.7

total miles biked : 62.7

The Pub Run this week was brutal.  It was really hot and humid, and we could barely drag ourselves through the two laps.  We agreed that there was no way we were going to even attempt a 3rd, just finishing the 2nd lap was hard enough!  

I was exhausted and cranky on Tuesday after a long day of grading standardized tests for all the other teachers, and went straight to the couch when I got home.  But as I was lying there, I thought about how I can't let mental lethargy stop me from exercising because that is the beginning of a very bad cycle.  So I put on my sprinting shoes, went out the door, and pounded the pavement.  I stopped the watch when my legs/lungs hurt as bad as my brain did, and restarted the watch to jog home.  

I should have done my own run, or at least bike, before the group run on National Running Day...but I spent half the day working in my classroom, and I think I spent the other half the day napping.  

Friday's ride brought out my worst exercise-induced allergies yet.  I had hives all over my shins by the time I got home.  It didn't help that there was a chance I was in poison ivy the night before, so I wasn't positive if it was allergies or the poison ivy at first...  However, I was pretty sure that any contact I had with the poison ivy would have only been my feet, and the hives did fade a bit after my shower, although they lingered faintly for the rest of the day.  So, I almost found out for sure that I am allergic to poison ivy...but nope.  I still don't know if I am allergic to it or not.  

It was gorgeous out on Friday, and I should have gone for a run after the bike ride, or at least gone to ride my horse, but I found out that one of my friends was also off work, so I ended up spending the rest of the day hanging out in the sunshine with her, drinking refreshing minty beverages.  Gotta have fun once in a while, right?

I then realized that I have a half marathon in two weeks and haven't been doing many runs over 4 miles, so I decided I had better do a long run and make sure my body still knew how.  I thought about how many miles I should do, and then decided that running for time was better.  I wanted to spend 2 hours out there running, so that even if I bomb the race on the 18th, I should at least have trained longer than it will take me to finish.  I'm mostly worried about my level of acclimatization to the heat, but it ended up cool(er) and foggy yesterday, so although I didn't get to really test my body in the heat, I definitely had practice with the humidity!  I should probably try to run at least 7 on a hot day soon though...or just desperately hope it doesn't get hot on the 18th until after 8:30ish.  Anyway, as far as long runs go, it felt pretty decent.  My left hip felt like it was going to break off by the end, but that's more or less normal, especially considering I haven't been stretching as well lately.  I didn't bring food or water on the run with me, and didn't feel any worse for the wear there, so that's good.  

Lots of rain in the forecast today, but it was only barely raining at 8:45, and Lauren and I knew it was go for it or take the day off...so we went for it.  The roads were soaked from all the overnight rain, so we were going to get pretty wet whether it was raining or not.  We enjoyed our ride in the light rain, and then I did a few more miles on my own after.  She didn't have time to do more than our original 13 miles, but I had time, and figured I may as well get at least 20 while I was out there. Plus, the sun came out just about as soon as we parted ways.   

Monday's ride

Trying to re-hydrate after Monday's run : 

I didn't even touch the beer until I'd had one and a half tankards of water...

Summer doesn't officially begin until the bikinis and fancy minty cocktails appear.

It has now begun.