Exercise and sleeping pills

After spending two agonizing nights at my moms house sleeping on what used to pass for a mattress, you would think that I would sleep like a baby upon coming home yesterday. But, alas, not me. I tossed and turned and flipped and flopped around for hours thinking of the work that I should have done that day in the office, the mess and laundry that had piled up in my absence (way to go boys, great job cleaning up after yourselves), and the fact that I couldnt sleep on my mind. The harder I tried to relax, the worse it was. Now thats a thought right? Should I really have to try really hard to relax? Isnt that defeating the purpose? I knew I had to be up and out of the house early, 6 am. Around midnight I gave up and got out of bed. I had a dull headache working now, a product of the stress and three and a half hour drive from Chicago. When I went to find some ibuprophen, I also discovered we had sleeping pills. Now, I am not a fan of taking sleeping pills. As a matter of fact, they usually just make me exhausted and still unable to sleep, wallowing around in a goofy haze. I decided to take a hint from the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" and only take a half of one. At one in the morning. (Am I the reason for those lengthy disclaimors that tell you not to attempt this at home???) Yeah, thats so not the best time for a sleeping pill unless you are planning on snoozing till noon! Then its off to bed! When the alarm unexpectedly went off what seemed like mere moments later, I sincerely overslept for about 30 minutes. I spent the next 10 minutes scrambling like mad looking for my gym clothes, work clothes, gym bag, shoes, keys, and of course my sanity. The entire morning was spent longing for a pillow and blanket. I tried to think of any excuse in the world why I should get to sleep and it would be allowed. I was so groggy and tired at the gym I was sincerely fantasizing about laying on the nasty MRSA filled mats and sawing logs. Just five minutes. Then I thought, well maybe I can lay down on the chair in the locker room and nap. Even after the workout and run (which were nearly impossible to motivate myself for) I was still tired and looking for an out. I have so much stupid office work to take care of, power points and tests and papers, oh my! There is no way I can just go home "sick" today. Dammit all. Even now as I scarf down my Zone lunch and vitamins I am still dreaming ever so slightly of leaving and napping. Of course I am now convinced since I have made it this far, I may as well stay the next three or so hours and just finish the day. I would like to think when I get home I can flop happily on the soft bed and drift away into slumber....but alas, reality says the kids will be hungry and have no clean clothes to wear tomorrow....and hubby dear is fishing. I guess this is good practice for the sleep deprevation portion of SWAT school. (I can barely wait to get a rifle in my hands under this fog of sleep deprivation.)

Donughts

I want donughts. Its been years since I have felt comfortable holding a deep fried sugar filled pastry up to my lips.... (stereotype cop donut eater gets to me).

Life is so unfair!! Seriously, is there any other occupation where you arent "allowed" to eat a certain type of food? And if you do you totally get made fun of???

New Awesome Recipe

I learned a new recipe today I would like to share. Its a most delicious recipe for suffering and exhaustion. First, gather the ingredients you will need.... at least 400 meters of nice flat running surface, a heavy weight (or anything you can hold over your head), and a nice pull up bar. The next thing you want to do is to run 800 meters (2 does of the 400) as fast as you can. Then, take the heavy object and hoist it over your head and happily hold it high while doing walking lunges...only 50! After the thighs are starting to turn to jello, go ahead and drop to the sweet earth and push it! 40 push ups! Yay! At this point in the recipe, you need to roll over to your backside (makes for a nice even coating of pain) and complete 30 sit ups. Enough resting on your butt, run run run over to the pull up bar. Add in 20 pull ups and about a liter of sweat. The second half of the recipe calls for 400 meters (no resting here, the dough doesnt need to rise!!) another 50 lunges, 40 push ups, 30 sit ups, and 20 more pull ups. The last thing to do is another 800 meters and ta-da!! Collapse into a dripping sweaty mess on the ground. Perfect recipe...if you are a sadist.

This is probably the toughest crossfit workout I have done to date. Of course, I havent done Murph or G.I. Jane yet...and they are supposed to suck. I guess I am looking forward to it...

Who am I kidding? Its like an awesome accomplishment every time I finish one workout. I love it!!!

VO2 max

With a catchy title like that, who wouldnt want to read on, right? Today I had my pre-SWAT school physical. I can tell you that I had heard from the other guys who had already been to medical that the treadmill stress test was horrifying, so I was really curious to see what was up. It was all pretty routine at the beginning of my check up, blood draw, pee in a cup, discuss family medical history, blah blah blah. The sight test says I need glasses but I will pass, the hearing test says I have difficulty hearing one certain tone (I am guessing its the same tone my ex-husband's voice imodulates at) but I can hear fine. The doctor did all sorts of wierd tests and asked all sorts of questions. He didnt find it as funny as I did of course when he asked when my last eye exam was and I told him it was about 5 minutes ago in the other room. All of this fun and adventure was leading up to the treadmill. It looks like a normal treadmill. Or maybe a treadmill who got hit by a truck and was hooked up to life support with many wires and tubes. First things first, you must get all the sticky pads on your chest so they can monitor you. So there I stand for five minutes holding up my shirt while a pleasant girl is putting stickers on me and clipping wires to them. Thank god I was wearing a nicer sports bra. This of course isn't the only indignity. They then put head gear on you and clamp it down to your forehead. They have to clamp it down tight so it doesnt bounce around on your head when you run. The large tube is then handed over and you get to shove it in your mouth and make sure your lips cover it up. There are also squishy bite things on the tube and you cant swallow. So the picture is bleak and slobbery. I laughed but mostly spittle just flew out everywhere and a gutteral grunt grunt grunt was slightly audible. Then the treadmill starts and you walk. Seconds later, they raise the incline and speed. Speed it up again, higher again. Its hilarious. And painful. More slobber is dribbling down my chin and I am dying and feel like I am being forced to climb a mountain. To stop the torture they say just tap out. Well I am no quitter but I did eventually tap. It was difficult, I didnt realize I should train on hills for this test. I suggested they should make a new VO2 max test that was flat for us Indiana folks. No mountains here. (It was fun and dumb at the same time though!!!)

New shoes

I want to know why buying a new pair of running shoes is so inspiring... Am I really that much of a shoe diva where thats all it really takes to motivate me??

The answer is yes.

Awesome looking and feeling orange and white Asics. I just wish the weather would warm up and catch up to my mood!!!

They better just call me Forrest today.