Burning The Candle At Both Ends

Little bit of catching up to do this week... I didn't post my usual "Friday Roundup" post last week because I was away at a wedding which not only separated me from my technology but also resulted in a light week in terms of training.

In the seven days up to and including Friday the 6th February I run just 15.5 miles and did one metafit class. I was scheduled to do an additional hours run and my swim class, both of which I had to skip. I did miss it, although the wedding was tiring enough, spread, as it was, over two days. We ate, drank, danced and laughed a lot; utterly marvelous. And I got a voucher for a monster truck ride as a thank you for being bridesmaid - how cool is that?!

This week I've been more on track with 26 miles of running, 19 miles of cycling, HIIT and kettle bells. By rights I should have done an additional bike session but for the sake of body and mind I ditched it in favour of study and rest. I have absolutely no regrets about this whatsoever, especially as the extra time allowed me to complete and submit the assignments required prior to my Exercise Referral workshop next weekend.

Next week is going to be a bit of an odd one. I've got a couple of days off for a get-away which throws my training out of kilter again and the sessions I have scheduled are vying for time with classes and general life. You know, cooking, working, sleeping... that sort of thing. I had to give myself a talking to the other day when I started to feel overwhelmed. I often put my head down and just plug away at everything, ticking off training sessions and commitments, not getting much downtime until I fall into bed. On realising I'd forgotten a family member's birthday I knew I wasn't coping quite as well as I thought I was and it was time to reassess the priorities. Something had to give.

A short-term priority is study, just until the end of March, with the longer term priority being work in all it's forms and the planning that goes with it. If I need to make time and space for rest and life then any volunteer duties will be first to go followed by training. Whilst my training can be almost meditative at times, if I'm regularly stressing about how I'm going to fit it in then that's not right. I'm serious about putting as much as I can into my performance this year, but if I need to ditch a session once in a while, as long as I'm being wise about it, then I'll be healthier in the long run. Case in point... I'm writing this at 4am thanks to my mind being busy with all the things I have to do and am apprehensive about.

So on that note, I'm going to try and grab a couple more hours sleep.