Oh, yeah, this is what it's about

This will be the last time that I refer to the crappiness of April, but as the past few weeks have gone by and I've not been able to do the training that I originally envisioned for myself in April, I have felt somewhat dispirited.  I know, life happens - I got sick, we moved, I've lacked motivation and/or have had other priorities.  I expected that, by this point in April, I would have cranked up the mileage and would be looking at two fairly easy weeks before Wildflower on May 5.  Instead, I had 3 sloth-like weeks and fitting in workouts felt like a burden.  So, now, when I should back off on training, I'm finally getting back into the swing of things.

Fortunately, this weekend, I really enjoyed the 6 hours that I put into swimming, biking and running and remembered why I like training.  It can be fun, but most of these were hours on my own, I spent them kind of lost in my own thoughts as I enjoyed the fact that I was not grading, emailing, planning classes, writing my annual self-evaluation, or dealing with house stuff.  Yes, training this weekend functioned as hours of self-indulgence and a mental health break from random stressors.  Maybe that's just what I needed because I'm finally looking forward to Wildflower in two weeks!

Talk about an attitude shift - even Thursday night, I found myself wanting to spend the weekend napping.  Friday, however, I decided that I really needed to re-introduce myself to my bike.  While March was a pretty good month in terms of time in the saddle, I hadn't been on my bike at all in April.  That changed on Friday when I squeezed in a 2 hour brick (90 min. ride/30 min run) before I had to spend my evening chaperoning prom.  All I wanted to do after getting all hot and sweaty was spend my evening on the sofa with a cold IPA, but I managed to pull myself together enough for prom.  As much as I hated having to spend the evening working (and not just working but having to wear nice clothes and heels - definitely my idea of hell for a Friday night), I was SO happy that I had carved in time to train.  Today, I spent another few hours riding and running and thinking, and I really appreciated that time.

I'm not great at balancing every aspect of my life that I consider important - there are times when one piece or another starts to slide.  And sometimes just keeps sliding.  However, I do love these moments when I can get out there for an hour or two, forget all of the other pressing business and just focus on the curve of the road, hauling up another hill, putting one foot in front of the other.  These are the moments that remind me how lucky I am!