As I was laying in bed, listening to my alarm clock sound at 5:30am I couldn’t help but swear at the Triathlon Gods who have cursed me to love this f-ing sport. I promptly turned off the alarm clock, swore at the Pool Gods, and slept for another hour and a half. When I finally dragged my butt out of bed at 7am, I thought about the “things” that get in my way of training.

1) Weather – it is currently -30 degrees Celsius. How, praytell, am I supposed to run for 15km (1.5 hours)?!? Sweat starts to freeze after about 45 minutes. In theory I could run to a gym and then run home after that, but I get caught up in the logistics of the whole situation. Firstly, my shoes would be frozen, and I would have to carry lots of clothes because I would have to change when I got there into “gym clothes” and then change into DIFFERENT clothes for the run home because my clothes would be wet from the run there. You see? There really is no easy answer. And anyone that thinks I will run for 15km on a treadmill is deluding themselves. It’s enought that I get on my wind trainer!

2) Music, concerts, and staying up late. I love music – it feeds my soul. However, concerts usually happen in the evening. This week, I did my bike workout and then went to a concert until after midnight. For a “regular” person, this would be no problem. But for a triathlete, getting 5 hours of sleep really puts her off her “game.” Sure enough, I have been paying for that night all week.

3) Socializing. Socializing always takes more time than one thinks it will. I have reduced my social outings each week and I often try to accompany socializing with other things like eating, training, and concerting. However, there are times when a nice cup of tea and conversation is needed with a good friend. Also, this time of year is hard because there are TONS of Christmas parties and potlucks and gatherings. Last night I went to my work Christmas party, had one glass of wine, and was so tired this morning that I couldn’t get up to go swimming.

4) Change in schedule. I have been adapting to changes in schedules, but it is difficult sometimes. For example, today, if the pool near my work would have been open, I would have went at lunch time. However, it is not open because it is closed for cleaning. I have been really good about swimming early in the morning, but sometimes a noon swim is needed!

To train for Ironman, one has to be able to adjust to so many variables in one’s life. If anything changes in the least, it causes my whole training schedule to go off.

The plan this weekend is to make up for my conert-goings, my Christmas parties, and my lack of sleep. In addition to that, I have to finish my *mas cards, make *mas presents, and go to more parties. At least I’m single and there is nobody in my “way” to make sure I get all of it done. Or maybe I need to go back to my old mantra of “I’ve done enough” to help me get through the holidays.

I can’t believe it has been a month since I have updated this. In my head, while I’m training, I keep thinking, “*Subject* would be a great thing to write about,” but then it leaves my head as soon as my workout is done. The biggest reason/excuse for not updating this blog is because I have been seriously lacking in time and motivation to blog.

In the past month, I have been going through some emotional turmoil about an ended relationship and a friend who decided to take his own life. This has left me reeling a bit and has put life into perspective. It took about a week to recover from the passing of my friend. So I am doubley grieving right now. While it is hard, I am also very grateful for my training to keep my head from imploding from so much thinking!

Currently, I did 6/7 workouts last week, including 3 BIKE TRAINING SESSIONS! This is huge for me. How did I go from “hating” the trainer to doing THREE workouts? I changed my attitude. I have been repeating to myself that the trainer is not so bad and I have eliminated all of my negative talk about the trainer to my friends. Also, I’m in a biking group called “17 weeks to spring” (it’s now 14!) , where we meet once a week and get a coached hour of biking. It is great because we get to chat with other people who are also just trying to get their butts onto the trainer. Along with that, I have re-discovered the love of my telephone headset and look forward to catching up with friends while sweating and being out of breath. Also, I have two training buddies that I have sporadically been training the long training sessions with. We chat and watch a movie or “Dead like me” DVDs. It works.

Time and energy are my limiting factors right now. People often tell me that I have seemingly endless amounts of energy. They only say that because they don’t see me at the end of the night, after a few days of workouts, crying and stressing out about how I have to get up at 5:30am and I am so doggoned tired that I don’t even have the energy to brush my teeth. I have been trying to avoid this scene, but it has happened a couple of times. Usually, I decide that skipping the workout is better than spending my energy stressing about it. Ways that I am trying to avoid this is by eating high-calorie meals and drinking smoothies with Vega protein powder in it. Pasta is my friend right now. It’s easy, fast, and so tasty! Sleep is another thing that I refuse to compromise – I get AT LEAST eight hours of sleep every night. This weekend, I got more. Last night I got nine and I am feeling pretty good today. A lot better than last Monday, when I was tired from the moment I got up.

Weekends are prime training time. Yesterday (ie. Sunday), I swam for an hour (and sat in the hot tub) and then biked for two hours in the sunshine that streams into my livingroom in the afternoon (on sunny days). By the time 9:00 rolled around, I was exhausted.  This is basically my pattern: eat, train, eat, work, eat, train, eat, sleep. Fuel is so so so important.

Currently, my house is not as dirty as I thought that it would. Actually, I am pretty on top of things. As long as I don’t get behind in my cleaning, then it is all good. But as soon as the dishes start to pile up or the floor gets a little “too” dirty, then it is hard to catch up. This is why triathletes need a good wife or housekeeper. I wish I had someone who would cook, clean, exercise the dog, and sleep for me.