Self Induced Stress Inflicted Paralysis

Do you ever have those points in your life where you have so much going on that you feel yourself on the verge of paralysis? I'm there. Last night, after teaching until 7:30, I took a half an hour to decompress before putting my kids in bed for the night. Those of us who are parents know that the bedtime ritual is no small task. Teeth brushing, bathroom, jammies, books. The minutes add up. Don't get me wrong, I love it, and I am really cognizant of the fact that this time in our lives—with young children— is precious, and will not last long enough. However, I can not speak for all kids, but my children have perfected the art of stalling to new heights. Clearly, they have all made the jump from amateur to professional when it comes to concocting insipid bedtime questions to ask. There timing is also impeccable. My girls wait until I have the door almost completely closed before I hear them squeak "Daddy.... I have to ask you something." "Sure, what is it sweetie?"  "Um.... um... um..... can we go to the museum sometime?" "Sure sweetie. We can go to the museum sometime."  "Okay, goodnight" Here is a recent example of a bedtime conversation post lights-out that my wife had with my girls:

Janina: Mommy?

Wifey: Yes?

Janina: Do you you know....... do yooouuuu knoooow, um...... do youuuuu knoooooooow.....

SILENCE

Janina: HEY!  Amalia, you found my polka dot slippers today!

Wifey: Okay, goodniiiight girls.

Janina: Wait, mommy?

Wifey: Yes?

Janina: Do you know where my Barbie dress is?

Wifey: Yes. We can get it tomorrow. Okay. Goodniiiight.

Amalia: Wait, mommy?

Wifey: Yes Amalia?

Amalia: Can we listen to Cinderella music tomorrow in the car? 

Wifey: (now exasperated because LOST started five minutes ago) Sure. Go to bed! (door shutting)

MUFFLED SOUNDS OF LITTLE VOICES CALLING OUT IN THE NIGHT

Following the bedtime ritual, I had an hour long phone conversation with a performer about one of my scores. Then, I  got on the phone with one of my mentors and asked him how he has managed to stay sane the last 35 years while managing a career, family life, and time for himself. The great mystery unveiled? Not likely. No, the secret to inner peace does not lie atop a Himalayan summit, or meditating to achieve some type of nirvana-like transcendental experience. Unfortunately, the answer to getting it all done within our 24 hour linear cycle is about as cryptic as Stonehenge. My Monday and Tuesday were so busy, in fact, that I can not even remember what I was doing that kept me away from training.... or did I train? I can't remember!

Training: I had an awesome week thirteen of training capped off with a 72 mile ride and a 9 mile run. My ride was amazing. I was all geeked up with my new Crankskins.com team gear. Got my new tri shorts and bike jersey, but I am waiting on my new tri top. It seemed like the first batch we ordered were not quite accurate with the sizing chart. I usually wear medium tops, but this medium was either built for seven guys that live with a Disney princess, or manufactured for the same populous from whence there made—China. Perhaps if I trained by manning a rickshaw for eight hours a day, I would burn enough calories to fit into the medium, but in fact, it was so tight, I could not take it off. I actually had to unzip it and pull it down my legs. I felt like Ahhhrnold. The first 10 miles of my ride were south, uphill, and directly into the wind. Nice! Hello wind. In fact, my whole ride west, the wind was blowing southeast at a pretty decent clip. Miles 10 through 25 were pretty good. I recognized most of the scenery having taken short rides to the southwest last season. Once I got past mile 25, it was all brand new territory for me. I felt pretty strong along the way. Good thing I brough  plenty of nutrition on the ride, because I needed it. I went through 140 ounces of fluids, 3 gels, a bag of carbohydrate lemon snacks, and one super-delicious chocolate brownie Clif bar. Once I arrived, I drank an additional 64 ounces of fluids. All that fluid, and I did not go pee until three hours after I arrived.

Week fourteen has found my butt, yet again, in front of a computer screen firing out emails, working on music, and running around trying to get things done. You know, life. I was doing good for a while, balancing training with life. But, with four weeks left to go in the semester, and the projects steadily growing more numerous by the minute, I have found my twenty-four hour day compressed into a one or two hour window to train—usually at a time of day that the pool has no lap swim, or it is cold, raining and dangerous on the roads, or any other excuse I can think of. Why not ride indoors you ask? Well, it was so beautiful this past week that I took the trainer tire off and put my outdoor tire on my rear wheel. It is not that easy to get that puppy on and off. Those of you who have trainer tires know what I am talking about. Getting one of those on your rim is like trying to put on a pair of jeans you wore when you were twelve. Really, there is no excuse to miss workouts. I will be the first one to tell others that. Every once in a while I get derailed, but I feel better if I can just string two or three long steady workouts together. It is incredibly encouraging to my psyche to get in a two hour bike ride, or a run over an hour and a half. 

Okay, I think I am back and ready for more frequent updates. The whole family is in Connecticut visiting some friends of ours that we have not seen in a while. The purpose of the trip is my wife had a performance in New Haven with her company. This morning I got out for a  nice 8 miler and ran steady 7:20's. Fastest splits of the early season. The season that is quickly creeping up on me!

More soon... stay tuned!  Train Smart!

Iron Reflections: 7 Weeks In

My life gives new meaning to the phrase "burning the candle at both ends." As the volume has steadily increased, I have noticed that Mark needs much more sleep. My life is ridiculously crazy at the moment. I have periods of craziness in my life that are usually accompanied with the pressure of finishing a commission in time. Even if I have a year to write a piece, it usually comes down to the last five or six weeks. The good news is I have been chipping away at this one for some time, and the score is officially with my friend Nicholas who is making parts and making the score pretty. Getting close!

I taught an evening seminar last night at the university from 6-:9:15. I came home, had "dinner"—if you can call eating at 10 p.m. dinner—and talked to the wifey. Adam called me around 10:30 last night to see what our game plan was going to be for the morning. I knew right then and there that a morning workout was not possible. I would have had to be in bed already to get up at five in the morning. I felt bad because I am trying to live up to my end of the bargain training for ironman, which is that all of my training should be finished before the kids have to get to school. That way, I can drive them every once in a while, put some time in the bank, and be home for dinner. When I miss an a.m. workout, especially a swim, it means I will have to be at the gym later. The only bright side is that my boys usually like to go to the gym with me, so I can take them.

I had a little bit of a breakthrough swimming last week. I was at the university pool where I made an appointment to get with the swim coach in a few weeks after their national championships. One of the guards stopped me who had seen me talking to the coach and said, "Hey, do you mind if I give you a little advice on your stroke?" She swims competitively on the university team. I was all ears. Turns out, I was really crossing my midline way too much. I seems so natural to do this, but it is really less efficient. The other thing she said that  made a big difference was to think of pulling yourself "up" in the water instead of this idea of pushing the water behind you, which is how I always swam. Does everyone know this? I was immediately swimming faster. The difficult thing for me is to let this all happen naturally. I am always so conscious of my stroke still as I am swimming. I sometimes hold my breath. Not good. Lack of proper oxygen flow can get you get that heart pumping quickly. She did complement me on my stroke and the things I was doing right too. She said I was getting good rotation and then tried to convince me she had no idea that I had only been swimming for four years.

Instead of doing our usual bike workouts, me, Adam and Manuel did the espresso bikes a few times this week. These are bikes with computer screens that have courses with varying degrees of difficulty on them. We did a twenty mile loop over some pretty steep rolling hills. As we were finishing up (the whole course took Adam and I an hour and five minutes to complete,) I looked over at him and said, "Hey only four and a half more times around this and we've done our ironman bike." He glanced over and gave me queer look before jokingly replying "okay, let's do it!" We decided not to. I had to  get to work—yeah, that's the reason. My legs have been fatigued all week from the 10-miler, my leg workout and the two twenty mile rides I have done in the last five days. I need to do some serious stretching. If I can get the legs a little more loose this week, I will welcome another long run. Crazy as it sounds, I kind of miss those 10+ milers!

Train Smart!