Done for the Week: Some Good News and Some Not-so-Good

I know, I know.  This post is late getting up, as several have been lately.  On the positive side, I still haven't missed a day.


I am dragging this afternoon, having gotten up at 5:45 to begin an 8-hour childcare stint at 7 a.m.  I am also feeling the effects of Saturday's 77 minute bike ride in very humid 90 degree weather.  And a training schedule that has veered away from the prescribed rest intervals, in response to the other schedule demands in my life.  Once I get this post published, I plan to put my feet up for a half hour before starting dinner.  And getting to the rest of the things on today's list. . . 


The list below reveals what I did and didn't get done last week:


Done List--Week of July 12-18

1. Finished Week 9 of revised 14-week Sprint Triathlon training plan--5 weeks to go!
2. Finished In the Presence of the Enemy, by Elizabeth George; The Seven Storey Mountain, by Thomas Merton
3. Took my blood pressure daily
4. Attended nonprofit organization's board meeting
5. Attended Transitional Jobs Collaborative meeting
6. Attended justice team meeting
7. Took newly retired "boss" out for Happy Hour on her last day
8. Published 5 blog posts
9. Meditated 9 times
10. Wrote 7 Gratitude Journal entries
11. Wrote 5 Morning Pages
12. Continued cleaning campaign
13. Continued mini yoga practice 
14. Attended 3 yoga classes
15. Took bike in for pre-race tune-up, bought new helmet (my old one was cracked), continued assembling tri clothing and accessories
16. Signed up for triathlon prep camp and open water swim clinic
17. Continued writing novel
18. Went out with my husband for Happy Hour twice; continued reading aloud Elizabeth George's In the Presence of the Enemy; went to marriage counseling session
19. Called my Mom
20. Paid monthly bills
21. Got son started doing interior painting
22. Encouraged/helped son continue to apply for jobs

In red above is what feels like the biggest thing I got done last week.  As the August 22 race day gets closer, I am alternately excited and apprehensive/overwhelmed/terrified about taking my nearly virginal competitive self into the triathlon arena.  Continuing to make practical preparations helps to deal with my fear of the unknown.  I now have something to wear on the top of me, a functional bike with a tolerable seat, good shoes, goggles, an uncracked helmet, and a timing watch.  Still to locate--and finance--a wetsuit, tri shorts and a hydration system (i.e., a water bottle that attaches to my bike in such a way that I don't fall on my head trying to drink from it while riding).  This week, I will start concentrating on learning to breathe on both sides while swimming, and on getting used to swimming in contact lenses so I can see where the heck I'm going.

In green is an accomplishment I can barely claim.  Technically, I did "continue writing novel," if what we mean is I figured out what Chapter 2 is about and wrote the first page.  Last week's focus goal was to continue writing, and to finish Chapter 2.  

I don't plan to go all hairshirt over this, or to begin flogging myself like that creepy Opus Dei monk Silas in The Da Vanci Code.  But I am not where I want to be in terms of making time to write.  I plan to make this my focus goal each week until such time as I begin to crack this particular personal code and figure out how to begin moving forward.  

According to Jon Kabat-Zin, whose meditation CD I have been using, "as long as [I am] still breathing, there is more right with [me] than wrong with [me.]"  And I'm sticking to that.