I generally operate on 5-1/2 to 6-1/2 hours of sleep.  I don’t necessarily recommend that, but it works for me.   I also walk a very thin line.  Prior to manhood, which hit very late for me, I was exceptionally lazy.  I would sleep in late on the weekends, hit the snooze bar a time or four every morning and lead a generally lethargic life.  The transformation process makes for a very long story and I’ve got work to get to so I’ll leave that story for another day, just please suffice it to say I held on to being a kid as long as I possibly could before that lifestyle became so obnoxious and ugly to me that I discarded it for good.

That being said, every once in a while my body needs more sleep.  I don’t quite know how to describe it beyond I just can’t wake up but I can describe how this goes.  This morning I woke up at 3:30, turned on the news and nuked myself a cup of coffee in the microwave (I know, I know, but for some crazy reason I like it).  I drank that cup of coffee and another and sat watching the news.  For some reason, I just didn’t feel “up”, so I laid back on the couch and went back to sleep.  I woke up every hour thereafter and promptly fell right back to sleep until 7:15.  I might wake up that late five or ten times a year and this was one of those days.

I wasn’t being lazy, wasn’t hiding from anything and I certainly wasn’t just “wanting to enjoy the warmth of the covers for a few more minutes”.  For some reason, I just needed more sleep, so I heeded my body’s warning.  I woke up at a quarter after feeling bright and ready to go.  So here I sit, laptop on and ready to get to it, a bright new day, a 16 mile ride in my very near future (about 11 to take advantage of the sun and temp and to beat the impending rain).  Tomorrow will be a different day and a different story and that’s really the trick – I used to be so damned lazy that I have to be hyper-vigilant about never falling back into that again.  It’s no longer a daily struggle and hasn’t been for years, but every once in a while I have to check my motives just to make sure.  Here’s to a glorious day and the start of an excellent weekend.

By the way, yesterday’s spin was awesome (though I probably hit it a little too hard) and my evening 5k was painless.  Not even a hint of tension in the calf or hamstring.  I’ll be getting back on schedule tomorrow (not that I missed much).