This post has been delayed by more than a couple weeks, but I wanted to get it out before I get the other two done. I'm going to get more regular again after a few crazy weeks.
This all started back three weeks ago when my older son, Glenn was finishing up his job here in Hattiesburg and getting ready to move to St. Paul. His girlfriend had moved up a few weeks before, and I wa to be in charge of the truck for the first stage of the trip to get from Hattiesburg to Memphis. From there, my wife was going to drive the truck the rest of the way. That week was filled with final things in town for him, including one last "family dinner night" on the Tuesday. Then, Wednesday, I left campus to go help him get the truck to start the moving process, even though it's a pretty busy day for me, and I was almost late to teaching a night class. Then the next day, I helped him load the truck some in the middle of the day and then after my afternoon class, I came home and helped him load it some more and then drove the 20 foot Uhaul to Memphis, not getting in until midnight. It took me a while to settle down, so even though I still had an early morning on Friday, it wasn't until after 1:00 am that I was able to get to bed, so I was a zombie the next day.
As mentioned elsewhere, I've been struggling with staying on track with my training and fitness since the semester started. I was just about getting the hang of things with getting back to my college administrator job while still training and given my success (in terms of finishing and PRing) at Burning River back in July, I feel like that shows I was able to keep everything together while working. However, as the semester started, I realized that I was supposed to be doing all the administrative stuff and teach two classes and somehow have time for family, friends, and keeping fit/training for races.
The first thing that went was my morning routine. My ideal morning routine would involve reading for pleasure, Wordle, journaling, meditation and yoga. Since the school year started, I might have done two days of my full morning routine. The other thing is that my training was picking up. I started doing some fairly intense (for me) speed work and then also building volume. All that takes time. So between work getting busy(ier), my fall races getting close so my need to pick up my training and a few personal/family things going on, my schedule of workouts has been harder to maintain. Sean mentioned a while back that he was going to consolidate some of his lifting workouts, and that definitely seems like an option, though I do really hate missing days in the gym. Some things just have to give. The first week of class, I had night obligations every day and so I had to get those workouts when I could
Here are a few tips that I found help me stay on my training schedule, even when work/life gets busy. I
Overschedule your workouts. If you know you need to get 4 runs in and at least 35 miles, go ahead and put 6 runs and 45 miles on your calendar. That way, when all of a sudden something popus and makes you need to cancel a workout, you know you have already built in that cushion that will still allow you to make your goal miles/workouts.
Be okay with being poor in some stuff. A colleague of mine used to describe his attitude toward teaching when he was underdeadline for research as "treading water." Now, you can't do this forever and still remain employed in most cases, but having a couple weeks where some things slide and where you just tread water will be ok.
Get better at saying no for a few weeks at least. It's always good practice to learn how to pare down your obligations, and I think a lot of us like to people please. When things get really busy, it's okay to reschedule or to go ahead and cancel stuff. Life will go on. Friends won't abandon you for one set of canceled plans.
I think I had a whole list of things written out about work/life issues, but given how my life is going, I can't find what I wrote out on the train a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to try to get more tips to add to the above, so feel free to share yours in comments below!
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