I have a confession… I have been a very bad vegan. My meals for the past month (on and off) have been based on the speed that they are made as opposed to their nutrition. This has had an effect on my training because when I don’t eat properly, my legs get very tired very quickly. So this is me committing to myself and the world that I will start to eat healthier meals starting NOW. No more pieces of toast with peanut butter for breakfast and lunch, cereal with soy milk for supper, soy ice cream after supper, and Clif bars to replace lunch. Instead, I commit to making more meals at home and eating the leftovers for lunch. I commit to oatmeal with hemp and flax seeds in the morning, more green leafy vegetables (which I love!), and more quinoa and rice with beans.

Every once in a while this happens… I get busy and out of the habit of cooking. All it takes is me making a commitment to myself to eat healthier and I will. This starts today, right now, this very moment! Tomorrow I am throwing a vegan potluck and it is going to be very fun; I am making vegan pizza and a curry; I will take and put up pictures of the food. It will be inspiring and will make the fact that we are getting a ton of snow not seem so bad. Hopefully.

I am making this commitment because I skipped another workout in lieu of work and errands and a seemingly endless amount of tasks to do in a day. It will slow down because I choose for it to.

Since triathlon is a multi-sport, it’s no wonder that it draws people in that are proficient multi-taskers. This is definitely one of the reasons that I became hooked on this sport – not getting bored just training in one sport and when injured being able to do a different sport more. However, the past 4 weeks have involved more multi-tasking than even I, a seasoned multi-tasker, is comfortable with.  Unfortunately, because triathlon is my hobby that I do in my spare time, it has taken a bit of a back seat to a high quantity of hours traveling for work, planning to get a new puppy, planning and attending a conference (which included meeting some who I have a great deal of respect for), spending quality time with family members (including going to a wedding), and keeping up my personal relationships.

In the past few weeks, all I’ve had time to do is 2-3 swim sessions a week, one bike session (there is more on that later), and I’ve just started back to running for short amounts of time due to my foot injury. That being said, I foresee my job becoming less busy and more manageable (ie. less stressful) and spending more time training.

I’m very excited to finally be able to bike outside these days. It has only been the last week that we have really had weather that was conducive to riding outside. Up until now, it has been too wet or cold and I really don’t have the gear to deal with that… yet. A couple of weeks ago I started helping lead one of the bike sessions to a women’s beginner triathlon group called Just Tri It. I co-lead the advanced group and it is so inspiring to introduce these girls to the sport I love so much. It is awesome to pass on my words of wisdom from being a sort-of-seasoned triathlete. This week is most of their first multi-sport race – a short duathlon. I am going to volunteer at the event and hopefully be able to help them set up transition areas and calm their nerves before they set off on their race. I’m so excited for all of them!

I was planning to do an actual road ride outside this weekend, but the forecast calls for snow. So I will do my best at convincing myself that getting on the trainer is the best idea, but honestly, I’d rather bike in a blizzard for 5 hours than sit on my trainer in my basement for half an hour, even if Sex and the City is on. However, it might be my best option this weekend.

I realize that I have been neglecting this blog since I changed over from blogspot, but I’m working on it. Hopefully as I get more time at home, I’ll be able to update more. Sometimes it seems like I have a lot of blogs to update, but this one should be the first one to be updated. I’ll work on that.

I have really been focusing on my swim for the past couple of months. I’ve always considered it to be my weakness because I use my legs a lot and have little upper body strength. However, with my coaches help, I’ve been increasing my strength through calisthenic exercises and through freestyle pulling.

With my foot being sore (but is healing now!) and my trainer not being appealing, the swim is all I’ve had until now. However, it is now nice enough to bike outside, which is exactly what I’ll be doing next week. I’m so excited to get out onto the open road! I have been commuting for most of the spring and some of the winter, so it’s not like I’m rusty or anything. I just don’t have the power yet. However, I know that my leg power will come back with very little problem and then it’s all about speed workouts.

My foot is slowly, but surely healing and I have new shiny shoes. I’ve been running short distances a couple of times a week, which is really good.

However, since I posted my last post about “simplicity,” my life got rather chaotic. Work was busy before, but the end of March was incredibly busy. Last week felt like 4 weeks and this week, while not as bad, is about the same. Sometimes when I get in the habit of being busy, I have a hard time slowing myself down enough to enjoy life. So I have been practicing that today and will hopefully slow down tomorrow and for the rest of the week… just so that I can remember what it feels like not to run. What an interesting concept – as a runner, I need to remember what it feels like NOT to run.

However, while running yesterday I did slow down long enough to watch two bunnies beside the trail hop around and watch me. I watched them, they watched me and I felt connected to the earth once again. It didn’t last long, but I spent my day grounded in the memory of those lovely animals living in this city.

Since work has slowed down quite a bit, I’m hoping to be able to update more regularly… and to get my website at a state that I am happy with. Thanks for reading!