Want good sleep? Make yourself tired.

A couple of months ago, me and a few friends here in Okinawa committed to participating in this year's Izena 88 Triathlon. As a team of three, each of us will be completing a leg of the race, either the 2km swim, the 66km bike, or the 20km run (for a total of 88km). I will be biking. And to get in shape for this race, I've been doing a lot of exercise recently.

Mainly, this exercise involves biking. I don't do much and I don't do it very fast, but I'm just working on a base for now. My legs aren't used to biking so there's no need to push, especially since doing too much too fast can lead to quick injuries.

I've also been swimming at school. While I try to join the elementary kids during their lessons (because it's so much fun!), I also try to get into the pool when there's nobody else there. 45 minutes of uninterrupted swimming is a great thing and is a really good use of an otherwise mostly unproductive free period.

Lastly is the running, but I've been holding off on that for a while. I'm waiting to see how my knee handles the biking (pretty well so far) and then will start off very slowly with a jogging routine. My hope is that the three varieties of exercise prevent another overuse injury by balancing each other out.

So aside from feeling better and getting a little bit stronger in my physical pursuits, I sleep really really well now. Just last night, I got my first night of 8+ hours sleep and slept like a rock. I've regained my voracious hunger, too, which is fine by me because I love food! (I just need to find a natural peanut butter supplier and I'm all set)

The triathlon is on 10/25. So when the day rolls around, wish us the best. And rest assured that I'll be sleeping like a king when the day is over.