In search of... Motivation

Oh, how things have changed.  I haven’t been here in such a long, long time.  Life has changed oh so much for me – some for the much, much better. Oh, MOST for the better.  But when it comes to my working out, that is for the worse.  Much, much worse.

We have moved… kinda sorta.  We are about 75% into our new house, which I love.  We make trips back and forth to the old house, filling up one or the other car and bringing it back.  We unpack a bit here and there to make the house functional.  We enjoy it as much as we can.  But we are so, so very busy and tired.

I started my new job a month ago tomorrow.  And I am so very, very busy.  I love it. I love my work, I love the people I work with.  I am challenged beyond belief.  There is never a moment I am not swamped.  

Taking time to do anything else means I have to add a million things to my to-do list and not cross anything off… but that would happen anyway.  I love working at home, though it provides its challenges.  I wouldn’t trade this for the world.

But… I am barely working out.  I haven’t been as busy as I am in so very long.  It is not busy where I am ready to explode with stress.  It is busy that I love and have been craving. The work a professional woman that has worked so hard on her career loves. But, working out has been truly suffering the past 3 weeks.  And I hate it.

I am grumpy and disoriented.  My body feels gross and I am out of sorts.  I haven’t gained weight, but I feel like I’ve gained 100.  I feel lumpy and bumpy.  I need it.

I did a sprint triathlon on Sunday.  I completed it. I sucked at it.  And while I joked heavily about it going in, it disappointed me.  I don’t want to suck.  I was training, I was doing well.  And then… I wasn’t.  It was still fun, but I know I could have done better, and would have done better.

I need to get back into it.  I need to motivate.  There IS time, I CAN do it.  There is just so much else to do, so many boxes I can’t get to during the day, so many press releases to write, so many people to manage, so very much… SO much…

I need to get back to it.  I have less than a month until my first Olympic triathlon. And then a month later is my first marathon.  I need to get back to this.

Seriously… why am I in this place right now???

Checking in, staying alive

I should be working right now, and I have so very, very much to do… I should be taking advantage of Matt being out of town, but I’m going to take a quick breather and write a bit, update on what has been going on.  Really… not much when it comes to my fitness except status quo, which is a good thing!  Status quo for me means I am on track and I’m okay with that.

I am following my marathon training program fairly religiously.  Not always right on track, but for the most part I am within 2 miles of where I should be every week.  Right now, I’m running about 35-37 miles a week.  Last weekend, my long run was 15 miles and I averaged about 8:35 minutes a mile which I’m happy with.  I’m having an issue with my right ankle… which is a sore/weak spot for me since I was about 7 and dancing.  Someone told me once that everyone has a weak spot(s) on their body and I believe one of mine may be my right ankle.  I am only allergic to poison ivy on my right ankle (no lie), it is the weakest place on my body ~ not good for a ballerina on pointe! 

But, is what it is.  Ankle isn’t swollen, just tender.  So, just taking it easy. Luckily, I don’t have to wear heels much (had to today for a few hours, don’t have to again for 2 days) anymore which helps.

Swimming is going pretty well.  I’m definitely feeling more confident which is great.  Still not great and super strong, but being more confidant goes a LONG way.  I at least feel stronger in my stroke, stronger in my endurance, and more confident that I won’t die.  We will see how that translates in the open water, but it is a much better place than I was in April.

And the bike… Well, I haven’t actually been ON my bike since my last tri.  Yea, I kid you not.  Since my last triathlon, I decided to start being an actual runner, not just run.  There is a big difference.  And doing that has cut into my time seriously.  And my biking is what has suffered – more so than it did before.  I need to get on my bike at least twice in the next two weeks (which is a little issue since it is in two pieces on my floor right now… ) so I have a little comfort.  I also need to get to the gym.

My life has taken such a great personal turn, me getting a job that I truly love and my husband and I getting a great new house for our family.  But I am about a thousand times busier than I’ve been in years.  So far, I am managing it all, time-wise.  And doing it while adding in the stress of now working from home.  Most will say, “OH, that is AWESOME!”, and it is… but it is also a great deal of time management and focus when you have a three very busy children.  And the job puts me at a vice president level with a number of people reporting to me and a great deal of responsibility.  So, I have to make sure the cogs are turning… on everything.  But, I am so grateful.  And I have it working, right now! 

Now, the next thing is a sprint triathlon on Father’s Day.  I’m excited about it. I had forgotten all about it until I got a reminder email a few days ago.  Should be a lot of fun and we’ll see how I’ve progressed in the past two months. 

Onward and upward!