I pulled the plug. Have just ran an easy mile or so for the past three days to keep my streak alive and have been focusing on sleep. No tryptophan. Just normal sleep. I went into work and my boss noted my tired appearance. Then after chatting with like minded people I reminded myself that recovery makes me stronger and it's not always about the miles. 

Easy week a week earlier so I'll try to get back to it starting tomorrow. 

Life stress is piling up!

Yesterday while running around the Wyre Forest pushing the little guy in the buggy I was thinking about what's missing to make be feel so not on it lately. 

I wasn't running more than normal. My diet had slipped a little and I was eating more sugar and bread more than normal. Could I not be eating enough? Sleep was at about 7-8 hours which had been enough in the past. More may be better. I've had some virus for a very long time which I'll blame on kids. So where was the problem? 

I got home after 13 miles of buggy running and was wrecked. I decided to start with my diet and ate well that night. 

8 o'clock hit and I opted to go to bed. Yes, at 8! I popped a tryptophan just in case to help me get to sleep. I was up a few times for bathroom breaks but woke at 6:50! Fortunately the little guy slept until 7, we "grazed him" on food until bedtime which must have filled him up to not wake up hungry.

I never sleep that long! Anyway one big component is exposed, recovery is not enough. Now I just need to try my hardest to sleep more. Easier said then done with kids!

But what is causing this need for recovery? 7-8 hours a night had been plenty in the past. It's too easy to say age, that's a tiny component. The only thing I can think of that is easily forgotten is life stress. 

Erratic schedules with the kids I know throw me off. Especially mornings. There is no consistency at all with anything.  Dealing with sickness, tantrums, not eating, the list goes on. Every little stressor adds up. I want the best for my kids or at least what I think is the best, which isn't necessarily right all the time! When they decide different it stresses me out. 

My "job" is a stay at home dad so obviously I'll talk about the stresses of kids. I'd assume a normal job can cause the same things. However my job never ends, I can't leave work at work. I'm on call all the time.

So on we go tip toeing along the edge of recovery. I may finish this month off as planned, 40 mile weeks. Then take an easy week before jumping up to 50 mile weeks all the while thinking about recovery in the form of sleep. 

Tired miles

Lately it feels as if I'm on the edge of physical failure. I'm running the training miles I want to, and at a decent pace, but I'm tired seemingly all the time.

With a rather stout Jeet Kune Do grading the other day, the extra training leading up to it, this cold/cough/virus/lurgee that I've had forever STILL hanging on, and kids interrupting sleep I feel like I need time off. Like I'm pushing too much.

Life stress has been adding up. I've even been watching movies on the treadmill! Is this the beginning of the end? The treadmill? Lack of motivation to get outside? I don't know.

Well this is kind of what I think. However  when on the 'mill I'm forced into a recovery heart rate zone, forced to go easy. As opposed to outside when it's easy to go fast and I have difficulty going easy. 

I'm going to ride it out and hope these "easy" treadmill runs will allow me to keep to my goal mileage but not over tax my body. I truly think it's lack of recovery due to not enough rest. 

I most likely will do 3-5 miles tonight and tomorrow I'm on the Wyre Forest pushing the little guy in the chariot for maybe 13. Tomorrow night then can be an early night hopefully and I can get some rest. Hopefully. 

Next week I'm planning on upping my mileage to 50 mile weeks which will take some time management and tolerance from the wife. Sure was nice when I could run in the mornings! I'd be home after a 17 miler and no one knew I was gone! 

Just need to remind myself that recovery is a HUGE part of process. 

Chariot Side Fenders! Finally!

So. I did it. I got tired of being sprayed with mud from the rear two wheels of the Chariot. Actually what the breaking point was not me getting muddy but the spray was shooting onto the front cover screen over my son and he was getting muddy too!

I didn't want to spend a lot of money in order to possibly cut and mangle something to end up not working so I went cheap. I also know Thule makes some form of fender for these but I sure wasn't going to spend I believe over $100 on them and they look like they won't give a runner much coverage. My Chariot is old too, not produced by Thule, and may not be compatible anyway since they have made some changes. 

I found a set of mountain bike fenders, front and rear, for a kid's bike on Amazon for £2.32! I ordered two. Shipping from Hong Kong I'd have to wait a couple weeks.

My eyes spotted the two screws that the mounting bracket used to connect to the rear fender. I knew the seat post clamp could be shimmed to fit my needs but the connection to the fender needed to be versatile in case I wanted to use a different fender. Two screws I could connect to nearly anything! 

After a few weeks of waiting they arrived and that night I had a look at them. I disassembled what I could to survey the situation. It looked like I wouldn't need to buy anything else just rearrange what I had. Fortunately they came with shims too for different diameter seat posts. Another nice thing was that some of the adjustments had knurled knobs so they don't really need tools to tighten or loosen. 

First thing I did was look at the length of the bracket, which was too long. I removed the center piece and reconnected everything. The length was now just about right but I'm sure could be shortened, or micro adjusted, if needed by changing the angle from the Chariot. 

right is the original bracket, left I've removed the center piece

This shortend distance and using both of the shims allowed me to connect the fender bracket to the Chariot's "Click n' Store Bracket" (as Thule calls it). The only downside was there wasn't a nice knurled knob connecting to the Chariot, only a screw, so attachment/removal and "field adjustment" would need a screwdriver for now. Maybe add a wing nut later? 

close up of the hardware and changed bracket

Now that I had the bracket figured out, and with the two screws for attaching a fender, I could play with different fender types. Since I had the fenders I decided to use them. I would much prefer a full coverage wrap around fender but I wasn't sure if they'd be torsionally rigid enough with the single bracket holding it. Plus as of now I'd rather not spend the money and have them not work.  

top is the finished rearrangement

I attached the front and rear fenders together for more coverage. Surprisingly all of the original hardware and mounting holes allowed me to rearrange their location and everything was good to go! 

finished! 

And that was basically it! A little dismantling, rearranging, and it all seemed to line up ok! 

attached to Chariot w/ "rear" forward

Now the question was which fender should be front facing? Should I have more coverage forward or back since they don't wrap around? 

"rear" forward

I tried both in the typical muddy conditions here and having more coverage rearward was better, but only slightly. 

"front" forward worked best

Initially I didn't tighten the connection and very bumpy terrain made the fenders rotate a bit but once screwed on tight they were perfect. Since it's a front and rear fender joined there is a "hinge" in the middle allowing me to angle the rear end a bit for better coverage. Also the angle of the fender bracket can fine tune coverage. As mentioned before a wing nut or quick release would be nice for in field adjustments and easy on/off for travel in the car. 

That's essentially it, and it works! Preferred upgrades and thoughts for the future: quick release, full coverage fenders.

Damn cold is holding strong. What ever happened to "3 days coming, 3 days with, 3 days going?" These last forever now, I'm on day 10 and it's still pretty much full blown. I've just become used to it I guess. Fortunately I'm sleeping better but the little guy has decided to wake between 4 and 5am. So I'm trying to get to bed as early as possible.

Still running. It clears my sinuses and my mind so it's necessary. I did back off a bit with my night miles to see if I can get healthy. Why do I seem to get sick when I'm ready to step it up in miles? 

Unfortunately my nightly JKD and body weight routines had to fall for now. Something had to give.

I cobbled together some fenders for the Chariot which I was excited to test out yesterday. I'm working on a full blog post just on that now.