This last month has been one. A huge one. How in the hairdresser's wet jar of tools did it come to be February 20th already?
A month ago I sat poised to take on the renewed challenge of another Ironman this year, and a (big) PR setting one at that. Got the first week under my belt with eight out of eight workouts completed on the road. I also sat with the Zen-esque mindset of "well it's 5 o'clock I'll see you tomorrow", newly committed to a worklife balance.
Now here I sit amongst Kleenex, NyQuil and other sundry sick aids and my excitement and commitment for undertaking Ironman at the level at which I want to undertake it has been undermined by forces out of (and ok some in) my control. Yes life with a capital L is laughing hysterically somewhere, running on a treadmill and breathing easy. Unlike me.
First, I started a new engagement at work. Very exciting on one hand. One of the largest Agile adoptions anywhere. And I get to be part of it, one of a handful of trainers training 400 teams for a well known company, one you may use on a daily or weekly basis in fact. On the other though, after returning from Thailand in December and vowing to make a better go at my work-life balance, I have found myself jumping from the frying pan into the fire...the deep end into the abyss...the 10K into Ironman, as it were. 100% bicoastal travel and 80 hour work weeks. And soon to include India as well, not to mention all up and down the East Coast. Although at least the latter half will be in the same time zone for once. And I am excited to see India and stick another couple pins on the map.
Second, I am now in my fourth week of being sick. Hard to avoid with this much travel no doubt. Started with the flu, now a head cold, God knows what's next. And the insomnia doesn't help either. I finally had three whole days at home ... unfortunately I spent most of it in bed, sick again.
And third. Yeah sorry there's more. The roller coaster ride I have been on for the last 10 years, continues to throw me for a loop, and the descents somehow keep getting steeper. wtf. The thing keeps shutting down for maintenance and each time I believe the tracks have been fixed I find that the engineers have not done their work as promised. And when I think I'm Finally getting off (get off already!) and the cars are slowing towards the exit station, I somehow find the train starts moving again and I'm still on it. In as much as inaction is a choice, I realize I continue to make that choice.
And, oh yeah. a master bath renovation. A sudden leaking roof that now requires my kitchen ceiling to be replaced (yes, came home from a week in San Jose with the flu to find my kitchen floor flooded). (Yes that would be the kitchen that I just finished renovating). And the roof needs fixed too of course. And a cat that has started having aggressive episodes. And just to top it off, we've discovered that my dad needs open-heart surgery.
Seriously how does that all fit into a month?
So not that you really care about all of that. But thanks for listening. A good part of it I brought on myself. What does it have to do with Ironman? Translation equals virtually no training. Was so proud of myself the first week after the last blog. 8for8 etcetc..Then BAM. Flu hits. Etcetera and so on down the line. And as every good triathlete knows, stress is stress, whether it comes from training or from Life, and the body can only take so much.
So where does that leave Me? Brett says we are still fine for Louisville. I am personally not so sure but that is the worrier talking. For now I am just doing the best I can, and will continue/restart the training at a low easy level until I return from India mid-March. Refuse to overdo it so that hopefully I can return to being healthy. After India I guess I will reevaluate and see how best to deal with life's continuing curveballs. I do know where I have to start. And that is living the Agile Principle of "sustainable pace". 80 hour work weeks no more.
Happy training,
And here's to finding your sustainable pace...
Kat
