Modern Life Is Rubbish

After fretting during the last 5 weeks over my heart rate fluctuations and the possible insights this might give me into my state of 'under recovery' I decided to sleep with my HR monitor on last night. It might seem a bit of a strange thing to do, please don't judge me too harshly readers... I'd hoped to get some idea of what kind of rest I'm getting - have been waking up after stressful work dreams these last few days. I was also a bit curious generally about what else it might tell me. Anyway, these justifications of a rather sad individual set aside, what a hoot! I'm not quite sure what to make of the results. This home-made experiment has produced some intriguing results.

It seems I travelled a total of 1.65miles whilst in bed asleep. All of this activity seemed to follow a rather haphazard pattern; a spider's web of wriggling in every possible direction as depicted on my Garmin route map. Thankfully, I didn't stray too near the B6160. My heart rate also tells an interesting story. I'm not sure what I'm most intrigued by, my apparent mileage whilst asleep or the rather too frequent peaks in my HR activity throughout most of last night. No wonder I felt so sleepy when the alarm went off this morning. According to the chart, I was clearly out for the count at 0.47 miles with my RHR at it's most relaxed state of 33bpm. Who knows what was going on after that. Anyway, it looks as though I'm under recovering from my dream state antics never mind my running.

On a more serious note, I'm conscious that life outside running is likely to have played a role in my recent running frustrations. Work has felt particularly pressured of late and this apparent lack of restful sleep may be some indication of the fact that a) I'm a bit of a head case and b) I probably need a holiday. This way of living life surely can't be good. My current exit strategy from the rat race i.e. the lucky dip on Saturdays needs some review and perhaps more serious thought should be given to a simpler life. The government pension has a lot to answer for. On a happier note I managed an easy 7 on the road tonight into what felt like gale force winds. A bit rough but thankfully no tumbles and a refreshing release from the relentless rut that is work right now. Sleep well readers.