I went to Mexico and I had a wonderful experience! It was so fun, that coming back to my part-time job as the Internship Coordinator at the University of Minnesota, my substitute teaching at Great River School, my side gig of helping people with their LinkedIn profiles combined with training for my 100-mile bike ride that will be June 3rd, well, I got overwhelmed.
I have been part of a writing group that is going through a transformation, and when I was meeting with the group, I focused on writing my book, not on blog writing. I don’t know about you, but in my life, time has limits! Given that I like to sleep 8 to 9 hours a night, writing blogs fell to the wayside.
I’ve missed communicating here with all of you, so I’m back. This month, the topic will be “How to keep training when life gets overwhelming.”
To kick it off, I am happy to report that in case you forgot, I am once again, training for a 100-mile bike ride that will happen as part of the Tour de Cure Twin Cities. I’m following an 18-week training program and two weeks ago it was an overload week. That meant that I was to be on the bike for a total of 12 hours. One ride was 3 hours and another ride was 4 hours. Then the other days of the week, I had to rack up five more hours.
That was the week my writing group fell apart and I had to be at work five days in a row, normal for most people, I know!
How did I do it?
For starters, every morning, as I ate my breakfast, I reviewed my calendar. I reminded myself of my priorities for that day. I spent time thinking about how much I love riding my bike. And I visualized riding 100-miles on June 3rd. I’d be sitting there eating my Amy’s gluten free dairy free burrito and I’d have a huge smile on my face!
I took lots of deep breaths, and reminded myself often that I wasn’t responsible for taking care of the whole world. Being the oldest child in the family, I often take on more than is mine to take on. I told myself that it was okay to prioritize riding my bike.
It wasn’t easy. And I did it! I successfully rode 12 hours. And I enjoyed every minute of the rest week that followed. For rest week, I got a massage. I slept 9 to 10 hours a night and I took lots of long, slow walks with my dog Echo.
This week, I’m back in full gear. This week I will ride a total of 7 hours. Two of the rides will include intervals. I love this part of the plan! To start the week, I took my bike off my trainer and I rode 1 hour 50 minutes OUTSIDE! It was wonderful!
What do you to keep going when you get overwhelmed and you’re training for a big athletic event? I’d love to hear your ideas!
