Routine, are you out there?
(Alt. title: How many more people read the blog when I swear in the title? Let the research begin)
My life as an adult has involved frequent daily and weekly schedule shifts. And something that I’ve noticed over the years, especially with respect to workouts, is that it takes me between 2 weeks and a month to fully adapt to the new routine.
My January Planuary was to take the month off to focus on the administrative parts of my coaching business. I coach outdoors, and this January the number of people I coach (total) had whittled down to 9. I let them talk me into only 2 weeks off in January (and coaching 2 workouts even on those Sundays), but other than coaching practices, I tried not to schedule any appointments, meetings or events (a quick look back at the calendar reveals 16 meetings in January). I didn’t swim; my plan to run was quashed by a weird knee thing incurred running down a mountain at Christmas; and my yoga was “as desired” … which was not much.
And I got a ton of stuff accomplished. Not as much as I wanted; never as much as I want, but by the end of the first week in February, I had a website and blog and marketing baby steps. Only being a week behind is like being a month ahead in my world of work-at-home motherhood.
February came along and I was right back to most of my schedule being taken up by stuff for other people. (The only reason I was able to complete the website is that there were two weather events that shut everything down and allowed me to work straight through without distraction). Working, volunteering, kid stuff, and training quickly sucked up a lot of my productive time.
And February was “get back into shape without hurting yourself” month. Now I’ve arrived at “get serious” March.
In truth, what I like IS the coaching and training and volunteering and kid stuff (well, not the driving… but the other parts!). I hate sitting at my computer for hours on end answering emails and working on admin stuff (On the other hand, I have quite enjoyed the website building and the writing – I can see what I’ve built. But email is like the infamous women’s work – never done.)
So I’m glad to be at a point where I get to do a lot of what I love, but I’m concerned that all of the time not spent out in the world will be spent chained to a desk. AND, if I’m going to train this hard, I need to keep in mind that I really will need recovery time. Answering emails isn’t like working out, but for me it is not entirely like resting either. For certain right now I am spending too much time on the computer for my own happiness. Something to keep in mind as I consider my ambitions.
Here’s what the routine is starting to look like:
Friday: “day off” pilates/yoga; “running” with A from school to pool
Saturday (home): 1 hour+ on the bike trainer; yoga/pilates
Saturday (beach): swim in the Atlantic for increasing amounts of time
Sunday (home): pilates/yoga; ?
Sunday (beach): swim in the Atlantic for increasing amounts of time
Monday: Ideally yoga/pilates;10,000 yards (I did 8800 this week)
Tuesday: yoga/pilates; 7000 yards (I did 7800 this week)
Wednesday: pilates/yoga; 8000 yards (projected)
Thursday: yoga/pilates; 6000 yards (projected)
** Disclaimer – sample yardage is just to set a basis for training intensity. I am very against using yardage as the only measure of the worth of a practice. A 1000-yard kick set is obviously going to take up more time (and therefore lower the total yardage) than a 1000-yard swim – that does not mean that it will not improve your swimming. Quite the opposite. So if I post 5000 yards of intense kick and sprint on a 7000-yard day, I will not at all consider that failing to meet my goal. End Disclaimer.
My beach peeps are on board (tentatively) with Saturday/Sunday swims every other weekend from March 14 until April 26 (the week before I leave for camp in Croatia, assuming Covid-19 does not cock-block the camp). And it looks like I’ll be able to do a test weekend this weekend, since the water has warmed up already to a very cooperative 52F/11C.
Other items of note
I got a massage on Saturday afternoon – bliss. I so wish massages were a financial priority right now. But when decent patio doors cost a minimum of $2500, it’s not in the cards, baby. But the difference in my swim on Monday was absolutely palpable.
I went to a group exploratory session for a personal trainer job on Friday, and I was most favorably impressed by the company’s representative. Both by his own organization, clarity and concision AND by his account of the company’s focus on client needs, results, experience and just generally not being corporate overlords. If you are choosing a gym, my recommendation from the behind-the-scenes experience is definitely O2 Fitness.
I finished “Dover Solo” by Marcia Cleveland. It is so interesting how very varied (I know) people’s inspirations, attitudes, approaches and experiences are.
Haha – I made a note, “I felt wretched on Monday until I swam 8800 yards. So the question isn’t IF there’s something wrong with me but WHAT.”
I am approaching the end of a silly project. A time suck that I brought upon myself but that, completist that I tend to be, I can’t stop. I’m re-watching the BBC Sherlock (Cumberbatch), but before I watch each episode, I’m reading the relevant Arthur Conan Doyle story(s). It has been a lot of fun, but it has lasted long past January Planuary. And the episodes are getting further and further away from the “canon,” which I don’t find to be as much fun. And I couldn’t stay awake for Saturday’s episode, so had to re-watch it on Sunday. One more episode to go.
Finally, I read to A’s class on Monday as part of “Read Across America Week” (and don’t even get me started on the whole Dr. Seuss business), and learned afresh that, to young students, a character with underwear on the head is liquid gold comedy. If I were writing this blog for elementary students, it would be nothing but underwear on heads.
