How do you break old habits? As one can imagine it takes a lot of discipline to prepare for and complete an Ironman race. If you possess a vast collection of virtues you may think that you have a leg up on your competition. So you would think that the hardest worker would be the greatest triathlete. Well, it is quite true that no one coasted their way to an ironman victory, the opposite may not be as true. Is it true that the triathlete that adds an extra run each day will be a faster and more successful competitor? What about never taking a day off? It is well documented that this is definitely not the case. That extra run, lack of rest will lead to a poor and often injured athlete. We are told from the time we start school or start organized sports that the hardest worker wins in the end. This is the kind of habit I am speaking of. Habits that are rooted in mindsets that are considered virtuous.
I am dealing with 2 main ones as I prepare for Ironman. These have to do with eating and sleeping. Just think of all of the things we were told about these things. We were told to "eat everything on your plate", "don't waste your food". How about " Early to bed and early to rise makes a man health wealthy and wise". Or a parents favorite, " get out of bed you lazy bum!"
I still believe that this are rooted in proper behavior but if we are not careful these can have the opposite effect. Sort of, too much of a good thing. But even beyond that they can seed behaviors that can have unhealthy results. I still find it extremely difficult to leave any food on my plate. Again something that has its roots in a very healthy habit. I was very fortunate to have had parents that took nutrition seriously. My dinner plate was always prepared with proper helpings of meat and at least 2 vegetables. Eating all of the contents led to a well balanced meal. So as long as my mommy prepares my meals I should be OK. Considering my advanced years the possibility of my mommy providing my meals is pretty slim. So to address this deep seeded habit I simply need to follow the discipline of filling my plate with the appropriate amount of the proper foods.
As a side note I remember visiting a nutritionist about 5 years ago I had already lost a significant amount of weight and wanted advice about proper eating. I felt that the consultation was excellent and would recommend this person to anyone. In the end however I realized that the basic strategy was a well balanced diet with lots of different vegetables. Just like my mom fed me. MOM FTW!!!!!!
Sleep is an entirely different thing, and is really the main message of this blog (explaining stupid things). Unlike controlling the mechanical and logistical aspects of eating, sleeping lacks the variety of inputs. i can provide adequate dietary inputs of calories, fats proteins, carbs etc. What are the equivalent sleep inputs? If they can be defined how do you control them.
As an endurance athlete I should be getting 8-10 hours of sleep a night. I was consistently getting 6-7 hours. these were very sound hours. I would put my head down and fall asleep withing 5 minutes (5 seconds sometimes) and wake up just before my alarm went off. I almost never nap during the day. If I went to bed early I would wake up early, usually after 6-7 hours of sleep. If it was the weekend I would get up and start laundry, or other chores. I might watch TV or read.
I started with my doctor and explained most of this to him and he did not see a problem with my sleeping. He did say that 6 hours was probably not enough but 7 was ok. On the whole he did not see any problems with my sleep habits.
I tried a few things on my own. Going to bed earlier and only a marginal affect. I went to bed earlier only to wake up earlier (again 6-7 hours). It did seem to keep me closer to the 7 hour sleep period. the most surprising thing was giving up caffeine. This had zero affect. It did not change my sleeping one bit. I was off caffeine for a month and it did not change my sleeping one bit.
I finally started to approach like any other training component. If you work at it you will get better at it. The first thing I tried was not getting out of bed as soon as my alarm went off in the morning. When the alarm goes off I turn the radio on low and listen to the news weather etc.. I started just listening for 30 minutes and then getting up and getting ready for work. Now, I sleep the entire 30 minutes. This adds 30 minutes to my sleep. On the weekends I stopped getting up as soon as I woke and made an effort to go back to sleep. Again, at first I was not very successful. Mostly lying awake thinking of the things I needed to get up and do. Each weekend I was able to spend more and more time sleeping. Last Saturday I slept 8.5 hours.
So what is the stupid thing that needs explaining. Well it has to do with the virtue of getting up early. I thought that getting up early was the proper way to live. The stupid thing is that I changed that mentality by approaching sleep as something that needs to be "worked at". Think of a weight lifter who starts with 10 lbs and within a week is lifting 15. Then after a month 30 pounds, a year 100 pounds etc. By approaching sleep as a progression (15 minutes then 30 then an hour etc.) I seem to have removed the stigma of being "lazy". Is that stupid or what. By viewing as something difficult and requiring effort (and it was an effort to stay in bed) I removed feelings of laziness. Kind of dumb? It does seem to be producing the desired results.
Just trying to explain stupid things (to myself)
