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THursday, Friday, Saturday and Increase!

THURSDAY:

Honestly, I can't remember anymore! aha- it was a weird day, cuz I slept in again. This follows through with the weekly goal, to listen to my body.

BIKE: 1 h 15min

• On the trainer (or the rollers as Steph calls them)
• 10 hills- it was very intense, I worked very hard.
• I hoped to run after (make up for the missed run on Wed.), but I was between teaching blocks, and I sacrificed that time to clean up my bike and especially my chain from Sunday's ride. I really need to hire a student to clean my bike... so much time!

SWIM: 43 min

• 350 warm up
• Skipped drills b/c of time factor
• 6 x 150's (builds) this was weird- it seemed noisy in the pool and it was hard to tell how hard I was swimming. There were some great swimmers in my lane, pushing me to work a bit harder.
• 10 x 25 sprints
• 10 x 25 kick

YOGA: I was very tired at yoga, but the stretch, none-the-less, felt great.

Didn't get much core in, totally got in my ankle/leg strength.


FRIDAY: And let the holidays begin! Yahoo!

Morning:

• woke up to the power outages and gleaful children abandoning campus. yippee- time to chill.
• Opted to train at Commonwealth (weights and cardio) where there was light.
  
• This was nice, more social and I enjoyed watching the swimmers.
• 30 minutes treadmill, full core, full glutes/ankle work, upper body weights.
• I worked only with the 7.5 lb bar-bells and I was sore the next day!

Afternoon:

• I had a hot date that evening. Yippee!
• Had to cut short my run so that I could try to ease out the swimmers' frizz my hair has developped.
• 38 minutes: 10 minutes moderate, 8 x 30 sec sprints (w/ 30 sec recoveries)
• It wasn't until the last 10 minutes when I finally felt limber and fluid as a runner.
  

SATURDAY: Bike - Swim

• I'm really going on strike with the early wake-ups! I opted to stay in bed and forfeit the breast stroke.
  
• I then took mini-naps between trying to make a pre-bike swim plan. Have you ever found those phone services for pool sched's at Crystal and Commonwealthy make you suicidal?
  
• Well, (by the time I figured out the length's times) I just kept finding myself 15minutes behind sched', so then I slept some more so I could call Kristi up for a ride. It was a terrific ride. IT ROCKED! So glad I found some cycling companions.
• We just about missed the rain too! I was full on smilling and happy on that ride. I tried to fake that smile on my other rides when I kicked it solo, however it was a strained grimace. I was sooooo happy on the bike today! yippee!

BIKE: 4 hours - 4 hours 15.... distance ~100 I am so not interested in my computer...

• Great... I think for the protein meal supplement I will try the orange creamsicle thing "Perpetuate."
  
• Gels were great. Minus the Power- Mocha-Gell. felt like that candy I bought as a kick that would snap and crackle on your tongue.
• I was craving an Elevate bar.... I really like those squares.

Rested with some lunch and the news paper for a couple of hours

SWIM: 1 hour (2300 m) at the Y

• Nice to have a tri-focussed programme.
  
• My shoulder is quite sore again, I think partly because I was tight from the weights.
  
• I did some arm-swings before the swim, but I think I need to do some more.
  

Tues/ Wed

TUESDAY Morning:

I stayed up a little later than planned on Monday, so I opted to sleep in on Tuesday and not swim.

TUESDAY Aft':

Ran with my awesome outdoors group. 40 min. (walk/run) They're great!

Weights: Core, Glutes, Upper Body with machines and Lower Body without machines. I tagged the two weights workouts together so that I could swim Wed. in the am.


Wed. Morn:

Swim - it was awesome- I'm starting to feel a bit more consistently strong. I love how I get so much more smooth and efficient after drilling with the Total Immersion.

The 6 50 metre drills were intense, I worked super hard and had my heart rate right up there.

Swam 2400 (give or take a 100... i'm terrible at counting lengths!)


nutrition check-in:
Its going a lot better. I'm back on track.

Weekly Goal "Achieve Balance" Achieved?

Hmm.... I think in some ways I achieved this goal, in others no.

- I was calm and prepared to be flexible with my work-out schedule as deadlines and assessments were going to take priority.

- I was super efficient and organized with my work-load. I got 'er done, and got 'er done well.


On the other hand, I ate crap all week, did not take care to complete my core and physio exercises and really fought with self-doubt in my career.

The last issue is a given for most teachers at a time like this.

The middle one bugs me.

The first one came as a result of me telling myself at the start of the week that it was going to be insane and challenging to cope with. I'd rationalize the nutrition breakdowns (eating piles of candy or cookies while marking) to be necessary antidotes for survival because everything was so "crazy." I think if I didn't build up the nuttiness so much (since I did manage the work very well, I can also change that " need to survive/ burning the candle at both ends" ethos. In this way I can stick to a cleaner diet and perform even better at work and at play (training). The fatigue on the weekend, I believe, is also related to a lack of attention to my diet.

I don't mean to say that I can't have treats- but the way I approached it can change. In this way, I'm pretty excited about how much I'm learning myself.

So- have I achieved more balance? Yup.

YAHOO!

Got- ér done, shaking the end of term blues, and mindfulness

SATURDAY...

It was countdown to finishing report card comments. I wasn't feeling stressed or under pressure to get the work done because I had allotted Saturday afternoon to write my reports- however, (as Kristi pointed out today) "Midnight is the deadline," rather than finish by Saturday connotes an overarching pressure and for the DEAD-line.... where does that stupid word come from anyways?

So, with that work and assessments to do, I only swam on Saturday- it was awesome!

MASTERS SWIM: (focus on back and breast) 2100
300 warm up free style
200 kick
5 x 25 Kick then Pull then Swim (of each Back and Breast stroke) = 800
4 x 50 timed sprint races (back or breast)

• I shaved 5 seconds off my backstroke time from the first to the last! 55/53/1:29 (Attempting breast) / 50.3! yahoo. This made me stiff the next day.

3 x 50: Scull, Swim, drill, Swim = 600


SUNDAY:

Reflection on mindfulness:
I am determined to be more mindful this coming month with scheduling. I made great strides last September with my attentiveness, and now I can see that I'm letting myself be a bit dotty about schedules: I'm trying to just go with the flow. While, I enjoy this, it has a negative impact on my work and training.

It meant that I missed my running workshop with my tri-group. Funny, this week I also ate crap that kept making me feel bad (not guilty, just unsatisfied and unsettled in my body.) Its that emotional upheaval of hitting the end- of -term. Like a colleague of mine, its exhausting and unsettling to finish terms... I always wind up a bit worn-down and also a bit worried about select students in my class. We give so much in a highly charged environment for a few months, and then a chunk of school is done and we are asked to show the results of that experience. I always finish with this built up need to cry.

So with that, I was just a bit embarrassed about missing the run-clinic - because I see this as a weakness of mine and I just don't want to be identified as being careless anymore. I know this has a lot to do with my level of mindfulness towards others. Kind of like being late for dinner the other night. Its not that I don't care, but there is an issue of organization. I feel, if I write it out, perhaps I can commit to being more mindful. I looked on the net for a visual to represent my intention to overcome this limiter. This is a beautiful character meaing "mindful"

So what did I do?

RUN: 50 minutes (stopping at 15 minutes to stretch a bit and shake around my legs) Along Beautiful Beach Drive!

LUNCH: WITH THE Tri- Group, so fun! so good to see everyone!

BIKE: 2h 18 minutes- I had a super strong finish! Once I hit that highway I'm unstoppable! That's a great feeling, i must be getting stronger. time for rest. I'm contemplating hiring a student to wash my bike. that would be the bomb!

FRIDAY:

Run: it was great- after some stretching and glute excercises, I ran for 30 minutes on treadmill. Felt great.


BASKETBALL GAME: that was tones of fun! Staff played the grad' game vs. students. I was nervous about playing, but I'm glad I did.

NUTRITION: Subconsciously I told myself that I had to eat as much crap as I could this week; its a rest week and I've got ridiculous amounts of work to acomplish. So- I did. yuck. feels kinda gross. licorice and a bag of Dad's cookies are the culprits for the week. weird- I used to eat that stuff daily! now a little bit over a week repulses me... and I have to admit, instills a little guilt. As I move into this world of training, the body image issu has set in. I feel like i'm in control- but i'm also aware and not quite satisfied (All of a sudden too! its like before it didn't matter, and now it does)

SHOWERS: I've taken 3 today! I'm a bit dry, really. and my hair gets smelly sooner- but do you wash your hair after every workout?! my hair will fall out! ick... i'm clean!

WEIGHTS: After the b-ball game I got in my weights and a bit of core.

OFf to bed.

THURSDAY:

Didn't wake up again... I think its because I knew that I had to mark. My goodness! When Saturday's over- in addition to the 90 reports that are looming over me for Saturday midnight... I will have to have a good glass of wine and some chocolate.

So: Afternoon was fantastic. I'm in serious career check-in at the school, with my bosses in to observe my classes. I put together a lesson that played on a fold-out poster of Michelie Jones. She looks arrogant, strong, sleek and proud as she stands in a full body shot beyond stormy clouds and a long deserted road. It is all perfect... except for her lime green shoes!

Because my little guys are discussing heroes and learning to write conclusions, it became a great prop/ analogy.

Well... the reason I write this is because we had the inter-house cross country race today. Its a challenging race for all the kids... they'd all rather eat chips or play football. Well, one of the boys from my class came up to me so proud because he didn't stop running the whole race. He then informed me that the picture of Michelie had inspired him to keep going! Isn't that so rad! I'm so luccky to be able to feed off these inspiring kids I work with! They're firecrackers.

Well here's the photo! I didn't mean to make it so darn obtrusive, I just don't know how to go back to the photo and edit... hmph. well just call me MJ's idol... even thought I'm not. Something about her competitive spirit that leaves me distracted.

SO! BIKE: 45 minutes... where did time go?!
- I hoped to mountain bike my 7 hills today, however it was freezing!
- I biked indoors and hard. IT was an awesome ride.

YOGA: So needed that- very rejuvinating.