Lobotocize!

I just got back from my morning run, which was more like an obstacle course because of all the debris and downed tree limbs from last night's storm and flooding.

I did two miles with Iris first, then went out on the Power Trail and ended my run on my Tabata course, where I did the four minutes of hell, and then went home.

It's warm and humid this morning, and I was pouring sweat when I got home.

Dennis looked at me and asked what I did. I told him I "lobotocized".

"What's that?"

I said, "It's when you work out so hard, you give yourself a lobotomy."

I had some great ideas going through my head as I ran, so the lobotomy must have done me some good. Now I'm headed to the woman cave to write them all down.

The way the clouds are building up today, looks like I'll have to do my evening run early so I don't end up swimming.

Work Hangover Thursday: Zombified

This week my work schedule is off...I get to experience my work hangover a day late. In my running life, it's my so-called rest week. Instead of resting, I'm working four 12 hour shifts in 6 days.

So Work Hangover Wednesday is a day late, but not a dollar short. I'll have extra dollars coming soon, I've picked up a bunch of extra shifts this week and next, and then for part of July, while I'd rather be in Death Valley at Badwater. And I'm not doing it for the money. If I were working for money, I'd be on Wall Street.

We have a bunch of people training on the new computer system and we are short-staffed as a result. I took as many hours on as I felt I could tolerate, without spontaneously combusting. If there was any way I could be in Death Valley, I'd be there. Of course this year I'd have to quit my job to make that happen.

We're in the process of switching over the entire computer system and you'd think the apocalypse was coming. We even get weekly reminder e-mails, as if the end of the world is near.

If that's true, then I don't want to die being a waitress on roller skates. That's how I feel so many days.

My work hangover officially started 19 hours into my work week. The exact moment was 3:30 pm on my second 12 hour shift, 5 hours before it was time to go home. It's that point where you hit the wall and you don't know how you're going to make it through the next 5 hours without screwing something up. It's just a bit scary when you have the responsibility for people's lives...

Like running an ultra, when your blood sugar starts to plummet, you get some calories in and bounce back. That's what I did. I was having a "bad patch". I made it through the next several hours and made my way to the parking garage. Sometimes the view at sunset is quite scenic. Sometimes it's the only daylight you see.

So this morning I stumbled down to the kitchen in my brain fog and swilled down two cups of coffee, then my eyes were open enough to get out and run. A little. My legs felt surprisingly good this morning, not great, but they benefitted from no running for a few days. I took the girls for a couple of miles and then finished up with a few miles on my own and made myself do another Tabata session. That's one thing I can do while brainless, it only requires concentration for 4 solid minutes.

I have a lot of writing to do today and if my brain will work before the nap, I'll get something done. If not it will have to wait until post-nap, and I'll figure out ways to use my time while my brain is zombified.

This month is flying by, and I need to start feeling like my legs are made of something other than lead and jello. I feel heavy and sluggish. Maybe the marathon idea wasn't such a good one at this stage. I think I'll go back to 5Ks as training runs. I also need to get my butt in gear to start weight training again. I have been a terrible slacker since April. I'm turning into a marshmallow. I need to get my metabolism going, to fight the steady accumulation of weight. Between aging, menopause, and being a nurse, which in itself tends to make people old and fat, I need a super boost. I feel like I'm getting shorter and wider by the day.

This week is pretty much written off to my crazy work schedule. Next week I hope to get something resembling a life back, and then I have a few weeks in July to train until the next round of overtime. Maybe I can find a 5K or two or three in between all of this insanity.

Run for me...

Work Hangover Wednesday: On Fire!

We're burning up again here in Colorado.

There are three fires that I know of going on in Colorado simultaneously. Yesterday afternoon at work, around 3 pm I took a quick walk down the hall to get something out of my locker in the breakroom, and saw out the window at the end of the hall a huge plume of smoke covering almost the entire sky over west Fort Collins.

It was from a fire in Rocky Mountain National Park, the Big Meadows fire. The temperature this week soared to almost 100 degrees here, and the wind picked up, perfect conditions for a repeat of last year’s fire season, which happened the same time last summer.

This morning, though, there was no smoke in the air, and the sky looked reasonably clear. I couldn't tell that there was a fire. Either the wind shifted, or the fire is under control, or both.

The past two days we were busy enough at work but it was manageable. Monday was a particularly challenging day for me because of all the time I put into a particular patient, but that’s a story for another place. Tuesday my big chemo got cancelled and it eased up the day considerably. Watching patients on different trajectories this week, some downward, some bouncing back, some in denial, has also been a challenge.

I woke up before daylight this morning and Iris pounced on me, wanting a belly rub. I scratched her for a while and then Dennis woke up, thinking I was getting up, he asked me to make coffee. I whined my way out of it, begging to sleep. I fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up until 8:00.

Just getting those extra two or three hours of sleep this morning made all the difference in my work hangover. It’s so much easier to face the day when you’re not sleep deprived.

It was already 70 degrees and looking to be a hot one. By the time I got the girls out for their walk it was almost 10:00.

I went out for my run, deciding to break it up into two runs today. I planned to do 6 in the morning and 6 in the evening. But there was a twist…I decided today would be the first of my Tabata workouts, to pick up the intensity to the max, to get a little fat burning and anaerobic benefit. If I survived.

It was almost 80 degrees when I got out the door, and I ran the Power Trail to warm up, trying to figure out where I might be able to sneak this workout in where no one would see me and call 911. I felt surprisingly decent on my run, even after the two twelve hour shifts on my feet and the hot morning.

On my way home I found a little isolated stretch of bike path near home where there wouldn’t be any people. It was 82 degrees in the sunshine, no shade. I dropped my water bottle, set my watch, stretched my hamstrings a bit, took a deep breath and prepared myself for the unknown…

I didn’t want to think about it. Without hesitating, I hit the start button on my stopwatch, and started the four minutes of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off as hard as I could possibly go. I went back and forth on the short little concrete path. The first couple were okay but after the first minute I could feel the effort catching up to me. I kept going, counting my steps to get through the hard intervals. Ten seconds is barely enough to gasp for an extra breath before you start the next one. By the last two I was digging hard, I thought I might collapse at the end but I didn’t.

My heart rate was easily up there around 200. I checked for 15 seconds immediately after the last one was done and it was at 180, but that was as it was dropping rapidly. It didn’t take me all that long to recover and run home for my cooldown. I got 7.7 miles in total not counting Tabata.

The flowers are going wild in our yard, and I’m hoping the summer doesn’t heat up too much and dry everything up so fast. We had all that good moisture this spring. The girls are not too happy about the heat either. I don't have AC in the woman cave- yet. That is my next priority.

Tonight I’ll go out and do another 5 or 6, and tomorrow is track day. I am really hoping the Big Meadows fire gets under control soon, or it could be a problem to have the Estes Park Marathon this weekend with the smoke.

But, I’m stuck here in the Fort for the summer and I need to make the best of it. I'm already missing Death Valley.

I do have some fun trips to look forward to later in the summer though…we’re going to Manhattan Beach again this year, and I did buy airline tickets to Milwaukee so I can run the Badgerland Striders 12 hour race in August. It’s already the middle of June! How did that happen?

Now the fun part begins: getting back into full training, adding weight workouts and core work, and burning off some of this fat that comes back so easily when I slack off even for a short time. I’m hoping to get the flame burning hot shortly…between two a day workouts, weight work, tabatas, speed, hills, and Wheaties Boy tempo runs spread out evenly and generously throughout the next few months, I can get back to feeling like a runner again before long.