Swing with me

It’s been a hell of a week.

While I will maintain that I would much rather have swingy weather in the winter than just *cold* – it was very weird to be sweating up a storm biking outside on Monday in the 80 degree weather and then have spent Wedensday night through today barely above freezing. IDK, I just shut down when it gets this cold for this long.

Work also did the thing where I didn’t think it could get more hectic, but it did, building day over day. The next few weeks threaten to be the same. I spent the last two weeks being meticulous about my training and in the last few days, the wheels fell off:

• Monday: 1.5h bike, 1100 yd swim, shoulders
• Tuesday: 45m bike
• Wedensday: circuits, 1000yd swim
• Thursday: off
• Friday: push, 45 min bike
• Saturday: 2h bike 4 mile run
• Sunday: off

Not the most successful week, but it was what it was.

We’re now approaching 9 weeks to the race. I’ve made a half ironman build from pretty much nothing in this time, so I’m feeling okay about things, because I am very much not building from nothing this time, but I can’t have weeks like last week if I want to progress. So, I need to plan better. I know mornings are key (when I don’t have early meetings), lunches are possible (though generally early in the week is better), and after work is just a stupid idea until the time changes and I can drag myself outside after work and go play bikes. So, for now, what does that look like?

• Monday: pull AM, lunch 1200y swim
• Tuesday: bike 45m AM, run 5k lunch (or vice versa depending on the weather)
• Wednesday: circuits lunch
• Thursday: AM run or bike, birthday hike
• Friday: legs
• Saturday: 1.5h bike, 5 mile run
• Sunday: 1200y+ swim

I need to accept that until we’re in the office, leaving the house a few days a week for the commute, it’s going to be heckin’ tricky to swim and I may need to give up my Sunday off to make it happen. No full days off either there, but two days are just weights so that’s pretty close!

Since it’s the end of February, let’s check in!

• Get back to the pool 1x week when it’s reasonable to do so. I’ve been to the pool twice. I’ll take it. Plan is to keep at it.
• Continue doing some level of speedwork almost every ride and ride 3x week. I have been doing this and it’s been working, but no FTP test yet. Because, reasons. Moving this goal to March (but like, soon. Not end of March)
• Run 2-3x week short and speedy. I had to cut this a bit mid-month to rest my heel, but I’m back! I’m still in the 11 min/mile but starting to feel better about my running stride.
• 3x week weights. Get back to the gym as soon as it feels safe to do so, but maintain at home until then.
• Follow a training plan. When I fail to plan, I really plan to fail. I do much better when I schedule myself time to workout because if I don’t, I’ll push it from the morning to lunch, munch my lunch procrastinating, and then after work I’m just wiped and don’t wanna. If I know I need to bike before work on Wednesday because it’s the time I have to do it, I’m way more likely to actually do it!

Thankfully, this hasn’t meant that I’ve been throwing caution to the wind with my nutrition goals. I’m at 1480 calories avg/day over the last 7 days, and two of those included 2+ hour workouts (so I ate closer to 1700-1800 those days). It felt like my weight loss was slowing, and it looks like that’s the case per trendweight.

The trend is still going in the right direction; I just need to keep at it. I was hoping to be regularly in the 180s by March, and I’ve hit 189 a few times, it just seems to be one of those “thermoclines” that is difficult to break through. I know how to do it – through patience and persistence. I am committed to make relentless forward progress here. There is just no other option. Even if it goes slow, it is better than giving up. I had two years of pretty much eating whatever the eff I wanted, now it’s time for penance so I can achieve my goals, one low calorie frozen microwaved meal at a time.

Since we’re at the end of February, it’s time for a goals check in on other stuff too.

#1 – Work Life Balance or some ish

• Making myself a daily checklist of non-work things –
• Giving myself 1 hour per day (and a half day on Friday) true focus time – slightly less successful than last month day to day, but I was able to clear up a Friday to tackle a big project I’ve been putting off for months and find enough time to put it together into a presentation a few days later. I expect next month is going to be hell in this regard, and then it gets exponentially better in April. I just need to hang on
• Enforcing shutting down my work computer at least once a month for a fresh start – I complained incessantly about not being able to find a few things right after restarting but it did wonders for my ability to focus/not getting lost in the sea of documents and tabs.
• Using a daily cut off time where work ends and I’m unavailable – hasn’t felt too bad. I’ve had a few ridiculously late days but also plenty of days where I walk away at 5 and barely pay attention to work chat just to make sure nothing is on fire and not engage the chats that can wait that I don’t want to if there are any.
• After hours chats/Carrying work “home” with me – Joel and I have been pretty bad about taking work to the couch after hours. I’m thinking next month we’ll try what worked occasionally in January – if we find conversation straying to work, set a timer for like 30 mins. Get all the work talk out. Then, put it away for the evening.

March is going to be a challenge, but there is actual, real, not just potential light at the end of the tunnel.