Night Shifts

Today's Workout:

• Swim - 30 minutes      26 lengths
• Run - 3 miles                 32 minutes

Got up nice and early for a swim this morning – I love cycling to the leisure centre as it is pretty much all downhill, I can just roll while I try to wake up.  Although I got up early, I did not get up in time to have breakfast before swimming so just downed half a pint of water and hopped on my bike.  I am used to exercising on am empty stomach, it took a whole year of running to learn how to eat before and during my runs.  

This is my local pool (the pic makes it look much posher than it really is!)

The pool was lovely and quiet.  The aim was to try and swim for 2-4 lengths continuously and then have a break and repeat for 30 minutes.  I was trying really hard to concentrate on what my swimming teacher had said about practicing front crawl with really relaxed arms and to kick from the hip.  Unfortunately it seems I can only do one thing at a time (been hanging around blokes too long ha ha).  When I was concentrating on my arms – my legs went and did their own thing and when I was really trying to kick from the hip and not the knee my arms would become stiffer than planks of wood.  And don’t get me started on my breathing...!  Still, I am sure with perseverance it will improve.  All in all, I managed 26 lengths in 30 minutes and was even brave enough to swim the last 6 lengths in the slow lane rather than the recreational swimmers section which I had made my home!   

I got out the pool and found I had forgotten my shower gel so had to cycle home stinking of chlorine.  Nice big bowl of porridge with honey and pumpkin seeds for breakfast washed down with a cup of coffee and a pint of green tea... thats right, a pint!  I have some lovely mugs of epic proportions which saves me getting my backside off the sofa to make a second cup of regular sized tea once I have finished the first.  

It's green tea all the way!!

Then I watched half an hour of Jeremy Kyle while my breakfast went down before heading out for a lovely 3 mile run.  Don’t judge me for watching the Kyle... it is my guilty pleasure!!

My night shifts start tonight so I will be partaking in another of my favourite pastimes later today – the afternoon nap!  I find it really hard to train when on night shifts.  I find that I need a good 8-9 hours sleeps to be able to function when at work, but even then I still feel exhausted and it leaves little time (or motivation) to exercise.  At the moment I can work it so that I train the day my night shifts start and then the day that they finish as I only sleep for 2-3 hours to get myself reacclimatised to day time again.  As the marathon training progresses, I think I may have to schedule in workouts during my night shifts which will take a lot of motivation to complete and probably involve sacrificing some sleep (nothing new there then)!

I have no idea how other people do it, especially those with children – I have the utmost respect for them as I’m sure it takes a lot of time management and dedication (it makes me feel tired just thinking about it).  

Do you work night shifts?  

How do you fit in your training?  

How do you manage to eat healthily when working nights?