Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Checking In

It feels like I haven't blogged in forever ... and it's fairly true. I know I wrote earlier this year that I was focusing on priorities, something that hasn't changed. March has been the first month this year that I really feel that I am, and I notice the growth.

That being said, as a brand ambassador/team member for a few places this year ... I know that part of the reason I was chosen is because I have a blog, so I should probably update the damn thing.

In late February, I volunteered at the last race in the Chilly Cheeks Duathlon series.

cc_volunteering
I wore my TriSports visor (and actually a Skratch hat, too - it was too cold to just wear the visor!).

The main reason I volunteered is because I enjoy it and like giving back to the sport ... but a side perk with Racing Underground is if you volunteer for their events, you get a free race entry. Therefore, that Littlefoot Triathlon on the sidebar? Free. I am all about that. Plus I got to spend a frozen cold morning working packet pickup and then providing food (hot chocolate and cup o' noodles) to the racers as they finished. The food tent is the place to be, let me tell you!

Then, this past Sunday, we went to cheer on our good friend Norm at a half-marathon:

norm>

Mr. Speedy (one of the 455 fastest people racing the Boston Marathon this year) came in second on a very hilly course. We then went out to breakfast with him and our friend Nic, whom we haven't seen in FOREVER.

After breakfast, it was time to ride. Brandon and I went up to Boulder, parked at Skirt Sports, and then went for about a 20 mile loop. We were hoping to ride longer, but work called him in, so the hour we did would have to do.

3-22ride
Stopped at a light. I actually think we were in Longmont at this point ...

3-22ride2
Husband's on the phone? Clearly it's photo time! Also representing Skratch Labs here ...

I think the trainer miles (and all the miles this year so far in general) are starting to pay off, as Brandon couldn't keep up with me and I'm pretty sure I may have had my fastest average speed on an outdoor ride ever - 18.99 mph. I'm so glad that the work is paying off.

Now, off the computer and back to said work ...

Monday, March 9, 2015

Juggling

Yesterday morning, I hit the wall.  The exhaustion of the past couple weeks caught up to me and the daze that I was walking around in was too much.  You might be thinking that the exhaustion is from working hard in fitness, but unfortunately, that's not the case.  Life has gotten in the way.

Since mid-February, life has dramatically gotten busier.  Let's go over what has happened:

- T and I made an offer on a house, and now it's under contract.  That sounds exciting, and it is, but we've been told buying a house is one of the most stressful things you will ever do, and that's proving to be true!  Writing big checks, lots of meetings, knowing we have to pack/move, etc.  Wow.
- I attended a job fair on 3/5 to increase my odds of getting a job with a major airline.  I got great face to face time with airlines like United, Delta, and JetBlue, and while that's all well and good, the prep of going to that job fair and being "on" the entire day was extremely stressful.  Not only that, but I literally wasn't able to find the time to work out.
- I recently had a 6 month simulator event to test my pilot skills.  This is required by the FAA, and due to the reasons above, I wasn't as prepared for it as I would have liked to be.  Still, it went fine.  Doesn't make it any less stressful though.

The way that T described it to me, whenever we are going through life, it's like we're juggling bowling pins.  Sometimes you're juggling one, sometimes two, sometimes five.  Sometimes the pins are very small, and easily manageable.  Other times, the pins grow to the point they are hard to juggle.  If you think about what I've been dealing with, the pins grew so big, that I had to drop one to manage everything else.  Unfortunately, working out was what dropped over the past week and a half.  I managed some, but not much.

The good news is that today is a new day and a new week. I can get back on the proverbial horse pretty easily.  I'll start with a big bike ride, a short run, and a swim this afternoon.  Immersing myself in all three sports. :-)

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

February Round-Up

I meant to do this Monday, but helping Brandon prep for a job fair and house-hunting ended up taking a bit more of a priority ...

February ... wasn't all that great. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't much better than January, which isn't that good in the grand scheme of things. Onward to numbers:

Swimming: 11,000m (6.8 mi)
% to goal: 9%
Cycling: 137.78 mi
% to goal: 5.9%
Running: 14.88 mi
% to goal: 5.67%
Lifting: five sessions (1:38)
Other: nine yoga sessions (2:25), one walk (1:30), one day skiing (4:00)

Part of the reason progress stalled a bit this month is because I got sick at the very end of January and that carried over into February. I lost my voice, I felt like poo ... but I have still successfully kept moving! Yep, two months in and I still haven't taken a true day off this year. I'm embracing yoga - it feels so gooooood - and it's such an easy way to get SOMETHING in. 

Besides the yoga, there were positives to this month. I got in two long trainer rides (over an hour) which I haven't done in quite some time, so I know that it *is* possible for me to do them again. I also pretty much successfully cut out fried foods (two slips) for the month which is awesome. That experiment taught us to be much more mindful - I never realized how much we rely on bar food when we're too lazy to cook and go out to dinner. Knowledge is such power in this nutrition game, and learning to be aware of your habits is a fantastic thing.

I also kept up the hydration from January, so hooray! Small changes CAN become habit!

March is starting off a bit rough, but a big source of stress will soon be leaving our lives (or just enter it ... but let's PLEASE hope for leaving!), so I'm really hoping things can get back to normal 'round these here parts. March's food goal is to incorporate a lot more green into our diet (preferably in the form of leafy greens). Mmm salad ...