Time to Regroup

So, I managed to survive the first two weeks of school more or less unscathed.  The first week was exhausting as always, and I did not get a single workout in.  I was too busy and too tired and it was still hot out so I wouldn't have wanted to run after work even if I had found any energy [insert a plethora of other excuses, some of them being I'm just plain lazy].


School

Although my new class seems to be a good group of kids, I am facing a few other pressures at school this year.  I spent a couple of days after school teaching teachers how to do some computer stuff, and although it was my choice and I'm happy to do it, it did take away from my planning/prepping time.  In addition, teachers in our province have been without a contract since last June and negotiations are going HORRIBLY.  Subsequently, we started the school year with job action which causes some stress and extra work because I am the acting staff rep while another teacher is on sick leave for 2 months. In addition to the regular start up pressures, I have had a number of extra meetings to attend and information to send out to keep teachers informed. For example, last week I had a 7am meeting on Wednesday and a 4-7:30 pm meeting on Thursday and I've had to field many calls and emails to stay on top of things. It's hard to fit in a workout around 12 hour days.

Week two of school was a little better, I started to get things under control and had a bit more energy.  I went for a run after work on Tuesday AND Thursday (yay me) this past week, but I did not do any of the other stuff I had been thinking about. This week is the week that I am hoping to add in the "other stuff". As usual, I am recording my goals and my plan here in my blog in a, hopefully not lame, attempt to make myself get stuff done.

Mojo, Where Are You?

If you listen to my podcast, you know I've been suffering for a distinct lack of mojo for the past month or so.  In fact, I really haven't been feeling I'm at the top of my game since my "A" race at the Oliver Half Iron last June.  Throughout the summer, I decided to kick back and relax and do my training and racing for fun instead of pushing for time goals. A minor foot injury in July kind of forced me into that frame of mind as I prepared for the San Francisco Half Marathon on July 31st, and it carried me through the summer until the Apple Sprint Triathlon on August 21. I found myself becoming something of a "Triathlon Funster" (to steal the title from my twitter friend, Dawne).

Funny thing is, I really enjoyed the "low-keyness" of this style of training and racing - less pressure, more fun.  But it also meant less fitness.  That part is a little more difficult for me to accept.  When I went low-key - riding when and how I feel like riding, swimming minimally only to prep for a race, but continuing to run 3 times a week (mostly 3 times a week, but sometimes only twice) - I found I lost some fitness, particularly on the bike. I guess I'm the only one who can decide if that's a big deal to me or not.


Running Goals

I've also be hashing and rehashing (is hashing a word?) my running goals all summer.  Originally I had hoped to do a full marathon October, although in the back of mind, I knew it would be a serious challenge to train for triathlons all summer as well as build up my long run for a fall marathon. After my sore foot injury and SF race, I decided to push the marathon goal back a month and see if a November race might be easier to attain.  But it wasn't. My running legs just weren't responding in the way I wanted, and my long runs were a big enough struggle that I couldn't seem to get past the 12km mark.  Eventually, I consoled myself with the plan to do a Spring marathon and to shelve all triathlon training throughout the winter, including preparing for the Oliver Half Iron (insert sad face) which is held in June, and just focus on core fitness, strength training, and running.  I will spin on the trainer and swim a little as cross training, but do nothing that will fatigue my legs.

Although I have not yet chosen a spring marathon, I have a few possibilities in mind.

* BMO Vancouver (the new course will be revealed in 2 weeks) May 6, 2012
* Elk Lake Trail Marathon (flat easy 4 loop course) in Victoria May 5, 2012
* Run for Water Marathon in Abbotsford, mostly flat - May 29, 2012 (later than I want)
* There's also a flat, marathon length race in Richmond on March 6 but I don't think I'd be ready that early.

In the meantime, I am planning to run my first 10k race on October 9, 2011 here in Kelowna. It's flat and I've never run a 10k race so it should be interesting. I'll be happy if I can break an hour.

Stay tuned for Part Two of this post. Tomorrow, I'm going to decide on my long and short term goals and how I plan to attain them.

Thanks for reading. :)