I'll sleep when I'm dead

For some reason, I drew the short straw when it came to working night shifts during orientation (which is 6 months).  Seems like all I work are nights.  In a way I like the night shift because you don't have dozens of consults, residents, attendings, chiefs etc. asking questions, so you can concentrate on your patients.  But I had a very complicated patient (the other was very stable) this week which took a bit out of me when I don't get enough sleep.



With three back-to-back night shifts I knew fitting in my running was going to be tough, but I got it done. One run was right after I got off work, and ironically was one of my best runs to date...

I had no clue where the mojo came from, but only hoped it would stick around for the race on Saturday, which I inadvertently signed up for not realizing that I worked until 7:30AM (and the race started at 9!)

The orientation program at the Burn-Trauma ICU at Strong Memorial Hospital is 6 months long.  In general, we spend about 16 hours a week in class or doing online education, and 24 hours a week in clinical (some weeks, like this week, we only had one education day).  With our group, though, we have yet to start the formalized ICU education program that will teach us the specific points of working in an ICU environment.  I'm anxious to get to start this, as with some of these complicated patients I feel I can only contribute in very shallow terms since we haven't started the ICU program, and frankly a general nursing education (baccalaureate or otherwise) barely skims the material you need to know.  I'm looking forward to a point where I know what the hell people are talking about.

Nights are hard to get used to, and I really only get about 3-4 hours of sleep in between shifts, despite wearing an eye mask, drinking decaf tea (my nightly ritual before bed) and even taking a melatonin.  So, going into Saturday's race with 12 hours of sleep (over 3 days)...well, it was going to be interesting.

Summerfest 12k was my 4th race in 3 weeks.  So, on top of little sleep and night shifts, my only goal was to finish and not do a face-plant until after the finish line.  Of course, I was hoping that my pace would fall into place as easily as my run on Thursday, but it was not to be.  I started out at about a 9:40-9:50 pace, but the heat (an unseasonably hot 84 degrees with high humidity), and the lack of shade got to me at about mile 3.5 or so.  The hills, not so much...I tackled them with reckless abandon until cramps got in the way.  So, I bagged any sort of pace goal and rolled into the finish with about a 10:30 min/mile.  Meh...I'm good with that.

Can't say it wasn't hot!  (photo courtesy Barb Boutillier)