Good Advice

Well 3 times a year things go a little crazy for about 10 days. With my wife and I both being teachers, you can guess that time of year, if not, it is report cards. It is a funny deadline that sneaks up on me, not my wife though, who is ultra organized. In the past I have trained super hard leading into the madness and then tried to take a recovery week during the week of the deadline to work things out. I have tried a recovery week before hand, of course to get an early start. Nothing has really worked out favorably as I usually get sick or miss a few days of training. I am really trying this year to be very consistent and patient with my training so I finally followed some of my own advice that I have given to other during stressful times. Short workouts completed before the stress and fatigue come later in the day.

So the past 10 days have been unbelievable, I, of course had my report cards and IEP's due to the office. I had my Triathlon Canada, Intro to Comp, case study due. My wife had an early season race. I took a job on the side, hardwood flooring, and we put some stuff up on craigslist to help cover some upcoming expenses. All these together with what is an already full week of teaching, coaching, training, kiddie programs, and the weekly chores that all families have. So the questions lingered. Am I going to get run down and sick? Am I going to miss a few days of training? Well, I think I can answer them right now as the madness is now over. First I have to thank my wife who is wonderful and organizes our house and kids with great love and detail. Did I get sick? No. Did I miss any days of training? No.

I gotta say I feel really good right now. In the past 10 days I swam 4 times and ran 10 times. I did let the dust settle on my bike for the week but there will be plenty of time for riding in the near future, as most of the snow has melted. I maintained my early morning swim workouts, but took a little off the gas pedal in each practice. On the other days I hit the road or treadmill for early morning runs. The goal of these runs was to feel good and energized for the day that was ahead. Most of my runs were between 30-40 minutes, which was perfect. A few days I ran in the evening to clear my head. I gotta say I give people good advice. This plan worked perfectly. Knowing that I was limited in time was good and I was happy with 30-40 minute runs because I was running! Working out early was key as it allowed a sense of calm to fall over me knowing that I had a workout in the bank for that day and I wasn't dreading what lay ahead or feeling guilty for skipping a workout.

With the weight lifted off my shoulders, for now. I have planned a productive week of workouts and am looking forward to pushing a little bit on the gas pedal again. So,with the next set of reports not due until June, I think I can say I know my workout plan now and probably should write it in now and set up a reminder to review this blog in late May.

Happy training.