What does a busy mom do when her life is spinning out of control? Why micro-manage her workouts, of course!

My next triathlon is four short weeks away.  I only have two more weeks to build fitness before winding down into race prep and tapering.  These two weeks are REALLY important and need to have structured high-quality workouts.  I didn't realize it until now, but marathon training was so simple!  Four runs a week. Each run has a specific speed, strength or endurance purpose.  Then there's a recovery or easy run or two to keep mileage/minutes base.  With triathlon, I have to think almost all those elements in THREE different sports!

Fortunately I love and thrive on organization, structure and systems.  A detailed training schedule keeps me sane and prevents me from slacking on my workouts.  It's written down, I am more likely to do it.  I find the more specific, the better.  This doesn't mean that I stick to my plans to a T by any stretch of the imagination, but it gives me a nice framework from which to work.

Last week I had three rest days rather than my typical one rest day.  So this week, I'm working out each day of the week to try to make up for those missed workouts.  If it happens, great. If not, oh well.  Here's this week's plan:

Monday:  swim/bike brick

• 70 minute swim √
• 8 mile/20 minute bike to work √
• 8 mile/30 minute bike home from work √

Tuesday:  run + S & C

• 50-60 minute run: warm up, find pace, increase speed every 12-15 minutes until reaching tempo intensity, cool down [√ 52:14 mins w/ ave pace of 9:01. 1st @ 9:27 2nd @ 9:01 3rd @ 8:39 4th @  8:51 5th @ 8:54 6th @ 9:13]
• Strength and core work at the gym [Skipped. :( Too tired, not feeling well.)

Wednesday: swim

• 60 minute steady swim: 300-400m w/u (6 laps), main set of 500m (10 laps)- 400m (8 laps)- 300m (6 laps)-  200m (4 laps)- 100m (2 laps) all at steady pace with 50- 40- 30- 20 sec recovery in between √

Thursday:  run

• Strength and core work at home
• 60-75 minute run, easy pace, build pace through run √

Friday:  bike

• 75-90 minutes bike: w/u ride from home to Spyglass,  4-6 hill repeats on 4-6 minute long hill, c/d ride back home

Saturday:  run

• easy (4-6 mile?) trail run
• Strength and core work at gym

Sunday:  bike

• 2 hours

Now if I could be as organized and dedicated about the rest of my life!  My house would be immaculate, meals would be planned, the house would be stocked with food, birthday cards and gifts would arrive on time, Mt. Fold Me wouldn't grow to be any higher than my knees, paper clutter wouldn't accumulate...  It's all just too much at times to maintain a household, hold down a job and raise a family.  I am so glad that I can take solace in my workouts, enjoy a sense of control in at least one small area of my life and reap the rewards that come from taking care of my physical and mental health through exercise.