Expectations

Before I started back up at school, Hannah and I had discussed our expectations for my weekly "output." I was going to handle most of the day-to-day household work (cleaning, bills, keeping up the yard, food shopping and preparation, etc.), as well as maintaining a full (albeit it lighter) course load. I even toyed with the idea of getting a part-time job since I wouldn't have class on Tuesday and Thursday. I was also going to get crazy fit for my ironman, since I'd have so much free time compared to when I was working.

This plan was largely based on my memories of the amount of daily work I put in to get my initial degree, especially my junior and senior years.

Imagine my surprise to learn that school was tougher than I remembered. Or, more specifically, taking classes that fall outside my natural skill set is tougher than I remember. I'm doing well (high 90s average in Anatomy for example), but doing well requires a lot of effort on my part -- strangely enough, a "full course load" actually requires close to 40 hours a week of work (including classes). It also requires Hannah putting up with learning all sorts of things that I learn, mostly a result of me wandering around the house repeating stuff from my lectures.

For a while, I was a mental mess regarding my training. I was getting fitter, but I had a ton of self-imposed guilt about taking the time away to ride/run/whatever. That made my workouts agony since all I could think about was getting back home to either study or to take care of something I had said I'd do. A lot of time, that meant missed workouts. My coach helped straighten that out by simplifying my approach. I had the time in my week; I just needed to slow myself down and understand that if ironman is important to me this year (it is), then I should give it the time it deserves. The specifics of the training protocol would come later, but first I just needed to get out the door regularly.

So, we've had to reset our expectations. Now, many things get done consistently, but I need to set aside chunks of time to get bigger projects done; I can't just plug away at them gradually every day like previously thought. I'm sure that's partly due to the inconsistent nature of class schedules, but it's mostly due to inefficiencies in how I go about my days when I'm not in school. Not having a standard workday can sure throw things out of whack, especially if you have a propensity for laziness.