Life rather gets in the way of training

It’s Wednesday night. Although I work full time, my hours are split over four days (one quite short day (allegedly) and three very long days). So I have Wednesdays off. And I love my Wednesdays off. It’s like a mini weekend in the middle of the week. A little oasis of calm to sort things out, relax, clear the mind, or, for the last 18 months, write the GTC newsletter (a role I have had to relinquish).

But now, Wednesdays have turned into one of my main training days. It’s great I have a day I can put aside for this purpose, but in reality, it’s not working out that well. Today seems to have been a perfect example of that. I didn’t have a session with Fiona first thing as they have moved to fortnightly. But Jamie and Holly both had appointments in town with the orthodontist – off we set for the train in plenty of time. First train cancelled, second delayed, so despite our best intentions and a sprint across town in the pouring rain, we were still a bit late. (Holly fine for now, Jamie to get braces which will need 6-8 weekly appointments for the next two years. Hoorah.) Quick scoot around town while we were in, in case we could pick up any Christmas presents (Christmas in general not terribly conducive to Ironman training), lunch, then home on (another delayed) train in time for school.

I then dashed over to the swimming pool to fit in today’s swim session before the after school lessons started (managed my 2 km with about a minute to spare) then home and quick change (and attempt at make up to cover goggle eyes) and rush up to school for part one of Jamie’s parents’ night (Paul and I tend to do these like a tag team). At primary school, although never running to anything that resembled the actual timetable, parents’ evening was quite a relaxed affair when you got a chance to sit and have a nice long chat with one teacher. Secondary school parents’ night is a cross between orienteering and speed dating, but with a constant undercurrent of anxiety that if you are late for your 3 minute slot with one teacher, the entire timetable is ruined. Everything was going fine until Chemistry which seemed to have descended into chaos. It only cost me about 15 extra minutes, but in today’s tight schedule, it didn’t take much to throw us out of kilter.

I got home to find Holly not quite finished making her tea, so we stuck it in a tupperware container as she was bundled into the car and she ate on the way to pick up her two friends as I took them all across Glasgow (the long way, because obviously there are more roadworks with temporary traffic lights on our daily commuting route) to Holly’s theatre school. Battled back home (the long way again), ate a banana and got picked up by friend to go to the club spin session.

Home by 9pm and hoorah for Paul who had finished his part of parents’ night and made tea.

So I did manage to squeeze in a swim and a spin session, but neither of these were particularly long. Today wasn’t even that unusual. Lord only knows how I’ll manage to fit in the training when we get to the more intensive part of the program.