a month of more being thankful: september
I'm pretty sure I've been doing monthly recap/goals posts for as long as this blog has been running. I'm not sure there's ever been a time where I can recall a single goal I set at the start of the month. Checking in...
Start setting the alarm again instead of assuming you will wake up when the poet does. A very unfortunate check...sleep has not gone well this month.
Get a haircut. A real one, from the nice ladies in the very high heels. Check!
Make pupcakes for the birthday of Molly and Sofie. I'm a failure as a puppy mama. But we have a lot of celebrating to do.
Don't get swallowed up by training. Balance is good. Beer is good. Instead I got swallowed up by stress.
Keep working on that nutrition cabinet until it is gone. Emptied as of yesterday! Time to refill.
Actually investigate master's swim instead of just talking about doing it. Nope. I need to do this!
Do the buy-a-WTF-vegetable-and-figure-out-how-to-cook it thing again. Nope, although we did buy and eat quite a bit of produce this month.
So, I was successful on about 60% of what I intended to do this month, which is pretty much what my life as a whole feels like right now.
I started off the month on a high note with a big fat PR at Cedar Point and with that, accomplished every single thing I didn't realize I had set out to do this season. But if I had written down in January what I would have liked to do this year, it would have included a great day at IMCdA (yup, STILL talking about it), placing a few times in my killer age group and a 70.3 PR that included breaking six hours. It might have included a half marathon PR, but it also might not have, and I'm far more satisfied with the focus on triathlon this year than I would have been on running. And now that I feel fat and happy with my season, my only goal for the next couple of races is to have a real good time, because like the man says, stick a fork in me, I'm done.
Post-CP, I pissed off a muscle in my back so not a lot of quality swimming has gone on this month. I think I need a few things to knock me out of my little slump of a plateau, and none of them are going to happen in the month of October. Cycling was up-and-down, with a couple of good solid rides but also a pretty serious bonk and one long one that I skipped entirely in favor of de-stressing and trying to figure out how to get my life back. I can't complain about running at all this month, other than to poke a bit more fun at my super collapsed end-of-the-5K form one more time. I've had a couple of great long runs and other than giving myself shin splints by running in old shoes about 200 miles longer than recommended, I feel pretty solid.
Life outside of triathlon training has been the roller-coaster going down, unfortunately. I'm not adjusting as well as I would like to some changes in my life, and I feel like some more changes are in store before we really settle down for the winter. I'm not sure what the next few weeks and months are going to bring us, but as we head into October, I am determined to remember the words to the song that has been playing in my brain for a while now: what do I stand for?
October, just like every year, is my favorite month. It's the time when the leaves turn and the hoodies come out and the air conditioning goes off until next summer. It's my favorite month to run in, and once I buy some knee warmers I'll be a lot happier on the bike. It's going to bring end-of-season races for both the poet and I, as he tackles the marathon for the third time and I head out for one last shot at 70.3 miles before stapling my bike to the trainer for the really cold months.
We'll also celebrate Graham's third year on earth along with my birthday and the poet's, and even thinking about this makes me so emotional that I almost can't talk about it. I bumped into a stranger last week, and as we stood chatting playing the why-do-I-reconize-your-face game, he realized that he was friends with a friend that shared our struggles with Graham. And as he stood there telling me that he was "sorry" for only sending $10 towards my family, I started to cry. (SO AWKWARD). Because I haven't forgotten, I will probably bring it up every once in a while for the rest of my life, we, the poet and I, will never forget. And I'm happy to share with you that we were able to scratch together enough money this month to finally pay off the remainder of Graham's debt, and to start doing what I promised - paying it forward.
Miles run: 65.72
Miles run in old shoes: 60
New pumpkins added to my awesome patch: 4
Rides that were a total disaster: 1
Rides with a good friend that kicked ass: 2
Rides where I was thrilled to be riding my bike: all BUT 1
Cupcakes eaten: not nearly as many as October will bring
Times I have looked at the 5K finishing shot and groaned: dozens
Times I have been interested in running another 5K anytime soon: 0
October Goals
Big changes. DON'T BE SCARED.
Do not overeat at the first stop on the cupcake tour. PACING!!
At least one PR (spoiler, attempting a new distance).
Keep doing the "let's mash our workouts together and sort of capture the general spirit of the training session" rides with your girlfriends. So much more important than nailing intervals.
Do not die in trapeze class (hope Sonja isn't reading this one).
The new vegetable thing. Or at least don't go two days without eating something green again because you are too lazy/stressed/exhausted to go to the grocery store.
How was your September? Any huge PRs? What are your goals for October (other than to buy me the perfect birthday present, OF COURSE)?