Changing the Chaos

I know I have written on several occasions about changes that I need to make for my family, sacrifices that I have been fighting yet it is evident that I need to. Family comes first right? Always has in my book, that’s the way I was raised and that is what I hope to instill in my children. Now don’t get me wrong, you can look over the last few years and would question if I put them first. All the hours I trained last year for the half ironman, all the times I’ve rearranged to do something so I could workout, run, lift etc. Forty-eight events to date (since 2008) and I have about 5 more to go this year. So I know some would say, oh you haven’t put your family first not at all. But I guess it all depends on perception. I think I have but I know I could do much, much better.

I’m becoming more and more at peace with my decision not to participate in certain distances this year; certain races that I know would take time away from my family. Basically putting triathlons on hold. However, even though I’ve put my own training on hold, I’m volunteering at the events I would normally participate in. Helping comes naturally to me. I’ve even started helping a friend train for her first triathlon, so I’m still involved in the sport.

 I’ve been told by a close relative that sacrifices are what parents do. It was obvious in our conversation that he didn’t think that I sacrifice enough. I felt that in his mind, I should give up everything including the gym in order to put my family first. I disagree with him. Working out rather in a gym, running, cycling or a combination of any of that has been a part of me ever since I picked up a barbell 20 years ago. Running is as much of a part of me as well. Believe me, you want Mommy to run or work out. Really you do. I’m not going to put myself on a pity party for what I haven’t done or what I should do because everything can be done in balance. Balance is the key.

I know with the approaching school year that things are once again going to become hectic. Not that they aren’t already  boarding on being hectic because of sporting activities that the kids are involved in but it is manageable without school. Add an 8^th grader and a 1^st grader into the mix of their sporting events, plus both parents working full time and you’ve got borderline chaos. Plus our monkey boy needs some extra attention right now and if I had continued training for triathlons he would have gotten that or it would have fallen on my hubby which isn’t fair to him either. Training for three events is sometimes difficult with everything else I had to do. And I’m not going to go into a race under prepared, not going to happen.

I’m also realizing that my workouts are suffering because since I have a tendency to wait until the evening to work out, they have been sacrificed as of late and the scale reflected as so this month. Of course eating like I have been hasn’t helped either so it was a double whammy. But that is a whole other blog.  So I’m thinking that I need to re-arrange my workouts. Tuesday evenings I work out with my bff. It is the only night she can and probably will be that way. So what about the other nights? Well I’m thinking I need to utilize my time in the morning and at lunch time. Hubby leaves around 4:30 every morning (Tuesday-Saturday) which gives me plenty of time to do a workout in the morning, probably some type of cardio (elliptical or treadmill) and still get ready. Then at lunch I can utilize the gym or if I want to run outside I can. That leaves the weekend. Well I can either get a long run in on Saturday mornings if the kids are at Nannies or Sunday morning if need be. But I want to reserve Sunday’s as family days. So I’m thinking 4-5 days a week of lifting. I like circuit training and I’ve liked the quick fast repetition workouts that I’ve been doing as of late. I have 30-40 minutes at lunch, totally doable.

So for the next few weeks, I’m going to planning, testing and tweaking my workouts. That way come school time I should be in a good groove ready to attack the next battle of chaos.