There is an organized soul trapped in this body of mine and on occasion it makes an appearance. Sometimes I imagine an old-lady type that is rolling her eyes as I try to make sense of her yearnings by writing down things like "do 2 loads of laundry" and "do a load of dishes". These would be tasks that come naturally to my Inner-Organista. But they are not tasks that come naturally to me. Over the last year, I have had to figure out how to keep a household running semi-smoothly while also chasing these big dreams. And it came down to this: Simplify, Write Everything Down, Lower Your Expectations. So was born the need to write down simple tasks like laundry and dishes. Otherwise, I would keep putting it off it hopes of getting other things done on "the list" and then the end of the evening comes and Voila! No clean underwear and the kids are eating cereal out of mugs.
Now I keep up on the chores AND have the satisfaction of crossing things off the list, regardless of how small they seem. Also, if you were to read my list, I do not overschedule myself. I have a lot of "free time" in the afternoons. I wake up at 4:50 am every morning. I get a lot done before Lila gets off the kindergarten bus. And then I take it easy in the afternoons to prepare for the evening shift. It's what I have found that works for me.
Weekly Totals
Swimming: 5737 yards
Biking: 2:34:29 (20 mile long, 2 rides on a spin bike)
Running: 23.2 miles
Workout of the Week
Every week I am going to highlight my most favorite or most impactful workout of the week.
It's the beginning of the training schedule for the St George Ironman. Officially, we are 16 weeks out!
Monday morning came early--like it always does--and some time during the night our group had dwindled from five prospective runners to two. Undeterred, I put on my layers and headed out. It was a balmy 19*, so only worthy of two layers instead of three. But, after closing the door behind me I realized the errors in my thinking: it is only as warm as it feels. And it did not feel like 19*. I was late and I would warm up in time, so I began the hike over to our meeting spot across the park and through the yard of a (nice) neighbor. These first quiet moments are my most cherished as I meet up with the group. I rarely ever see anyone out and I get a sense of the wind speed and the weather, mentally prepping myself for what is to come.
Even after all these miles, and years, and fancy words I tell people, I still have to mentally prepare myself for Every. Single. Workout. It does not come easy. Maybe if I was excellent at it instead of mediocre, I would love it, but I don't. I can easily be talked out of a workout. I have spent more time then I care to admit sitting in the parking lot of the gym bartering with myself to go in. Some days are more of a struggle than others, but I never regret getting it done. It's gotten easier the more consistent I am, but, I still talk myself into a lot of my workouts.
Monday was no different. I met up with Heather and we started towards the usual route. Halfway down the street, she couldn't remember if she had closed the garage so we made our way back and decided to do a particularly favorite morning route backwards for a change.
We made our way to behind the high school and plodded along in silent companionship. That's when we heard it--the hoot of not one, not two, but three owls. We scanned the nearby trees in the dark and there, at the top, sat an owl watching us. It's not often you get to see an owl in the Big City. And had he not alerted us to his presence we would have run right past him. He soared off into the brightening sky and two more followed after him. These moments make the early mornings worth it.
The rest of the run was uneventful. It was neither the hardest nor the easiest run we've done. I preferred this version over the other way because the downhill comes at the beginning and the end instead of all the uphill. I will probably never learn to love the uphill.
I completed every scheduled workout for the week! That is how a training plan starts out good!
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