We all have routines. We all have biological clocks. Most are endogenous or “built in” and usually based on the 24-hour day, however, other examples include weekly (our work weeks vs. weekend), tidal (the moon phases), monthly (ask any female), seasonal (more pronounced in certain parts of the globe – ie/ the Arctic Circle to reference one extreme), and annual. The most obvious of these circadian cues is daylight (which I think we tend to over micromanage with Daylight Savings).
Taken from Wikipedia, in order to be called “circadian”, a biological rhythm must meet these four general criteria:
1. The rhythms repeat once per day (they have a 24-hour period). In order to keep track of the time of day, a clock must be at the same point at the same time each day, i.e. repeat every 24 hours.
2. The rhythms persist in the absence of external cues (endogenous). The rhythm persists in constant conditions with a period of about 24 hours. The rationale for this criterion is to distinguish circadian rhythms from simple responses to daily external cues. A rhythm cannot be said to be endogenous unless it has been tested in conditions without external periodic input.
3. The rhythms can be adjusted to match the local time (entrainable). The rhythm can be reset by exposure to external stimuli (such as light and heat), a process called entrainment. The rationale for this criterion is to distinguish circadian rhythms from other imaginable endogenous 24-hour rhythms that are immune to resetting by external cues and, hence, do not serve the purpose of estimating the local time. Travel across time zones illustrates the ability of the human biological clock to adjust to the local time; a person will usually experience jet lag before entrainment of their circadian clock has brought it into sync with local time.
4. The rhythms maintain circadian periodicity over a range of physiological temperatures (exhibit temperature compensation). Some organisms live at a broad range of temperatures, and the thermal energy will affect the kinetics of all molecular processes in their cell(s). In order to keep track of time, the organism's circadian clock must maintain a roughly 24-hour periodicity despite the changing kinetics, a property known as temperature compensation. For reasons of this posting, as it relates to triathlon, and more specifically to training, the obvious one to focus in on is #3, “entrainable”.
So, here is what you are thinking . . . . . . . how is this important to triathlon? Well, it might not be important to your triathlon training, but it became an absolute necessity to my triathlon training in October of 2010, the moment I started my new job. In the fall of 2009 when I started training for my first tri, I was working 3 days per week, 8am-8pm, usually Tuesday – Thursday. You can imagine the potential for training having a 4-day weekend nearly every week. The flip side of that is pretty much not being able to find any time to train on those 3 days that I was working. Let’s just say, I could almost always find time for those long endurance training rides, runs, or bricks, but I also had 3 days of recovery each week which is way too much too often and probably somewhat detrimental.
My new job, as a physician assistant, in thoracic surgery, is now M-F. Two days per week I need to be in the Operating Room before 7:30am, and that is after seeing all of the previously admitted patients, at 2 different hospitals no less. Now, there isn’t always patients admitted, but usually. The other 3 days per week I need to be in the office by 8:00am, again after rounding on all of the admitted patients. In surgery there is always someone “on-call”, someone who answers the pager when it goes off. For me that is every day from 6:30am to 4:00pm (only M-F), as well as every other M-F being on-call 24 hours per day. Are you seeing my dilemma developing? At any point between 6:30am and 4:00pm I may be called to drop what I am doing to get somewhere (in a hurry). On the weeks that I’m on-call 24hrs/day I may get awoken several times during the night to answer the pager.
So, when does this 41 year old age grouper, with 2011 ambitions to complete his first Half Ironman, find the time to train? Let’s just say that I need to be done with my daily workout before 6:30am. This means a 3:45am alarm. When I first got this job I made an attempt to workout in the evenings, after the kids went to bed (about 8pm), but my energy level was terrible at that time of day. I found myself routinely skipping them in lieu of a warm bed. The other difficult part was falling asleep at 10:30pm after a great workout (wasn’t happening).
Afternoons were also not an option. Upon leaving work around 4pm each day, I’d have to go pick up the kids from school/daycare, make them dinner, help with homework, and then hang out with them until bed – time I was not willing to sacrifice. Often after they went to bed it was the time of day that I’d open mail, pay some bills, do laundry/dishes/whatever. So, what was left? That’s right, 4-6am. I had no choice, and that’s okay, because once I had figured out how to reset my internal clock, I started having the most productive workouts of my life.
After the first 3 months at my new job I was finally starting to settle in, so with the holidays in the rearview I put the plan in place. Starting in January every 2 weeks I would set my alarm clock to awaken me 15 minutes earlier than the previous 2 weeks. By April, when I officially transitioned into my 20-week Half Ironman training program, I was getting up at 3:45am each morning. Of course, this sleep had to be made up somewhere. That wasn’t difficult at all. When you get up before dawn with the roosta, it’s pretty easy to fall asleep before 9pm, and I was. Generally within about 10 minutes of me plopping my tail on the couch, I was fighting REM. It is a fight I don’t mind losing and have no will to win anyway.
But will it be enough? That 20wk training plan that I have requires 2 workouts per day 2-3 days per week, and always with a day of rest each week. And that is where the adjustment must be made. I will need to sacrifice that day off in lieu of taking one of those evening workouts and shifting it to that “off” day. Inevitably, on one of the other “double workout days”, I will just have to suck it up and do the evening one, which sometimes will be on the weekend, except I need to reserve the weekend days for those longer workouts lasting 2-4 hours, usually involving a BRICK.
It took me 3 weeks in January to methodically go through that 20wk plan and make all of the adjustments to allow it to potentially fit “my” life. It took me nearly 3 months to reset my circadian rhythm. Yet, I still find myself needing to make weekly, if not daily adjustments to that day’s “plan”. Why? It is an amazing sport that I love. Where else can I be in the same race, alongside (ok, behind), the pros? You must lead a healthy lifestyle in order to coax your body into doing the extraordinary. The families, other athletes, the volunteers, and fans, are simply the best of any sport. You’re never too old. After all you will always only compete against those of similar age. It’s never too late to reset your rhythm, but you’ll have to get up well before dawn if you want to crow with the iron roosta.
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