It's all a little fishy if you ask me...

Every now and then I have to take an unscheduled "off day" or "off days" due to what I call "hibernation spells."  It's weird because there generally isn't a pattern to it, I mean I'm tired after harder effort workouts, but with hibernation spells I sleep way more than my normal 8 hours.  Saturday night I slept for close to 15 hours of sleep.  When I take an unplanned "off day" its when I have an extended period of sleep and I still wake up feeling tired.  I've learned that's my body telling me to take it easy.  It's one of the hardest thing to learn as an athlete....listening to your body.  There is always this pressure, for me most of it is internal, but there's this pressure to "stick to the plan," work harder, etc.  It's a fine line because that kind of dedication and self discipline is one of the things that helps an athlete achieve success....however if you ignore your body when it's trying to tell you something...you can end up sick or injured.  Interestingly enough, USMS just posted an article with a similar theme: http://www.usms.org/articles/articledisplay.php?aid=2736

So....due to the intense case of the "sleepies" I took three off days (sunday-unplanned, Monday-planned, Tuesday-sort of unplanned).  An added bonus...and my boyfriend's all time favorite, my hibernation spells were accompanied by the "hair trigger tear response" and Sunday was a day when I had more than a few "Cry downs" (break downs with tears).  My boyfriend is getting quite good at dealing with them...but I'm also pretty sure he's close to having me committed.

So....after three days off...today's swim felt awesome, however, Whitefish lake was pretty smelly today...the consensus was it was either fishy or wet dog smell.  Either way...wished I had been chewing gum during the swim.  :)

17 days until the swim....I'm hopeful the weather will cooperate and I will get a nice clear window of no thunderstorms.

I have two pretty big court hearings in the next week and a half....so I've had a little work stress on my mind as well.  But I've started getting really excited about the post-swim tv marathon while I recover.  Last year it was Grey's anatomy...haven't chosen my series for this year yet.  But fortunately I have a good amount of comp time and vacation time I can use after the swim.  :)

Dinner's ready....talk to you all tomorrow!

~Emily