Couch Coma

I'm a pretty active person, I get up at a decent time most days, I spin on my bike trainer in the morning, I go to all my classes, I run, I go to the gym. People have told me that I have unlimited energy. This is not true, and the people that live with me can attest to this.

About every other week, all that activity catches up with me. It goes something like this when it happens:

I get back to the apartment from a run, make food, and sit down on the couch to eat it. I put something mindless on the television, and when I finish devouring my food, I flop down on the couch, always with the intention of just resting for a minute before getting up to be productive. Eyes get heavy, find a pillow, just for a minute.

Wake up three hours later.

And I use the term wake up loosely, when I get out of a deep sleep, I'm like a newborn for half an hour or so. I barely know where or who I am, I can't use my words. Eventually I come out of my sleep stupor and function like a human.

Couch comas are rough, but I guess they're necessary. I know other runners suffer from the couch coma phenomenon, as I have witnessed it, usually brought on by the same thing: running followed by food.

For example, Mr. Kyle O'Brien after a long run and a feast: