Working the overnight shift, family and bike riding

How in the world does all of this go together? Not well sometimes. Over the winter we (Eddie and I) did a program called the Super 6 through Spinervals. I was committed and held on even with working three 10 hour overnight shifts. Looking back at it, I must have sacrificed sleep at times. I really don't know how I did it. The whole goal was to be ready for Battenkill, which I was. I ended up doing the Gran Fondo instead of the race on Saturday. I had a great time. Then mountain bike season started. My job changed (hours), I went from doing three 10 hour shifts to four 8 hours shifts. Training has totally dropped off. Is it the overnight shift or I'm just a slacker?? Don't know.

Couple of words of advice when working the overnight; make sure you get your rest, hydrate, get proper nutrition and exercise. So easy to give advice, right? Yeah, can I actually do it? Not recently. I woke up this afternoon at 4 pm (was suppose to be 2 pm) with every intention of riding on the trainer. Ah, no that didn't happen, instead I opened up a beer and sat on the front porch, got eaten by mosquitoes, went back into the house and made dinner. Drank a glass of wine. The kids came over, ate and here I am writing on a blog and listening to music.

The secret to sleeping during the day; triple coverage on the blinds in the windows to make our master bedroom black like night, a sound machine and the noisy bathroom fan. Oh, need to have something in my stomach before going to bed, it REALLY sucks to wake up with a low blood sugar!! Depending on the day, I either go to bed right away (if it's my last night on) or stay up till 1 pm and sleep till 9 pm to go back to work. If I'm staying up, I try to have a plan, usually going for a bike ride is the plan. If I'm going to bed, trying to have a plan, like riding a bike when I get up. Honestly, sometimes I'm successful, others I fail dreadfully!

Do I like working nights, don't even know how to answer that. I do because there are less people around and the staff tends to work together (in theory). No I don't because I'm always trying to sleep and trying to wake myself up, it takes a complete 24 hours to recover from working the overnight shift. So even if I have 3 nights off, I really only have 2. I do a lot on my own, thank goodness Eddie works 3-11. He's an awesome support, understands that sleep is vital. I can't even explain my schedule to people, they just look at me like, what did you just say? Enough of my whining!!

Need to refocus, this is what I do, I work the overnight shift, period. I have to make it work. My family, riding my bike and work. Find the balance and enjoy every moment of my life. Be thankful for my family and friends that I love and that love me. My bike always is there for me, even if I haven't taken it out for 3 days, unconditional love!

On that note, thanks for reading this entire post! I'm refocusing and setting new goals. Race this weekend at Domnarski's Farm in the Root 66 Race Series, get my mandatory training done, see my grandchildren, visit some dear friends and ride my bike!