Perchance to Dream

Lately I’ve been sleeping poorly. I think it has started affecting work; I feel lethargic and unmotivated. Or maybe work was affecting me; I keep waking up really early and am unable to get back to sleep.
Last night something changed. I had gotten very little sleep over the weekend, staying up too late and being unable to sleep in. I have always had the chronic problem that once I wake up after eight in the morning, I am unable to get back to sleep. So, I expected that I wouldn’t be getting enough sleep. But I slept great!
What changed?
I started exercising again!
I haven’t had a good run in months. What with the broken toe and twisted ankle, I’ve only been able to get three runs in in the last six weeks, and two of those were ultras. I’ve been doing physical therapy exercises and been icing my entire foot. (My foot is in a bucket of ice water as I type this.) I was hoping the ankle was getting better.
On Saturday I attempted to go for a run, and wasn’t even able to go for a solid minute. I was hobbling more than running and it didn’t seem to be getting better. So I stopped.
But I am concerned I’m going to get fat or muscles will evaporate, so I should try and expend some energy. So I figured I would cross-train on Sunday. But with the whacked sleep schedule, I could only fit in an hour of stationary cycling at nine o’clock in the evening. And I was asleep all night, and felt refreshed in the morning.
It isn’t running, but it looks like I will have to start doing a lot more cycling in my gym. I just finished another hour. I would do it outside on my bicycle, but I don’t know of any good cycling routes that don’t involve scary traffic or lots of stop-n-go traveling.