Outneeding

Just about anyone ever completing training for an Ironman knows that sleep quickly becomes a limited resource. The "just about" is for those people who attempt IM distance races without really training. For the rest of us, most mornings start in the dark hours of the morning as we complete our first training sessions of the day.

So sleep time is something I've come to value. I do everything I can to get to bed early and get some quality rest. Of course, any parent with toddlers can confirm that best intentions are fairly meaningless when little ones determine that sleep time is over.

My day started out in just that manner. B-Boy and Monster Girl joined forces. Kind of like the Wonder Twins from the 1980s. "Wonder Toddler powers activate."

"Shape of... a three year old with the head of a bull." "Form of an 18-month old coughing like an 80-year old smoker." B-Boy started things out when he started squawking for my wife. She got up to see what he needed, and was promptly TOLD to get daddy, but not before the baby was woke up. Mrs. Pol was more than happy to let me deal with the issue, and headed back to bed, taking her daughter with her.

Me? I got to deal with a son who took off his wet pull-up, then refused to put on a new one. That took the better part of 30 minutes to resolve. I didn't have the heart to let him sit in the bathroom all night, regardless of what I might have told him. Thirty minutes later, Monster Girl took over as her cough was keeping her awake. Apparently, she figured somebody (pronounced Dad, in our house) should be awake with her. In her normal fashion, she fell asleep right about the time I headed out the door for training.

Ahhhh, the life of Ironman training.