Things that go squelch in the night

Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy.

I've already seen how, while running 50 miles a week, a small change to my routine can make a huge difference to whether I can cope with the training. Over Xmas I saw that adding drinking and driving to my schedule (not on the same days I should add!), and I was barely able to cope. Now it seems, sleep is a major factor.

I've always needed 8 hours of sleep a night, but as the mileage goes up I appear to need more. Given this simple fact, why did I think it was OK to follow a 15 miler on Sunday with a late night on the computer doing quite brain intensive stuff (tax!) and then have a mug of hot chocolate immediately before bedtime? I was buzzing! No way could I sleep! I know I can't sleep if I've been doing brain work late at night, so I thought a half hour of tele and a cup of hot chocolate (which I think contains caffeine!) would calm me down and help me sleep. Doh! I was wrecked on Monday morning. Luckily it was my one rest day, so plenty of time to recover (I thought).

Monday night was better. I probably should have gone to bed earlier, but I felt reasonably well recovered for my 9 mile work session on Tuesday night.

Another factor that can affect sleep is if I eat late - after 9pm. A full stomach keeps me awake. Tuesday wasn't too bad as I'd cleared up by 9pm and had set myself up for a good night's sleep. With various bits and pieces of daily dysfunction still to do, it was 11pm by the time I got in bed. Not too bad, but perhaps a little late?

At around 5am the sleep catch-up was going well when a noise - maybe the central heating starting - stirred me from sleep and I lay dozing. Then all prospect of continued sleep evaporated: a loud squelching sound frightened the hell out of me! It seemed like it came from within the house. It was one of those noises which you just can't place. It sounded like a heavy object landing on something soft. A bird hitting the window? I don't think so. An object falling off a shelf onto something below? Maybe, but I spent the next quarter of an hour searching the house and peering through the windows trying to figure out what it could be. Had my dozing brain been playing tricks on me? Had I imagined it? Something must have happened to trigger the cold sweat I was in, but what?

I eventually went back to bed, but attempts at sleep were futile. The source of the mystery sound remains just that: a mystery. The following morning I even typed 'Things that go squelch in the night' into Google, to see what came back, but nothing useful.

My Wednesday lunchtime recovery run, as a result, ended up as yet another survival run. As the afternoon wore on I felt dreadful. By the time I got home I was wrecked. I ended up going to bed at 8:30pm in a desperate attempt to catch up on some sleep. This morning I feel better. Maybe a touch woolly around the edges, but better. Another 7 mile work session beckons for this evening, but maybe I'll take it easy. And then bed! To sleep, perchance to dream!

2 weeks to go before my next cutback week. I hope things get easier!



(In case you're wondering, Google does come up with 2 direct hits for 'Things that go squelch in the night': one, the title of a lecture for the Cambridge University Chemical Society, and the other, a forum discussion on wee creatures trampled under foot. If you're really that desperate for the links, I'll let you do the googling!)