Training and Working

Since September, I have been trying to balance my training and going back to teaching. This summer it was so easy to get my runs in, to stick to my training plan and to put my training first. I was having a great time and feeling very successful with my weekly training plan. Getting my weekly miles in were easy, I was able to jump out of bed at 4am on the weekend to get my long runs in, I felt like I had a lot of energy!

Then September hit!! It hit hard this year!! For those of you who don't know, I teach German at the high school level. I teach German levels 1-4, travel between 2 schools and teach an extra hour longer each day than most other teachers in my district! On top of that, I run our school's Link Crew program working with 65 junior and senior leaders, and 300 freshmen!! I am a busy girl!!

This year, I also hosted 20 German exchange students and 2 German exchange teachers at our school and in our homes for 3 weeks! Yes, I am that crazy!! :)

So, needless to say, September was a hard month to get my training in. In fact, I only ran 55 miles in the month of September and only 55 in October!! That is half of what I had been running each month all summer.

I felt really defeated. I was depressed about the lack of energy I had, and how easy it was for me to just pass up a training run.

I was still getting my long runs in, I did miss one 13 mile run due to a bad cut on the bottom of my foot/toe. I probably should have gotten stitches, it was that deep, but I didn't and it caused me to give up running for a full week!

Then I got sick, twice!!! Ugh!

It has been a rough couple of months. I ran two really good races in October, which did bring some of my confidence back (even with less training, I felt strong!), but I need to get more consistent with my training, and stick to the plan.

I need to stop making excuses!!

So.........

As November started, I decided that while many of the men in my life as participating in No Shave November, I am going to participate in my very own "No stop November". I am going to bump up my training this month and not make any excuses, I am not going to stop training.

My next race isn't until January 1st and I plan to make it a great race!! Then I have the Tinkerbell 10k and 1/2 a couple weeks later and then the Glass Slipper Challenge a few weeks later. Ahhh! Can't wait!

In true spirit of "No Stop November" I run 33 miles last week, including a very cold and windy 9 miler on Saturday!

I feel like that is a great start to this month's challenge!! :)

How do you balance your work and training?