Adjusting

If there is one thing I have learned, it is that life does not care about your plans.  Things change and you have to adjust.  It is not the change part that bothers me.  It's the adjusting while the change is happening.  My kids come first and I have been trying everything possible to help them adjust to living in two homes, but some days are better than others.  Life has been a bit unpredictable lately and I have missed some classes at the gym.  Besides the fact that working out makes my whole day better, all I can think about when I miss class is money wasted.  Especially since I just got done rolling change to pay the rest of my rent.  Luckily, I was able to work something out with my instructor for make up classes.  You may be thinking how does a single mother of four afford the gym in the first place.  The answer is that, like most people, I spend my money on things that are important to me.  My kids always come first.  They have all the necessities and much more.  More important than that, I spend the majority of my time with them and I miss them like crazy when they are not with me.  I work out before they get up, after they go to sleep, and when they are with their father.  I will always choose time with my kids over anything or anyone in the world.  I also realize that the healthier I am, the happier I am.  Exercise makes me a better person and a better mother so it is also a priority for me.  So I cut things out of my life that aren't important to me.  I don't care about possessions.  I have the cheapest cell phone that I could find.  I drive an old minivan.  I rarely buy new clothes.  I just don't care about that stuff.  Life is about experiences and interactions, not things.  Here is a pic of my babies:

 

Good to be Back

I am off from work today and I was staring at my textbook completely unmotivated so I decided this blog would be better use of my time.  I have been going to school for the majority of my life and I cannot get myself to focus anymore.  I frequently take breaks from school work to run or work out instead.  How I have managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA when I am constantly submitting papers at the very last second is a mystery to me.  I think the fact that I will soon be paying for my masters degree that I cannot even use until my kids are in school is the source of my lack of motivation.  On the upside, it means I get more workouts in.  This has been the first week of 2013 that I have not been sick so I got all my workouts in.  I went to HIIT 5 times and I have the sore muscles to prove it.  I also ran 4 times, mostly on the treadmill, but there was 1 day that was mild enough to run outside.  I never run on Friday nights, but I will be doing a longer run this weekend.  I am going to start building my long runs soon for the ultra.  I am starting at an hour and adding 15 minutes each week to my long run.  I was writing my training schedule on my calendar the other day and I had a minor panic attack thinking about running 50 miles, but I pulled myself together.  I am sure that there will be many more in the future, especially when it gets closer to October.  I just have to keep reminding myself that I can do this.  When I was younger, my father told me that I could do anything as long as I worked hard for it and I believed him.  He has always been my greatest role model.  He taught me about hard work and determination.  I was never allowed to quit anything I started and I am grateful for that.  If I say that I am going to run an utlra, then you can bet your ass that I am going to cross that finish line. 

A Slow Start to the New Year

Last week, I woke up every morning and argued with myself about whether it would be better to get up and go to the gym or go back to sleep because I was not feeling well.  I did end up going to my 6:00 class every morning, but I am not used to it being such a struggle to get up.  I compromised with myself and took time off from running in order to get some more rest.  I was way behind on my school work, my family was sick, and I just didn't have enough time for everything.  Fortunately, I am feeling better today.  Not 100%, but a huge improvement so no more slacking on my workouts.  It is the second week of this HIIT session and I of course will be there Monday through Friday as usual.  I am also adding running back into my schedule this week.  I am focusing on speedwork during the week (hill sprints are my favorite).  Then I will do my longer runs on the weekend, which are the most important element of my training for the ultra.  I am starting my training now so that I can build my mileage slowly and avoid injury.  Hopefully, I can avoid more illnesses, but that is a very difficult task when you run a daycare.

Happy New Year

Every year, during the holidays, sickness spreads through my family like wildfire.  This year was no different.  Some combination of the flu, the stomach bug, and pink eye has infected each member of my family.  Needless to say, I have not gotten much exercise these past few weeks.  Add to that the large amount of overindulging in holiday treats and the celebratory drinks and I have found myself a little out of shape.  I did manage to run a 5K race on New Year's Eve with a time of 27:02.  Normally, I would not brag about that time, but considering how crowded it was and the fact that I was out the night before celebrating my birthday, I thought it was a decent time.  A decent time for a winter race anyway.  I don't run competitively until spring.  But if I want to get a new PR in the spring, I better get back to work.  Monday it is back to the gym and back to running consistenly.  There will be a lot of running in my future because my major race of 2013 is a 50 mile ultra marathon in October.  I registered for the Can Lake 50 as soon as registration opened up on the first of the year.  I know it is a huge committment and it is going to take a lot of time and hard work, but it will be amazing to finish a race of that distance.  October may seem far away now, but I know it will creep up on me.