I feel like the universe is working against me this week, at least when it comes to fitting in my workouts. The biggest problem has been kiddo sleep and, actually, as I write this post at the ass crack of dawn, I keep interrupting myself to silently walk Henry back into his bedroom. Regardless of the time I’ve put him to bed, he’s been waking up paiiiiinfully early.
So early, in fact, that “before the kids wakeup†workouts have been impossible to coordinate, as has anything besides “run downstairs and slam coffee ASAP.†And so early that he falls apart by 4 PM, which is when the gym childcare re-opens for the evening. He was so exhausted yesterday afternoon that I couldn’t convince him to leave the house or even sit in the stroller for a jog!
I felt bad for him, but I felt worse for me. Hah. I actually tried, “Henry, I have to swim 1500 meters, bike 28 miles, and run a 10K in two weeks – work with me, pal!†No dice. Kiddos come first, but seriously – this is killing me. I do believe that I have a decent enough strength and endurance base to pull this race out of me come August 9 but… it might be ugly. Really ugly.
The weather has been working against me, too – a huge rainstorm that closed the pool RIGHT when I was about to leave to swim laps. Hmmph.
And, of course, painfully early wakeups mean that I’m pretty bleary-eyed and mostly surviving on an intake of dark-brewed coffee. I know what I need to do – ride out Henry’s weird sleep fluctuation by going to bed early myself and doing my workouts at the extreme crack ass of dawn, but… I just can’t pull myself together for it.
I did manage to do one really short run this week. It was 2.2 miles, but I did speedwork at the same time. This was a big scheduling feat, so I was pretty proud.
And although I haven’t had time to pound the pavement, I did make a big decision for my triathlon – I’m going to wear a wetsuit in the swim! I have only worn a wetsuit during one other race, and I usually shun the idea of a wetsuit, so this is a big deal for me.
I decided to wear one because I think I’ll appreciate the added buoyancy during the race – I’ve heard wetsuits can cut time by about 10% or so.
And last, but not least, I have scheduled a big workout for Saturday morning. I’m doing an open water swim followed by a bike, and I’m aiming for 1500 meters (race distance) and about 15 miles or so. Getting it on the calendar has been a bit of a challenge, but I know I need open water experience before this event, and… heck… I know I won’t have any trouble whatsoever waking up early to make the event. Henry will be pounding on my door at 5:15!
What part of your life makes it hard to get to the gym? Kids, work, school? What solutions do you have? For a few weeks there, writing my workouts down in my calendar was really helping me coordinate gym time with kids and work. I need to get my family back into a decent rhythm STAT!
Oh man do I feel ya! For two weeks straight my oldest (he’ll be 3 on August 19) was waking up between 3:45 and 4am every.single.day. It was a nightmare. I tried everything, convinced he wasn’t actually awake but he shares a room with his youngest brother (almost 16months) and if I left him there to put himself “back to sleep”–hahaha, yeah right, he’d inevitably start yelling his brothers name and the only thing worse than a kid waking you up at 3:45 is TWO kids awake at 3:45am. So we spent two weeks blearily sleep walking to the living room to turn on netflix and I’d collapse back to sleep on the couch in between restarting Thomas and manny until my youngest would wake up at 7. Finally last week we moved their bedtime back an hour and he’s now waking up between 5-5:45am which is a world better but still difficult. My husband and I have to go to bed when they do or were all cranky and sleep deprived. Did I mention I’m 13 weeks pregnant and NEED to sleep!?!?!? Anyway. Just letting you know you’re not alone. Solidarity, mama.