When I worked at a museum, I would skate before I went to work. It was great: I felt really energized after I skated and I was very energized at work from about 10:00am-2:30pm. However, as I approached 3:00pm, I totally crashed and felt like I was going to die, really tired and achy, and feeling like I just have to go to sleep. It was a real struggle getting from 3:00pm-6:00pm.

Does anyone else who skates before going to work experience this mid afternoon crash? Just curious if anyone has found any remedies for this?

A nap.

Like I said before I don't work a 'traditional' job but my kid gets home from school around 2:30pm and some days... if I don't get a 10min nap I'm useless. It's like.. you need help with your homework? Uggghhh. Only kidding.

But it does help to stayed hydrated.

Can't exactly nap on the job, but if you think keeping hydrated will help then I'll try it.

Any other suggestions out there?

Funny - I have a different post-skate pattern. I go into my "post skate coma" for an hour or so after I get to work - I am very serene and relaxed and nothing bothers me. I'm perfectly happy to sit at my desk and do computer stuff, I'm less effective at anything that requires much interaction.

I think a lot of folks have a natural "down" part of the day - for me, 4 pm is prime time for a mini cat nap - even closing my eyes for 5 minutes helps. With an on-your-feet job this would be difficult (nap in the bathroom anyone? PMP!).

I am lucky to currently have a very flexible job...technically, I work 10am-5pm (with night and weekend commitments), but I tend to come in at 8:30am and then leave a little early (around 4pm) if I'm going skating...I also check e-mail and "work" at night after I get back from the rink, so really, no one has any issues with me leaving a little early...but that also comes from the fact that I have established myself here and people know that I do my job and I do it very effectively. I am a little worried about when I take that next step up, if I will either be able to have as flexible of a schedule or if I can negotiate "being able to skate" or being able to teach into my next job....that has been something on my mind as my time in my current position will be coming to an end soon (I will outgrow the position shortly)...

I don't skate in the mornings, but I know for myself that I am more of a morning person and when I need to concentrate on work stuff after about 3pm, I'm useless....I can skate after that, it's just the work stuff and the concentration it requires...it was the same thing when I was in college...I could do anything else after about 3pm, but there was no way I could do homework...so I did all of my classes in the morning, came back around noon or 1pm and did homework until about 3 or 4pm...

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"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

I skate one early morning each week with my kids. I skate pretty badly at that time of the morning, I'm much better after 10am. (Even better - after 5pm!)

By mid-afternoon I need a nap and it's not always possible.

I've found that a short walk, a drink of water, and a snack around 3pm helps fight off the drowsiness.

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I've heard this is how high tea developed--the body's natural rhythms lead many to be sleepy in the afternoon. A friend of mine told me she thought it is related to an afternoon dip in blood sugar (not as extreme as in someone with hypoglycemia or diabetes-related problems, but enough of a dip to cause drowsiness).

Edited to add: I've always preferred skating (and other forms of exercise) in the afternoon, to break up the day, and also because I need the extra sleep in the a.m. If I skated in the early a.m., I think I would be fighting the drowsies in the afternoon.

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I have always had that feeling around 3-5 pm each day, when I worked in the banking industry and then as a teacher. It was really bad when I skated at 5 am and had to get up at 4 then teach at 8:30 until 4, I tried to eat a later lunch around 1 and then waited until about 4 to have my final soda of the day. I have also found drinking water does help.

Also being originally from the South I would alway nap after lunch, I went to a summer camp and that was a part of the tradition of the camp, I am...a napper. Some folks just are, its not an easy habit to break.

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I definitely notice a difference in my energy level when I skate in the morning vs. in the afternoon. The days I skate in the morning, I get really sleepy in the late afternoons, and if I have an evening meeting, I can barely make it. My best time for skating is lunch time. I find I don't have a lot of energy to skate late in the day either, but with a job and 2 kids, I'll take whatever time I can get.

For the past year and a half I had been skating 3 mornings a week: up at 4 a.m., out of the house at 5, at the rink by 6:15, skate 7 to 8:30, in the office by 9, and work until 3:30. On non skating days, I am in the office by 6 a.m. to make up time.

I tried working until 4:30 (to make up more hours) but the last hour in the office and the hour's drive home are just too hard! I REALLY start to get sleepy then.

In our office the air exchange isn't very good and EVERYBODY struggles in the early afternoon! I think the oxygen level has decreased because I perk right up if I get out of the office for awhile.

I find skating in the morning works great for me! Although it takes me longer to warm up and get in the groove, it is almost always productive. When I skated late afternoon or evening, my day at work had more effect on my skating. After a tough day inn the office, I would be BEAT and my skating would stink!

The only down-side of skating early mornings is that ALL my competitions seem to be around supper time or late into the evening so, for an important competition, I need to shift my biological clock so my body hasn't "gone to bed" before I take to the ice

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I either skate or work out most mornings before work and start work in the 8:15-9am window and go until 5:00-6:00 or later if I'm busy (then usually go to the gym after work for yoga or weight training), but I get the afternoon crash regardless of whether I exercise in the morning or if I sleep in. If I take a lunch (30 min-an hr depending on how busy I am), I go later, usually starting between 1:00-2:00.

Now that the weather is nice, I find going out to the car, cracking the sunroof and windows, putting the seat back, and zoning out for half an hour or so helps tremendously. (I set the cell alarm in case I fall asleep, sometime I knit or read a magazine or other mindless stuff.) Some days if I didn't work out in the AM I will go to the gym and do cardio during my lunch--my gym is right around the corner so if I don't putz around, I can get in, change, do 30 min of cardio, shower quickly, and get back to work (and eat lunch at my desk afterward), that also really helps. A lot of people around here will also walk during lunch, there is a park nearby.

My only issue with skating in the mornings during the week is that I don't get up and moving and to the rink early enough before I get on the ice to do as much off-ice warming up as I am able to do when I skate on Saturday mornings, so I don't get in as much good practice on the ice. I always say I'll get there earier but I never do. Oh well!

I've done the skating before college thing more than a few times and I have to say it's about 4 things:
- get into dry clothes afterwards to prevent cold shivers
- get enough water
- get enough salt
- get enough sugar and PROTEIN afterwards. At first I thought the energy drink worked cuz of the caffeine turned out it was all the sugar in it.

I have a crazy long commute to the rink right now, so I can totally sympathize.

I have to get up at 2:15 to leave by 3 am to get to the 5 am session in Scottsdale (I live in Tucson). We skate for 1-1 1/2 hours and then turn around and come back. I often ride with a kid who has to be at school. I totally drag on those days. I would love a nap in the afternoon but usually have to be at a meeting or something. Diet Coke is my big friend. It's worse if I actually did the driving instead of just riding with someone else (as the passenger it is my job to keep her awake with amusing stories and such). My other problem with doing the driving is that I get way more stiff. Seat warmers seem like a weird thing to put in a car in the desert, but they work.....

I am a pediatric hematologist/oncologist. That can make for long days even when I don't get up that early. I can't skate the weeks I am on call since I need to be within 30 minutes of the hospital, so usually I don't have a ton of direct patient work to be doing on my skating days, thank goodness.

I honestly think that skating is a huge stress release. With gas prices going up it may be less cost-effective, but I think it is still cheaper than counseling or Prozac plus way more fun!!

Pedonskates

Yes, I believe high tea did develop to combat the late afternoon drowsies(and bless those wise English people for that!). That's what I have at around 3:00pm when I hit that dip: a nice strong cup of Assam tea. It's just enough to pick me back up, but it has less caffeine than coffee. I used to blame the 3:00 dip on my early morning skates, but I eventually realized that it even happens on days when I didn't get up early to skate. Yesterday I experimented with a high protein, low carb, low sugar lunch, and I was thrilled to find that I did not hit that dip at 3:00 or start craving sweets and junk food! So I think I may be onto something. . .

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Er - high tea is actually another term for one's evening meal, not a mid-afternoon cuppa! "Afternoon tea", now almost defunct, was a cup of tea with, perhaps, a thin sandwich and a piece of cake (or a few biscuits - cookies, as you would doubtless call them); high tea, at 5:00 pm or later, usually incorporates a cooked meal of some kind, even if that is only ham and salad. It may or may not be the main meal of the day.

For families that have "tea" around 5:30-6:00 pm, "supper" is a hot milky drink and biscuits had before bed!

Back on-topic, one secret is to go to bed early enough that an hour or so's vigorous skating before breakfast doesn't drain one too badly. I nap if I am bored, but if I am busy and interested, I don't find I need a nap.

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On my early morning skate day, I find I only survive if I have what I call a second breakfast at about 9am-10am, having skated from 6.45 - 7.30am and in the office before 8.30am. I tend to overdose on water on the drive in, so I just need the sugar hit to keep me going till lunchtime. I have found that on summer (light) mornings, I'm better skating at that time than when it's still dark. But to really perform at that early time of the morning, I've discovered I need to have a sugar hit for breakfast as well as my normal cereal. It seems a bit odd to eat a small bit of chocolate then, but the sugar hit keeps me going on the ice just long enough to get the benefit. Somehow, skating from 7.30am doesn't seem so bad, and once I get to 8am I don't even need a second breakfast although tend to eat one anyway.

I get up at 3:45 two or three times a week to skate pre-work. I find so long as I am busy in the afternoon I am generally fine, it's when I have nothing to do that I flack.

Saying that, I find that plenty of cups of tea and a few energy sweets help. My bf suggested I should get the sweets, and damn they work. My boss is amazed by them!

Failing that, when I used to wear glasses skating I'd have a ten minute nap in the toilet if I got really sleepy! Now I wear contact lenses I can't really do that.

I have come to the conclusion that you get used to whatever time you skate. When I was younger I skated weekend afternoons. I found it hard to skate at any other time of day.

Now I like my weekend public sessions 10am-12, because I get a bit of a sleep in compared to work days, but am full of energy. It is my best skating time. On the other hand, my Wednesday night session is my worst because I'm so tired after a day at work. ( Plus the ice is usually pretty bad.)
Last year I did try a session before work, but I never skated well, my balance was always really off for some reason, and then I was a zombie for the rest of the morning at work.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

I find that South Beach solves the PM draggies. Since you need to have several small meals mostly low GI with lots of protein, I don't drag in the afternoon.