Tuesday, November 5, 2019

I'm Back!


I am back! Not sure for how long, because life seems to be getting the best of me lately and time has become somewhat of a precious commodity. However, to be honest, I miss writing. I miss interacting with my little online community, carved out space in the world, and I miss having a channel to process emotions and document my life – for better or worse.

So, I’d like to make an effort to try and write more, especially because there are some pretty exciting things happening in both the very near and further out future.

But first, let’s recap a few things that have happened in the 12 months since I last posted.

·       I moved! Jonathan and I bought a house and I moved from the big city out to the way, way, way out ‘Burbs of Carrollton, GA. It is a really cute and fun little city and we are both really involved in and enjoy the local community here. I have a great group of friends here and have honestly been really happy with the move. A lot of times I just look around our house and think to myself, "I can't believe I get to live here." which makes me feel so at peace.

·       I began working primarily from home. My job has become more flexible, which is a blessing given the announcement above. I go into the office 1x a week, sometimes 2, and now have a wonderful home office where I spend the majority of my Monday through Fridays. The team I work with is mostly remote, so even when I was in the office, I spent most of my time on the phone, so there hasn't been a huge adjustment on that side!

·       I started traveling again! After 2018, a year where I still traveled, but it was primarily within the U.S. or Canada, I was itching for some real global exploration in 2019. I was very fortunate that at the same time I was able to get some personal travel on the books, there was also a pickup in my work travel. This year I was able to travel to British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Finland, Estonia, and Aruba, in addition to two trips to Canada (Toronto area and Calgary) and Puerto Rico. Beyond that, I had weddings in Key West and Lake Placid, 2 weekend trips to Boston early in the year, 2 weekend trips to Florida, a work trip to Las Vegas, AND my annual family summer vacation to New Hampshire. It has been a fun but BUSY year.

·       I’ve continued training. This is probably not a shocker, since exercise and endurance sports have become a big part of my life over the years. After Chattanooga Ironman, I took a month or so off, and then went into training for my first official “Ultra” which was a 50K trail race in North Georgia in February 2019. After the race, and additional time off, I got back into triathlon mindset and raced Ironman 70.3 Muncie in Indiana. I had such a fun time racing I decided to keep going with triathlon for the year and added to my calendar Augusta 70.3 at the end of September, which was part of a build into my 2nd full Ironman, Arizona, which is less than a month away now on November 24th

Although I think at this point the majority of people that read this blog are friends in real life or people who follow me on social media, so would likely know all of the above… I wanted to list it out because all 4 of these factors contribute heavily to where I am now. Mentally, and well, physically.

On the topic of training, with all of the changes going on in my life, to say that the majority of this year I have been out of a “routine” is an understatement. I don’t think I have had a “normal” week all year. For a long time, it felt like my weeks and my training, were very consistent and expected. I have been working with a coach for almost 3 years now and how we work together is that every Sunday evening, he will upload my schedule for what training and workouts he’d defined for me in the coming week. For a very steady period of time, my schedule was so routine that I honestly didn’t really need to check my schedule on a Sunday night. I had a consistent series of workouts I did Monday through Sunday, week after week. Monday swim, Tuesday track, Wednesday swim and trainer, Thursday group run, Friday swim, Saturday long ride, Sunday trail run. Or if I was marathon training, it was something similar – very standard and routine.

This year, I have no idea what each week is going to look like. Between what travel is happening, when I am going into the office each week, what my weekend availability is, when the pool is open, and a million other factors that have seemingly had my life be anything but predictable on a week by week basis. Adjusting to a normal training schedule while settling in to a new city, has been more challenging than I thought it would be.

For some, the unpredictability might be fun and break up the monotony of a regular work week. But my mind doesn’t always work that way. I like knowing what to expect. And I think my body likes knowing what to expect as well!

Although I am fit and although I am strong (hello! Ironman training is not easy!) I haven’t felt as good about myself and my body as I have at other times in my life. I have gotten a lot slower in all 3 elements of triathlon, which is hard to see happen. I had fought so hard to build up my running speed over the years, and then last year I clawed tooth and nail to just get a bit faster on the bike. Now, both running and biking, I feel like I’ve gone back years in Katelyn-time and reverse progressed. Even my swimming, which was something that I could always rely on, is slower and a struggle to get myself to do.

But that’s some of what happens when you don’t do track workouts consistently (i.e. ever) anymore, don’t ride 10 centuries in a summer, and stop swimming 3x a week with a Masters group and instead swim 1x a week alone and with no one to race in the lane next to you. Plus, the 15-20 pounds you’ve gained in the last 2 years.  

While these things shouldn’t be a surprise, it can sometimes feel like they are when you are busy enjoying life! Because don’t get me wrong, I absolutely have been! The past 2 years have been wonderful and fun and filled with adventure and love and delicious food. But I have been craving a need to make some changes in my life too. And I’m starting to take some steps in the right direction and see some of the pieces that I think could fit into place in the coming months.

I’d really like to make blogging and writing here a part of that experience and hope to spend more time writing in the future. I’ve missed you guys!

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