Training Timings

One of the big unknowns when I had my daughter was when I would be able to train.  I held off on signing up for any significant races because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to put in the hours to be prepared for them.  Prior to The Girl, I was a very finicky about my workouts.  They had to be before a meal (or at least three hours after last eating).  They couldn't be too early (my legs don't seem to work in the morning).  They couldn't be too late (I need proper time to unwind before bed).

Having a kid has certainly changed that outlook (to be fair, having a kid changes a great deal of outlooks in life).

My wife suggested that I get up early to go for my runs or bikes.  I told her that was a good idea conceptually, but not so much practically.  I would set my alarm an hour early, only to waste a few minutes here or there and be left with insufficient time to get a workout in.  Or I would just not wake up at all (until my real alarm went off).

Recently, though, I've gotten pretty good about waking up early.  It was really kickstarted when The Girl decided she wanted to wake up at 5am.  I comforted her and put her back down, but I wasn't able to get back to sleep.  So I went for a run.  It wasn't a very good run, but it proved to me that I could do it.

Going to bed earlier has also helped with getting up earlier (duh).  We've found that one of the longest uninterrupted stretches of sleep that The Girl has is when we first put her down - so 7pm, until about midnight, though sometimes that's only 8, or 9, or 10.  Never 11.  Go figure.  Anyway, we learned that if she was going to constantly get up in the dead of the night and then be ready for the day at 7, we better get some sleep in before that happens.

Lately, she's been a little gremlin in the middle of the night.  Waking up every hour or so, demanding comfort in the form of being fed, though she's not truly hungry.  Suffice it to say, my wife and I are both avidly reading a sleep training book.

My stomach has also discovered a new found fortitude that it never possessed previously.  I actually went to the doctor because of the GI issues I would experience while (mainly) running.  Hence the requirement of working out before eating, or way, way after that food should be out of my stomach.  I don't know if having a kid has fortified my stomach and bowels, but it doesn't bother me to run closer to meals.  I can't even begin to describe how freeing it is to not be limited to a couple of periods throughout the day when I'd be able to exercise.

Days that I work I get to see The Girl, asleep, before I leave for work, and then for about an hour or so before she goes to bed.  I do not want to spend that hour away from her.

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