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| T2 at Sunset. Training fits in around life. Change is part of the routine. |
This weekend is the first time in a long time where I've felt like I can sit down, relax, and take a deep breath. April and May have been a couple of extremely busy months. Much of it has been due to my job, but also the increase in training intensity leading up to Raleigh, a couple injuries, my 3 Girls activities both in and out of school, and like all of you, getting the tax documents prepared and submitted.
Both in April and in May I headed to Toronto for work. Once for a course in presenting, and once for company meetings, in which I got to be a presenter. Both required multiple overnight stays. Also, as part of my job, we put together educational meetings for our customers. We had multiple meetings scheduled throughout the last two months which required teamwork and organization to get done, as well as a couple extra missed workouts. All three of my girls are involved in sport, music, and my eldest's theatre team was selected to perform in a festival this weekend in Windsor, ON. This required additional early drop offs and late pick ups from school, again my normal routine and schedule was thrown off. With Raleigh, NC Ironman 70.3 at my doorstep, and moving through some tough training weeks, this caused me a little bit of stress.
How could I get in workouts and maintain my fitness, during the busy work season, taking kids to their required activities and staying on top of what needs to be done at home? How was I going to get in my workouts while I was away at the hotel? This is where I needed to take a deep breath to try and get a handle on my emotions and my schedule. So I did, mostly.
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| T2 at the hotel gym...just before my tire blew! |
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| All Dressed up! Can you believe it. I shocked a few people. |
First I had to realize that change is part of the normal routine. With kids and my work there are only a few set absolutes. So I started with Coach Lee who worked with me to provide practices I could do at the Hotel. Bringing along my bike, and an indoor trainer I was able to do T2 workouts in the gym, as well as tempo runs on the treadmill. The hotels were very accommodating with a 24 hr gym which allowed me to get in the workouts, shower, and still get to meetings on time. The swim, got neglected, however I was able to make it up later in the week. I even managed to get dolled up, hair, make up, and a dress, all in 40 min. With the evening educational events, our team worked it out the best we could to share the load. My coach provided me the workouts I'd miss and I squeezed them in at lunch time during the day instead of scheduled workout time. As for the kids stuff, if I hustle and stop chatting in the morning after workout, I can get home and get my daughter to school for 7:30 am.
When it comes right down to it, the reason I'm stressing is because I want to do a good job at everything. I want to be a good teammate and contributor at work, an excellent mom, a good wife, and kick butt in Raleigh. I'm doing my best, that's all I can provide. Raleigh's up next; I've no idea what to expect from my competition, and my goal is lofty. I hope my ability can match my desired outcome. Again a deep breath is needed. As my husband, my training partner, and coach remind me, I need to follow my own plan, keep my own paces, and everything will work out just fine.
With one week to go until race day, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to take a lot of Deep Breaths to get me to the start line.  |
| Pic-Nic in the park. Even with all our other commitments We need to make time for the family. |
