Stress and Adaptation

The human body is an amazing thing. I really regret that people aren't in awe of the body the way they should be. I don't think the world's greatest engineers or scientists could ever design something as complex yet simple as the human body.

One of its most amazing features is its ability to adapt. I have blogged before about how you can basically stress the body in a number of ways and it will nearly always respond and adapt. It is really easy to demonstrate this in athletic achievements. Whether it is imprinting certain movements to muscle memory, like a golf swing, or increasing you speed or mileage running, the body absorbs the stress and given practice and the right amount of recovery it bounces right back. What once seemed like a struggle becomes a practical part of your training.

Over the past two weeks, I have experienced this in two ways--sleeping patterns and the ability to get moving in the morning. First, the triathlon coaching business has a standard 5 am alarm clock. Moving from the eastern to central time zone has made this adjustment much easier. While I will admit that the first few days were a struggle, the body as responded quite well. In fact, it has adapted too well. My body knows exactly when it is 4:50-4:55.

The sleeping pattern doesn't surprise me as much as my ability to get out the door in 15 minutes. In the past, I covet time in the morning. I enjoy the slow pace of the early hours. And in many instances (prior to masters) often find myself wallowing in misery about getting out the door. But that seems to be changing.

Most of it is mental because I KNOW I must get moving. There are people that depend on me. But now I hop out of bed, pop in my contacts, get changed and move straight out the door. It really is the simple. The body is adapting to my new set of demands. It doesn't stand in my way.

The flip side of all this is that the body has yet to adapt on the back end of things. I often spend the middle part of the day feeling like a zombie. I am working on figuring out the right amount of small napping that I need to catch my second wind for the evening sessions. And I don't even want to admit what time I go to bed at night. Let's just say that I get a standard 7-8 hours of sleep every night.