Stuff I’m Gonna Get to After Training Stops

Training for much more that a 10k can consume your life in a pretty big way. Even a 10k can really eat into your free time in a otherwise busy life for a couple of weeks. I’ve been training for a half marathon for since February and building my base for training before that. But that’s all a plan to get my fitness where it needs to be to finally tackle an olympic triathlon right after that. The thing is since at least early May I’ve been running like a nutter and starting next week I’ll be adding swimming and cycling into that mix. PS stay tuned for olympic updates like right after half updates end this week. I’m also tutoring and our work has been nutty for at least three weeks now during the day. Needless to say a lot of ‘other stuff’ has gone my the wayside or been abandoned entirely. At this point I’m starting to fantasize about getting back to all that stuff once training is over in JULY! I’m pretty lucky to have some control over my schedule (although not really), no kids to tend to and mostly a super supportive partner that might not totally ‘get it’ but totally gets that experiences are way more important than chores. Currently I’m still holding on to the delusion that I’ll get to some of this once tutoring is over but not that hard. So here’s a list of things I’m actually lusting for right now and their current status.

Thing 1: house cleaning, current status, holding on by a thread

I am NOT a neat freak cleaner type. In fact cleaning more than half of the house is sorta likely to make me outwardly hostile. But the thing is I like it when it’s done. Certain things are getting done but truthfully on a just in time basis like dealing with the dishwasher and laundry that being said I have bought socks twice so far. Honey has even coalesced and mopped some of the floors a couple of times. But if anyone out there is collecting cat hair to make a sweater or something I might be able to help you out, like a lot come july. Actually it’s to the point now I’d rather not have guests. That leave your shoes on joke about getting hoof in mouth disease is starting to become a reality around here. Next week after the half and while I’m taking it a bit easier I’m hoping to get to this in time for phase two.

Thing 2: other hobbies, current status, abandoned

I love to sew and garden but I haven’t done anything other than run in a long time. I have a pile of clothes that need mending waiting but unless they are in season running gear they’re just not making the cut right now. Normally I’d be stockpiling transplants now like early girl tomatoes but right now there seems to be no hope that I’ll be tilling the soil any time soon. I also think it’s time to re-make my office curtains soon since they suffered a burn a few years back. Maybe with the same fabric or something different but yet they hang here untouched. I also bought these really neat concrete forms online where you fill them and it makes a patio. We have this messy storage area that encompasses a heat pump and I’ve been waging a loosing battle with an invasive weed there for years too. Well I was waging a battle until I identified it and read that if I pull it every four days I can expect it to be gone in 7 years. Then I just gave it that side of the house! Soon (hopefully) it will be a concrete patio. Plus the only other person I know who loves concrete as much as me runs a concrete company. When they arrived I even bought a bag of the stuff which I drove around town for two weeks, then it got hard in the yard when it rained.

Thing 3: getting my chin hair zapped, current status, hopelessly optimistic

For Christmas one of my tutoring students and a friend of the family gave me a gift certificate to a local spa just for that reason. Actually it was sort of a case of foot in mouth because I went on and on about it one day to her and her mom. Probably to the point it sounded like a big fat hint but I swear that wasn’t the case. Either way I’m not mad at how it ended! By the way public service announcement if you’re in your early 20’s and you have three little hairs there will be 20 by the time you’re 40. I’m not a hairy beast in any way and trends in body hair do change so I’ve never had permanent hair removal before. Plus I’m stoked not to tweeze it any more. Hours back a year man!

Thing 4: Running with the neighbour’s dog, current status, he’s trying

Sometimes, not all the time, I take the neighbours, older, fatter lab running and I think we both really like it. My runs will be getting shorter again soon and last night he showed up on out doorstep looking for me. I hooked him to the leash I have for running with dogs, even though I don’t own one, and walked him home. When we got to the trail where we run he grabbed the leash at my end and tried to pull me onto the trail. Not right yet buddy, but I’m coming back for you!

Do something social with out three days of planning, current status, not possible

Sometimes you have to do social things and for the most part I like to do social things, at least some social things. Right now fitting in even a few hour brunch is killer. Planning for it starts three days out and if I have to bring something it might mean being up until 2 and then up at 5 something to train. I literally told the neighbour today I can come to his son’s second birthday after my race on Sunday but I’ll need to sit down like the WHOLE time. Probably not the right thing to say but warning people is the right thing to do right? Plus his wife-type is an amazing cook and cake maker who always cooks for twice the crowd that shows up so that will be a present for me after a half! We’ve even turned down and re-scheduled social stuff to accommodate my training schedule too and that sucks. (It makes me feel really guilty!) I can’t wait to get back to the days of sure, and I’ll bring desert and still be drinking tea by 9 the night before!

Getting ahead of just in time on getwifed, current status, swearing it’ll happen this week

I love blogging on here and writing training plans, and I’ve really enjoyed adding a training update post each week. I’m not sure I really needed the help staying motivated with weekly posts but I sure will take all the help I can get. But usually I’m two weeks ahead. For at least the last two months I’ve been doing stuff on here just in time. It’s not stressful exactly but it’s way more chill when you’re a couple of weeks ahead of the game. Unless it rains for a week straight I don’t expect this to change in the near or medium turn.

I’m not writing this to complain a whole bunch but rather as a point of reference for the reality of training for a bigger race. It can be a huge time commitment and it does start to take over your life for a while. It’s no big deal really because I’ve learned the memories I make racing and the sense of accomplishment I’ll feel on race day not to mention raising thousands of dollars for charity will pale in comparison to having a neat house for a couple of months. And this post is going live just as I’m starting my half marathon on Sunday morning at Bluenose. If you leave a comment then I’ll see it on my apple watch while I’m out there running as long as it’s not raining really hard!