By PowerPlay Athlete Jessica Meyers
This Sunday I loaded up the kids to get out of the house. I pulled out of my driveway and heard that horrible sound of the back of my car hitting something. Was it a tree? A pole? No, it was my neighbor’s car parked in front of their house. In my defense, it’s a “No Parking To Corner” zone, but I still couldn’t believe I did something colossally stupid out of my own driveway. That evening I finally got some time to chill out and watch some television. I got up for a snack and when it was time for bed I realized I had misplaced the remote. I couldn’t find it anywhere and finally manually turned off the TV. It wasn’t until morning that I realized the remote was in the refrigerator, where I had left it while I was getting my snack the night before.
Does any of this sound familiar? This is the phenomenon I like to call “Iron Brain.” For me, I know a big event is just around the corner when my brain just doesn’t seem to work. And what’s more important, I know that rest is desperately needed. Here’s the thing about fatigue. It doesn’t just show up in tired and sore muscles, it also shows up with your ability to think and function. My coach once told me that if you repeatedly finding yourself making silly “mistakes” or just seem to have a string of “bad luck,” it’s probably a good idea to take a look at the big picture. Chances are if you aren’t properly rested, you’re not going to be as sharp mentally and these incidents just seem to be more frequent.
“Iron Brain” feels a lot like “Mom Brain” or “Dad Brain” when you bring that precious baby home and suddenly you can’t remember your own phone number or the address you grew up at. While it’s much more obvious that with a new baby you’re sleep deprived, “Iron Brain” can sometimes be harder to diagnose. To help you out, I’m going to give you a few examples. Please feel free to comment and add your own symptoms.
- Driving off with your coffee, wallet, purse, phone (fill in what you like) on the top of your car.
- Leaving the garage door open the entire night.
- Walking into your room to get something. Once you get there you completely forget what it is you came for.
- Wearing your sweater backwards. (true story last week)
- Forgetting your child’s teacher’s name.
- Forgetting your child’s name.
- Frequently forgetting passwords to hotmail, facebook, etc…
- Driving into the garage with the bike still on top. (classic!)
- Driving to get gas and realizing you’re at your kid’s school.
I would think of some more, but I am 6 days out from Ironman Arizona and have a wicked case of “Iron Brain.” I’m going to go chill out and watch mindless reality TV…with the remote.
