Monday, May 28, 2007

Sleeping Superstar

Nine hours. That was my goal, and I made it.

Not my Ironman goal. Gawd no. That kind of time will never happen without the aid of a motor launch and an internal combustion engine.

Not my HIM goal. Even I can go a bit quicker than that.

It was my sleep goal. I slept nine hourse in a row last night. Nine hours on the Tempurpedic including lazy dozing this morning. I even went to sleep earlier than Superpounce, who is only nine. Yay me.

I may have had a bit of an overtraining habit in the past. Um, yeah. Just a bit. Henceforth, I will continue hard training, but in training I am a mere pauper. I am going to make myself the king of recovery. I will never be the fastest nor the strongest, but when it comes to resting and absorbing training, all others shall be pretenders to my throne, mere usurpers.

I will fuel properly after training. I will hit my vitamins. I will ice bath after the key run/bike sessions. I will nap on the weekends. I will make sleep an olympic event. I will rule recoveryland.

Actually, I'd be very interested to hear from experienced Iron athletes out there what you do to ensure and enhance recovery. Put your collective wisdom in the comments.

5 comments:

Amy said...

Chocolate milk and naps are two of the most wonderful things in the world. And early bed times - 9pm and I'm out for the count.

Brent Buckner said...

Good plan!

I have no special insight into recovery to add.

Bill said...

Definitely an early bed time. 9pm and I'm in bed. The fun part is turning the lights out and watching the 16 year old complain about us "old folks".

Trisaratops said...

Good for you!

For me, getting to bed ON TIME and being relaxed enough to fall asleep was harder than most of my long rides. Seriously. I. Can't. Unwind.

I tried drinking some chamomile tea and spraying a little lavender on my pillow before I went to bed. That helped a little bit.

For recovery--as soon as I could after the long stuff--either chocolate milk or a whey protein drink. I noticed HUGE results once I started religiously doing this after the insane bricks. The legs didn't feel as tingly anymore and felt so much better the next day.

And ICE BATH. ICE BATH ICE BATH ICE BATH. 10-15 minutes, coldest water I could stand, throwing in whatever ice I had. I SWEAR by 'em after crazy long stuff. It allowed me to function like a normal human being the rest of the day.

Sleep on, bud!

the Dread Pirate Rackham said...

eye pillows for sleep helps...

food food and more food following a hard workout - I tend to have post workout bonk issues, it's not pretty.

Chocolate milk for recovery food - it's true!

naps when I feel like it.

And a spouse (and cat) who chase me around the house and tell me to go to bed.

Breakthrough workouts are not possible without breakthrough recovery.