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Sugar High – Uh oh!

This morning when I got into work, sitting on my desk was a large box, a very large box, from my mom, filled with cookies. Just saying “large” doesn’t really do the box justice – according to the post office label, it weighs nearly eight pounds! She emailed me earlier in the week and said she had “some” leftover home-made cookies from a party at the house that she wanted to send me. And supposedly, this is just a portion of the left-overs. So, what’s any good son going to do, but enjoy some of the goodies right away. Before 10:30, I had tried at least every variety of cookie in the box and gone back for seconds (and thirds) on some. Nice breakfast! Now (it’s 12:30 as I write this part of the entry), I’m flying high. Now, I’m certainly not worried about the calories and the cookies are really delicious, but I normally limit my refined sugar intake and I’m just waiting to crash. I’ve really got to find someone to share these cookies with.

It’s now evening – 9:40PM. I fed my sugar high until early afternoon (I definitely had a pound of those friggin’ cookies). By the time I left work, I was coming down. Just plain exhausted. And I had to run for 90 minutes. Ugh. I got home, drank a bunch of water, had half a PowerBar and got going. I was worried that I would have a crappy run because of all the sugar, but it actually wasn’t half bad. I was supposed to run 8:30’s and keep my heart rate down. I actually probably averaged a little under 8:00 and didn’t keep my heart rate as low as I should have. The weather was great – a little bit cold, but not much wind and the air felt really crisp. I felt really good until about 75 minutes into the run and then I started getting cold and tired and I could feel my feet dragging a little bit. At that point, I slowed down even more and did an extended cool down. I’m pretty happy with myself – the fact that I can just pick up and run 11 miles after a full day of work and after the last couple weeks of intense training is a good sign. And it wasn’t really that hard and I don’t feel all that spent right now. I’m guessing I’ll sleep well tonight, but you never know with me. In fact, I was talking with my friend Chris tonight and he mentioned something on topic that I’m interested to explore. He said that one sign of over-training is the INability to sleep. That surprises me, but does make some sense (I think). I should keep better track of those sleepless nights that I occasionally have and see if/how there’s a pattern. And speaking of Chris, his book is coming out in a few months, which is pretty exciting.

p.s. Today is Charlie’s first birthday! Happy Birthday Charlie!!

Run – February 1
Time: 1:30
Distance: 11.25
Average heart rate: 145
Course: West Side Highway up to 57th Street, down to Chambers
Conditions: Cool (low 30’s), light wind, clear – really nice!