I have insomnia. I think that’s the word you’d use to describe this. It’s 4:30 AM and I can’t get back to sleep. And everything is eating away at me. I hate not being able to sleep for longer than a four-hour period. I’ve been lying here thinking about all the things I should and could do better. Everything from visiting my parents more often, paying my bills on time, and picking up the phone, to paying everyone back for the donations they gave me because I’m freaking out about running in November. The list of things I should and could do better is infinite. This long night might meet an even longer morning, which will mean an even longer day.
Somebody please punch me.
Ah, I hate nights like that. I’ve had a few myself this week. It just creates this lovely little cycle of sleeplessness and fretting. I hope you’re able to get some shut-eye soon.
This has got to have something to do with training for this marathon. I wake up every night between 3 and 4 am and simply cannot fall back to sleep for at least an hour. It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t couple the event with constant worry.
Something has to change. I love sleep. I like eating, too. And I can eat as much as I want during the training but I’d give that up entirely to sleep again.
I wonder if this is normal.
Oh, and thanks Lori for the kind words.
Happens to me too from time to time so my doctor hooked me up with a prescription for Sonata—the short duration sleep aid. If you wake up in the middle of the night and have at least 3 hours before you need to start your day take one and within 20 minutes you’‘ll be sleepin’ like a baby. The best part is you don’‘t feel groggy the next day.
Gawd, I sound like a commercial but they really do work.
Never heard of it! Good to know, Donald. Thanks, kitten.
Insomnia SUCKS! Waking up at that time of the morning and not being able to fall asleep is the worst, I think, because it is impossible to actually get up and DO anything…too tired…but so easy to let the wheels turn and turn inside your head.
DonaldEugene’s suggestion sounds good. I use Melatonin supplements before bed if I’m feeling edgy or am sleeping somewhere new, or have a lot on my mind. It puts me very naturally to sleep and I never feel groggy the next day. Bonus is, you can buy then in the supermarket where the vitamins/supplements are!
Having TJ away is probably not helping things. Hang in there.
Yeah, tho, i did call him at 4.30 AM my time to chat. He, too, was up worrying. But it was a wee bit earlier on the West Coast. When I started trying to get the cats to say hello, that’s when I realized I need to let him go and not drag him down with me.
I very nearly did a shot of vodka at 4:30 but figured that was a really, really bad idea. heh
What time of day do you do your running? I keep hearing that you shouldn’t exercise within a couple hours of your bedtime. Not sure whta the biological reason is, but I guess it keeps you from getting a good sleep.
It sounds to me like you’re simply overtraining. Before you were just running to run. Now you’re running to specific distances using a specific schedule, which may be a schedule your body isn’t quite ready for. Insomnia is usually the first warning sign for me. Here’s some info on the subject:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuryprevention/a/aa040600a.htm
You are on a pretty tight schedule to do what you want to when you want to do it, so you really have pay attention to your body when changes from the norm occur. If you’re going to run the marathon, I’d strongly recommend not adding the soccer gig to your exercise regimen. Think Wayne Rooney.
I think this blog is the perfect place to discuss what you’re going through and the problems you’re having in training. After 06 Nov. I’m sure you’ll a wealth of stored up ideas saved from along the way.