I’m a broken record. I have some time, I train more and post more, and then I get busy and I don’t train or post anything.

This is a cycle I am sure I am not the only person to end up in. People have jobs, family, animals, second jobs, volunteer work, and numerous things that get in the way of training, and some things have to take priority. In my life, taking care of my dogs, work, and law school need to take priority over everything else, including basic things like cleaning my house.

This cycle then creates another cycle where I sit in my house thinking about all the things I want to do. I want to train and race, but I also feel out of shape and it leaves me not even wanting to get started again. It is annoying. I am sitting writing this as an effort to get out of this rut.

What can I do to get out of this rut? I don’t have an answer, but looking at my history, I am very good at getting out of it for a couple months and then falling right back in. I can usually start training if I get a race on my schedule, but I have clearly not been successful in completing the races.

Going back to a training plan - I looked at my training plan in Mottiv, and it looks doable for the next couple weeks, so I am going to start there. I probably won’t get in all the strength workouts, but I can definitely get the run and bike workouts in.

Eating real food - I am cleaning out my fridge to get actual groceries again. I worked three 70+ hour weeks in a row, and it definitely negatively impacted my eating, and I haven’t really gotten groceries sense.

Making sure I get vitamins - I am trying a couple vitamins, one is vitamin D, which I have been told by a doctor to take because my levels are usually low if I don’t, and I am taking B12 to hopefully help with energy levels and magnesium for sleep. I don’t like to take too many things, but the vitamin D was because the doctor told me to, and the B12 is a guess that I don’t get enough because I don’t eat meat.

Decluttering - I am working on getting my house cleaner. This may not seem like it correlates, but I am hoping that by getting it cleaner it will just make me feel better in my space.

Getting outside - I am going to try to ride a different bike outside each week, for at least the next few weeks until it gets cold. I own a lot of bikes, and I think this might be a way to make things fun, and to make sure I am getting some variety.

Buying things - I bought a new trainer. This seems silly (and it is), but sometimes it does help. I have a pair of new running shoes I refuse to open until I actually start running and wear through my current pair, so at least I can have the new trainer. I do not have a direct drive trainer, and I decided it would be worth it to upgrade and incentivize riding inside this winter.

These are not big things, but they’re things I hope to find helpful. I have been an all-or-nothing type person for a very long time, and I do try to place an emphasis on not falling back into that pattern. I want to enjoy my life in all aspects, not just in training and racing.