Down Time, For a Day Anyway

    The last few weeks have been stressful at work. My first reaction is a desire to train extra hard to burn off the stress. This is actually counter productive, as I have found out. I have reached a point of exhaustion that has made me lose some of my motivation. To this end I have allowed myself to actually take all of yesterday off, and skip my long swim this morning. This does put me at war with myself, but I know it is for the best. I will do a bike to run session with some core work this evening, and tomorrow I plan on getting Joshua out on the road for my Silverton to Salem to Woodburn to Mount Angel run. I was hoping that the B.O.B. group (Butts On Bikes) would be doing a ride down at this end of the county, as they have done several times in the last month or so, but not this weekend. Oh well, that lets me go on my own schedule. I do know that if I want to ride with a clear conscience I need to hammer down on the chores today. But, as mentioned before, my motivation level is a bit low today. It is amazing just how much stress can effect energy levels. It is draining at a level that far out paces the fatigue I can feel from a hard workout. I have done so much over the last two years to reduce the stress in my life, and have been successful to a degree. I imagine that there is no way to rid myself of as much external stress as I would like to, these days work related stress is par for the course for the vast majority of the population. We all skirt around the fear that we will lose our job, so we do more and more, never asking for compensation. On the absolute plus side of the chaos at work, the biggest change for me will be my work schedule. Beginning monday I will work 7:00 to 3:30-ish. I am elated about this. Yes, I will miss my morning workouts, there is something gratifying (and slightly self-righteous) about getting up at 5:15 am to get in a pre-work training session. But now I will be able to get in some true endurance work on a near daily basis. I can get to the pool early enough to get in a long swim in the afternoon, instead of making a special trip on saturday. Now, if I want to swim saturday, I can make it just for fun and have my darling little grandson in the water with me. I will be able to take my bike with me to work and head straight out on the many excellent bike lanes in and around the Portland area instead of risking life and limb on the scenic though narrow, winding, log truck strewn country roads that I have in my neck of the woods. The same goes for running. My biggest problem with running is that there really is no safe place to run where I live, so I limit myself to the treadmill and occasional trail run. Also, once I get home I hate turning back around and leaving the house, my dogs give me very sad eyes when I do that. With the new schedule I can get in a good training session and still get home at a normal hour. Once the weather warms up I can only imagine the fabulous swims I will be able to get in at The Cove. Yes, the last few weeks have been stressful at work, and I imagine the stress will remain for a time yet, but at least I will have the benefit of being alone in the building for over an hour in the morning, and escaping early in the day. The positive far outweighs the negative. Now, if I want to get in my ride tomorrow, I need to get my shit in gear today. Yardwork here I come.