6 Things I am Doing to Get Out of a Training Rut

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. 

1. 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. 

1. 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. 

1. 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. 

1. 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. 

1. 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. 

1. 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. 

Triathlon Training and Tax Accounting

No, I did not title this blog post just because I like the alliteration. I chose this title, because it best encompasses my two current goals, which are career progress and triathlon. An uncommon pairing, but I want to prove to myself that I can be successful at my job and be a successful athlete once again. Like many people do when things get tough, I let myself make excuses for why my training fell completely off track a few years ago, and work was one of them, so for 2021, I am not going to let my job prevent me from meeting my goals.

First, I bought a book. I like buying training books and reading parts of them sometimes, and when this popped up as a potential read on my Amazon account, it sounded perfect. I have not read the complete book yet, but I hope it will give me some idea of changes I may need to make to my training to be as efficient as possible.

Prior to opening the book, I am sure of one change I need to make. I need to decrease junk mileage. My best season where I trained myself I did a lot of junk miles, and it worked, because I had not previously been a runner or cyclist, so I progressed quickly. Right now, I don’t have time for junk miles, so I know each workout I plan needs to have a purpose. If I am swimming three times a week, I know what my three workouts are. Distance, technique, and sprint, so I need to apply this same thinking to my cycling and running as I plan my training schedule.

Next, I am blocking off my calendar at work for a few hours every week for two reasons. First, self-care. Wednesdays and Fridays I am going to be done working earlier than any other day of the week. Wednesdays I like to have dinner with my Grandma, and I figure Friday is the most acceptable day of the week to take time off in the world of accounting. I will still be working a lot of hours, but I like to work earlier in the mornings, so I don’t think this will be an issue. The second reason I am blocking out time is so I can train. My current plan is to use the time Friday evening for an outdoor run, and I will also be planning my Saturday hours around time to ride my bike on Saturdays, whether it is inside or outside.

I am also going to prioritize strength and mobility as a part of my weekly routine, where I have previously neglected it due to time constraints. Strength and mobility play an important role in injury prevention, and if I am injured, I cannot train as much, which would set me back on my goals, which seems obvious. For this reason, I am setting aside two workouts a week. One will be yoga and the other is going to be a more traditional strength workout. My plan is to try to make these workouts as efficient as possible, so they can be squeezed into my schedule without taking the place of a sport specific workout.

In addition to the above plans, I am going to prioritize self-care, which means I am going to be paying closer attention to things like how much I am sleeping, what foods I am eating, and the amount of time I spend staring at screens aside from when I am working. These are the things I neglect when I am working and training more. At my previous office I ate M&M’s as a snack and when I got home I would mindlessly scroll through my phone in the evening. Instead of eating M&M’s, I have access to Greek yogurt, granola, and fruit now that I am working from home, and instead of scrolling through my phone I need more books to read to decrease the amount of blue light I am seeing at night to help improve my sleep quality. I actually ordered and Oura Ring to see how I am sleeping, because right now I never wake up rested, and I will post my favorite roasted vegetable recipe later this week.

Overall, the big priorities I see for myself over the next few months are self-care and making sure everything I do has a purpose when it comes to training.

Above are some of the books available on Amazon that I either own already or intend to purchase once I actually start working again.

3 Things a Day: Fixing my Bad Habits

2020 sucked. In addition to COVID-19, I went through a divorce. Now, some good did come from it with moving into a new home, adopting cats, and getting an excellent job offer, but overall, 2020 sucked, and 2021 has not started great for me personally. I have barely trained thanks to the cold and moving, and I was immediately let go from my previous job when I gave my notice. This means I have two weeks of little to nothing to do and nowhere to go (thanks COVID).

I decided to take the advice I got from my mom, because mothers almost always know what to say. I need to get up each day with a plan of things that need to get done.

I am making it a challenge for myself, and I want to document the impact it has on my everyday life. I am hoping that being more purposeful will help me with getting out of this rut I am stuck in. I know if I don’t do anything, it will get worse, because I tend to thrive when I am busiest, so not working will not go well if I don’t do anything about it.

Today marked day one for me. I got up this morning with a plan.

First, I wanted to hang up my medal board that I never updated with my time from Ironman Louisville in 2016. When living with my ex-husband, I had it hanging right in front of my trainer, so that is where I am hanging it up now for a little extra motivation when riding my bike.

Next, I needed to buy more groceries. I do most of my grocery shopping at Kroger on the weekend, but they don’t have a good fish selection, and I am a terrible cook, so once a week I also go to Fresh Market to pick up a few things. This week, I bought a crab cake (their ultimate crab cakes are amazing), tilapia, a quiche, and peanut butter dark chocolate peanuts. I had already done the remainder of my grocery shopping yesterday at Kroger where I got mostly fruit and vegetables and a couple snacks,

Finally, I needed to set up my trainer at my house. I was without internet for two weeks after moving in, so I could not connect to Zwift, and my phone data was not strong enough to use it, so my trainer has been in a closet in my garage since. With the cold weather and no trainer, training has been nonexistent for the last couple weeks, and I need to get back to it. I was starting to actually see progress again running, but then I got busy with the holidays and it fell away, so I made it one of my things for the day. Even just 30 minutes on the trainer is a good workout, especially when I have not been on my bike consistently.

The biggest thing I noticed today, is having things to do makes it easier to get moving instead of sitting in bed all day on my computer. I am very good at it, but I know it is not good for me. I managed to get some extra things done, like running the vacuum over the rug in my living room, ordering felt pads to protect my floors, and beginning to plan out my work from home setup, since my new job will be remote until at least May.