Friday, April 06, 2012

Everything's coming up roses.

Almost!

I could waste yet another post telling you what's not working for me right now (I'm still not caught up on everyone's posts, have left it another month or so to blog, and my inbox is groaning - this whole zero inbox thing is so not working for me right now) BUT that's the train of negativity which has now left my station - things are looking up:

  • my career is looking up - in the course of the past 2 weeks 3 different opportunities have come my way.  Interestingly, they are all things I haven't forced into happening but which have developed more slowly and, perhaps as a result, look like they are going to be right (for now).  (Does this mean I am going to have to learn to be patient rather than forcing things into existence?  Is this the kind of painful insight 40 years have brought me to?)  Watch this space - the reveal will come soon (when my kids are back at school and I can focus).  
  • That flu-thing I had last time?  It knocked me out for a week but I recovered, got back into the saddle.  
  • the coaching?  Is totally working.  There is NOTHING better than being told what to do.  (Am I actually saying that?  Perhaps it's only true when it comes to training).  My coach scrapped all workouts in the week when I was recovering from flu.  Had I not had her, I would have, no doubt, been back at it too soon.  As it was, there was nothing in Training Peaks so I didn't do anything.  And recovered.  And for the past 2 weeks I have been hitting it.  Hard - for me.  This half ironman training thing is no doozie - 8-9 hours of training a week and scanning ahead I can see 10+ hour weeks!  
But 3 months into this stop start process of becoming a triathlete, I am feeling a bit better about things.  While I am still not fast in the pool, I can sense progress.  The bike is also getting better, if still not very fast.  And the running is good despite the volume being way lower than what I'm used to.  But more than that, I am beginning to get my head round it.  At the beginning I was just overwhelmed with the whole thing - swimming! biking! running! transition! bits of equipment that need to be bought! aaaaaargh!  The individual elements are now beginning to assume their correct size rather than the monster proportions they were taking up in my brain.  If coach tells me to swim 2000m I now know I can actually do that.  So I don't agonize over it for days.  I've even signed up for my first sportif - that just sounds so Tour de France! - in 3 weeks - 56 miles - and I'm mildly confident that I will make it round.  Whatever was going on with me in January / February - I feel I've turned a corner on it and am beginning to feel some semblance of direction and progress again.  

Blogging has kind of taken a backseat while I've been leading my life, but I need to stay in touch because the stuff shared is the stuff I need more of in my life.  Take for instance this nugget which wonderful Meg shared in her blog this evening, with special reference to dealing with teenagers: 


I had just emerged from a discussion with my teenager which started off not so well - I should have read Meg's blog first thing this evening because she advises strongly to bite your tongue which I didn't do.  However, after I did bite my tongue I did my best to listen, to not offer advice, and to help along the lines above.  It worked.  (I just showed her the quote above and she pointed out that what I said to her initially was none of the above.  Painful but true.  She then said that what she said to me in response was also none of the above.  Also true. Being a parent is more difficult than training.) Thank you Megsie - I needed you back! And on a practical note - a great big elephant in the room for me has always been weight / core training.  I just have this deep belief in me that I can't do it.  However, I'm trying to ignore that belief (10 years ago I didn't believe I could run a mile so things can change) and the incredibly impressive and buff Jess is inspiring me with her workouts.  Some of them have me laughing out loud because they seem almost impossible but I'm trying to ride with it and do them anyway.  The only way is up (or in, as I want my stomach to be).  

There's no way to even pretend that I'm going to be reading your blogs because I'm about to head off for 5 days of skiing - but when I get back, I will!  I promise!  


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

little small steps contribute to a bigger change.. keep the vision 360 deg.. looks like you are moving forward from where i am viewing from...

Unknown said...

Ha, ha! I was so excited to see that you had posted today and then when I saw those words I had posted, I almost laughed out loud. I had THREE conversations with friends this week and last about their kids and we all ended up regretting how those conversations had gone! That quote hit the spot for me! Not only that, I had breakfast with my mom today and OMG...I felt like I was front loaded with positivity for our visit...thanks to those words that I saw on Facebook. Social media is not to be poo-poo-ed, right?!
I need more core work as well and YES, yipee for coaching. Yesterday I mailed Nicole with a question, Can I do it? "Yes, just believe." was her reply. So I do.
Happy Skiing Sweet Thing, we'll miss you!
xoxo

GetBackJoJo said...

Have fun skiing, Petra! You are doing awesome and you are going to have such a great half iron!
I like the the THINK acronym...
When I read it I realized that I am not usually so bad with others, but I am just awful with myself. Rarely do I ask those questions prior to giving myself little talks...
I could have used that on my ride yesterday! xo

Jill said...

Hello sweet Petra...
I read all the things in your blog posts and just cannot believe how different things are now from when we first started getting to know one another. You are so much more confident now and I am positive there isn't anything you can't tackle if you don't put your mind to it. Keep being strong, I am behind you 100%.

Yeah, that teenage thing is pretty tough, especially with girls. I know so many times I just want to scream that they're just an idiot :). I'm sure you're a fantastic mom...you can adopt me anytime!!

Have a blast skiing. All the snow here is mostly melted and the skiing is done. Very warm spring here and the ski resorts had to close early.

Miss you dearly. Hope you have a fantastic Easter!!
((big hugs))

Jamie Walker said...

What a great approach to take! I need to take this approach to - I am like you, a flu or whatever would be one of those things where I'd go whatever, I'll just get after it now.. haha...so yeah,I need to take a step back to really take a step forward.

Fran said...

Hope you had a great ski vacation Petra. Take your time with reading other blogs, I'm just glad you're back to share your life with us.