I have always stated that one reason I run is for the mental health aspects, and it is a heck of a lot cheaper than therapy (though with this IMRX stuff, I am not so sure that is true anymore). But lately this seems to be more true than ever. Not that I can really complain or anything, but life has been really stressful! Work is nuts this year and for a variety of reasons it has been my hardest year yet as a teacher. Ken has been working insane hours at his new assignment, so that leaves me on single parent duty after school and into the evenings. My training, which right now is pretty much just running and my weight work outs, is what keeps me going!
I have found that when I wake up and want to stay in bed because the thought of going to work overwhelms me, my day starts off better when I get my run in. I feel that I am getting to work already knowing I have accomplished something for the day, and I can deal better with whatever is thrown at me. Getting up at 4:00 am to get that run in makes my day go so much better than if I got that extra hour of sleep. The quiet in the morning of the whole world still being asleep and the only sound being my feet hitting the pavement has been absolutely wonderful lately. I have that time to think and plan my day and just be with myself before the craziness ensues.
After work I am pretty fried as well. I have that hour between when I am done for the day and when I have to pick up my kids from school. Filling that hour with another work out, or my weight training, is again another chance to regroup before I start "second shift" as wife and mom. I honestly think it then makes my evening better and I am in a great mood for my kids. Having done both of the workouts when my kids are either asleep or still in school also makes me the "invisible athlete" to them, and doesn't interfere with anything I would otherwise be doing with them.
I know that once IMTX training really picks up, I will still have to do other sessions that are when they are around or awake, but this for me right now is perfect and allowing me to keep all the plates spinning. I got my bike all set up on the trainer this weekend, so my early mornings might be in the basement letting Sufferfest kick my trash, but either way, it will be DONE and DONE and I will be better with my kids and at school because of it!
And, totally off topic, getting my bike set up this weekend was a major accomplishment for me! I did it all by myself and there was no swearing, crying, throwing things or breaking a nail on my part! The trainer tire is always next to impossible for me to get on the bike, but I did it myself and was so proud of that! I also installed my new Garmin GSC-10, which is a speed/cadence sensor and paired it with my 310xt all by myself! It is going to make my bike training much more effective to have that data that I usually can only know outside. Last year on the trainer I had no idea about distance or speed or cadence. This year will be a different story!
So, though I go through ups and downs with my training, lately staying consistent has been fairly easy because I know that I need it for sanity. I don't know how I would do it otherwise!
In the meantime, happy training and racing all!
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