After spending hours gawking at my wife and kids, my body was finally ready to shut down. Or was it? Ah yes, it had seemed as if I had forgotten the sleep troubles I had when arriving in China. It took about 4 days to get into a somewhat normal sleep pattern but I was hoping for magic coming home so I didn't feel so "blah" with my family.
True to my body, it did take 4 days and as I am writing this blog on the 5th day of being home, I can honestly say that those four days were not fun. Aside from waking up between 2-3am each morning and not being able to go back to sleep, I was a bit on the grouchy side due to sleep deprivation and could not exercise to save my life. Altitude is killer when you are away from it for 5 weeks! I was optimistic with each day that I would be back to normal but my body would not cooperate with my wishes. Daily naps, in the time span of 2-3 hours, would plague my routine but you know, it's over now. And I know that for sure based on the mountain bike ride I did today.
I use training as a bit of a test to see how my body is doing I felt just short of great on the bike today. I was pushing a tough gear, was mentally navigating well and even pulled off a 3 minute PR on a regular course I ride.
I have another 6 days now to enjoy this wonderfully beautiful state of Colorado and my family before reporting back to work. I'm taking over the house duties as much as I can to allow my wife to get some R&R but since I know her, she will have none of that. She will enjoy some time to work on some of her exquisite hand-crafted silver jewelry that she makes through her company CnK Designs (www.cnk-designs.com). Regardless, I'll still try to fit in some trail getaways on the knobbies in between coaching my son's soccer team, grocery shopping, getting the kids to and from school and taking care of some household duties.
I'm back and loving it! More to come about my Achilles recovery in my next post so stay tuned!
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
