I suppose I am on one level, to haul myself out of bed at such an early hour to go out and run around, but the power of the Rocky Theme tune possibly has a lot to do with it.
On the other hand...
I was talking to a colleague in the week (the same person who's been really supportive of this running lark) about getting to bed very late and being very tired. She agreed that she had gone to bed 20 minutes after her bedtime and was really feeling it today.
Bedtime? What's that then? I gave those up some time ago. Maybe that was a mistake...? My idea of a bedtime is trying to get to bed before midnight but usually failing. I'm often very very tired.
Unfortunately, I hate routines. I hate being restricted into doing the same thing at the same time with any sort of regularlity. Going to work five days a week uses up all my patience for it. I've tried and failed to do things like courses, classes etc. Anything that has a set, regular pattern requiring my attendance just isn't going to happen. I start to resent having to go, even if I want to, and have learned not to commit to anything like that because it doesn't work for me.
A daily commitment to doing something at the same time? Having a bed time? I just can't see myself turning off the laptop, the telly, putting the game down, the book, stopping messing about, getting into bed and going to sleep.
I think I'm going to have to.
Last week was very busy and very tiring, lots of later nights and driving around. It was really lovely to spend time with friends and doing different things but the time I have available to me to do the necessary conditioning work, food preparation and much needed sleep just seemed to slip away from me. I had something on every evening, or visitors, and couldn't fit in the pilates/cardio stuff that doesn't actually take that much time, but when you're factoring in preparing and eating a meal and travelling, just doesn't seem to happen.
I'm quite an introverted person, a personality type that thrives on time alone and the notion of "winding down" to recharge. After a night out, I'll often feel I need some time just sitting down not doing much to have some "me" time before bed. When I get in after 10pm from a social event this extends an already late evening even further.
After some thought about how to get a grip on things, I realised that I need to cut down on the amount of time I spend going out and about in the evenings and weekends. I don't think of myself as being the most sociable of people but I do somehow manage to spend a fair amount of time each week out with friends or family and it's lovely. I love my family and friends so much and really do enjoy spending time with them. Unfortunately, right now, this is to the detriment of my training. If I'm asking people to sponsor me, I don't want the effort they expect me to put in to be diluted because I want to spend time with them. A strange sort of circular argument there which I hope makes sense.
I've decided that unless I'm swimming, hiking or cycling with somebody, I'm probably not going to be doing much hanging out with them until after 5 May. This is totally fine as it's really not that far off and as my birthday is shortly after I'm hoping to see everyone again to celebrate the run being over and being one year older.
I've also got to instigate a bedtime! So many things seem to hinge on getting more sleep, or getting to sleep earlier, and everything else just becomes so much easier when that happens. For example, as I work flexi-time and only do seven hours a day, if I get in at 8:30am and only take half an hour for lunch I can leave work at 4pm, get home about 4:45pm which leaves me a good couple of hours to get some exercise done before starting on the evening meal and other household tasks. At present, because I'm always so tired I sleep later and don't get to work until 10am, finishing later and not getting home until time for the evening meal. Things have got to change. I hope I can get stuck in and make some meaningful changes which will help me along the way.
Glad I got to enjoy this last night, last one for a while...
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