Tightrope called life

Sometimes I wonder how I manage to juggle all the "stuff" I have going on at one time.  My plan for this weekend was to get to bed at a decent hour Saturday night, as I had worked back-to-back nights Thursday and Friday with very little sleep.  The plan was to get up reasonably early to get my scheduled 22-miler in before noon.  The reality of life had me waking up frequently, listening to my younger son's breathing.  Sometimes being a nurse in a pediatric ICU can be a curse- this has been a bad season for respiratory issues, and I've seen a good number of kids get really sick rapidly.  My little guy ended up being fine overnight, but I was left lacking sleep and not wanting to stray far, just in case he needed me.  Add in snow on the roads, as our development still hadn't been plowed, and I was left with exactly one option:  my hamster wheel.

Now even though I am not a huge fan of having to log my miles indoors, I am truly grateful for having this option when left with no other choice.  Thankfully this was the only time within the past week I had to settle for an indoor run, so I tried to make the best of it.  I have a 10-mile course set on it that is supposed to mimic the Tahoe Rim, adjusting the uphills and downhills accordingly, and I figured it would be the closest thing I could run compared to outside.  Being a planner, I looked at my runs for the next week, which had all been previously mapped out on my calendar, made a few tweaks, and was able to reschedule my 22 for Thursday.  While it is not ideal, as I plan on racing a 10k hard on Sunday, at least this lets me preserve my overall plan.

While I was reworking everything on my calendar, I realized that this planning is a far cry from how I used to train.   When all I had to worry about was my job, sans the kids or my own school work, I could roll out of bed and run whatever and whenever I desired-and my training suffered for it.  I could procrastinate a key workout until "tomorrow", never actually seeing tomorrow arrive.  Now when I train, I'm left writing every run on my calendar, scheduling them right along with work, papers, and my son's lacrosse practices.  This has left me more disciplined, and my training has improved dramatically.  January ended up being my highest mileage month ever because of sticking to a schedule as realistically as possible.  I can feel myself getting faster, getting stronger.  Maybe the tightrope is just what I needed right now, even if I have to tweak it once in a while.