Well, okay, I have lots of Achilles heels: at least two ( PT humor), but time certainly constitutes one of the biggest. I should specify that the distinct lack of time hits me every day. I know, I know - we all could use another 20-30 hours in a day, right? Here is really where the MS gets me, though.
My biggest complaint with MS revolves around fatigue. My mother will attest that I have always needed more sleep than any other human she has ever met, and my wife (who needs less sleep than any other human I've ever met) would wholly agrees Truth be told, I love sleeping. 10 years ago if you asked me how much sleep I could use every night to optimize my function, I'd have said 9-10 hours at night, and I'm good to roll all day long, at least when training hard. A nap once in a while filled the gaps formed by work, exercise, and being social (though I should point out that exercising with friends was a huge component of my social life - two birds with one stone!).
Enter MS. And one correction: I loved sleeping. Particularly since 2011, I have been tired. My son was born in 2009, and while that first year was exceptionally difficult to someone who at the time loved sleep, it was not the worst. That year my wife suggested that I accept that I needed a nap every day. I did, though I made the mental note that needing and wanting a nap had distinctly different connotations in my head. But (as usual), she was right, and things got a bit better. Now I accept that I could for optimal function, I would need 11-14hrs of sleep per day. Not conducive to living a "full" life.
Now I know a thought that crossed some minds reading this: "Chris, you were training for 2 Ironman Triathlons that year - surely that accounts for a significant portion of your tiredness." I will not disagree on that point at all! Naps certainly help when training hard. In fact, I've heard that research has shown that successful people of all fields find time to shut down for brief periods regularly throughout the day. I highly recommend naps to my athletes (and friends, and wife, and we both agree that our son benefits from them).
I disagree that the training puts the nail in the coffin for one, repeatable reason: when I have a period of lighter training (or no training in off-season), I need far longer naps. How much longer? When training hard, I will feel a night and day difference off 10-30 minutes of napping. When not training, I will finally feel that same night and day difference after 60-90 minutes of napping. I put that in the significantly longer category. My MD thinks it likely a product of sleeping harder at night when I'm training hard (as I really am physically tired from exercise). I guess I'd buy that, though I suspect there's more to it than that.
Regardless of why, though, I've got a time suck: train hard, but sleep less (an oxymoron if ever I've heard one), or train less and sleep more. I know one thing: MS leads to functional loss. The stronger I stay, the more coordinated I am, the better my endurance, the more likely I'll still be able to function better than had I not been training hard all along.
Someone asked me if I plan to keep trying to get back to Kona after this year. So long as it keeps me motivated to stay exceedingly fit, and my family permits me, you bet your butt I'll keep trying to go back. It's my best defense against the inevitable.
I just wish I didn't need a nap every day - and that it my wife wouldn't have to suggest (because it's obvious) that I go lay down and that she's happy to take care of our boy. She is, of course, right again. And while I no longer argue with her about that, I have come to the point over the last 6 months to resent the nap I used to cherish so much. I could get so much more done if I didn't need all this damn sleep.
I'm just thankful I have such a wonderful wife and child who help me out.
With that, good training, and good night.
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