The Price of Fatigue

Running, at a level beyond fitness running, seems to always involve some pain and some fatigue. That fatigue, especially when life includes blocks of sitting, but prohibits napping, can be quite demanding. It also means that at times when you sit, especially in darkened locations, for any extended period (that's pronounced movie theaters, Power Point presentations, etc.) there's a tendancy to doze.

This can be very frustrating, both to oneself and one's spouse. It's gotten bad enough at times that my wife won't let me sit on the couch for fear of my dozing off. Focus seems to have an impact on this, I seem able to keep my focus level high in places like the car and only very rarely do I feel like I'm going to doze off. (When that strikes, and it seems to only be a couple of times a year, I pull over for a nap - usually as little as 10 or 15 minutes will do the trick.) The flip side is that most TV, which is often audio-visual background, seems to me to be a powerful sleep inducer. For this reason, I love the auto-off timers on TV's.

One recent related blog post was from Andrew at Downeast Running, in it he outlines part of the price of fatigue for him. So, I run, I work, I eat, I spend time with family, and I sleep. It just often feels like my need for sleep is never fully satisfied.