Fall Chaos

 With 3 kids aged 13, 11, and 8 all attending different schools, our life as we know it is busy at best and, more accurately, chaotic, most days. Since getting back from RPI a week ago, I spent 4 days in California for work, Saturday was filled with ferrying kids around to their respective sports and helping out with coaching at my middle kid's x-country team, the Rain City Flyers. I left the house at 7:15am on Saturday and finally got home just before 5pm. 

And now, during the week, it's all systems go from 6:30am onwards, which begs the question...how am I supposed to find the time to train?

Well, it's obviously not easy, but I think you just have to roll with it. Instead of stressing out about time not on the bike, I took my running shoes with me and got in 3 runs last week. Granted, that's not riding but it's the best I can do and, in any case, with cyclocross season coming, it's probably not the worst thing in the world. I also squeezed in a 2 hour ride in the pissing rain on Sunday morning.

Last night, it was Zwift at 9pm and today, I hope I can find an hour to practice some basic cx skills, otherwise it'll be a late night Zwift session again.

This is what it is to be Never a Pro. We juggle, we cram, we extend the day, and we try not to stress too much about what we're not doing. I reminded myself on Saturday to accept the situation and enjoy it. Training the 11 - 12 year old boys x-country team on Saturday is not easy - that was a good, hard session, and some quality time with the kids. 

This coming Sunday will be my first cx race in 2 years. I've done exactly zero skills practice ahead of it but it'll be great to be out there, see where I'm at and what I need to work on. 

Embrace the chaos and above all, make sure you keep training through it all, whether it's late at night or early in the morning, reminding yourself to appreciate whatever you can squeeze in.