Balance

Good man Gavan! 5000km of rowing in 49 days, blissfully alone and connected to the ocean. Just shows what the body is really capable of...with sheer determination and a bit of madness. 

What I admire even more about Gavan though, is his open, transparent nature, including his eagerness to speak out about his experiences during his younger years. It's hard to do that in Ireland, there's always someone ready to say something negative, to search for the weakness in a person instead of focusing on the strengths. There's an innate tendency in Irish culture to pull people down a peg or two if they do well (or god forbid talk about doing well). The worst thing that could possibly happen to someone (and we must all do our bit to ensure it doesn't), is that they would 'get notions about themselves'. This makes it all the more admirable that Gavan speaks out about both his past and his present, and I'm delighted to see that this time, people are all 'rowing' in behind him, wishing him well and being inspired to go on their own great adventures, however small. I can safely say, I won't ever be rowing the Atlantic but I am openly blaming Gavan and a couple of glasses of wine for my latest half-ironman entry - Dublin 70.3 in August (bear in mind, I haven't even come close to doing the first one yet).

This week I struggled to balance everything - work, kids, swimming, cycling, running, strength & flexibility...on Wed and Thurs I got consumed by work and didn't fit any exercise in, and as a result felt like a complete zombie by Friday and although they recommend not cramming lots in at the end of a week to make up for lost time, that's exactly what I did. 

On the plus side, I got a great strength plan from Ronan Graham at Ocean Fitness - it's all about the legs, glutes and core, and a lot more of it than i had been doing. It's more efficient to do this than to go to a generic class (which may work muscles I don't need, and not strengthen the ones I do to the right level) and I crave efficiency in all areas of my life so this works for me.

Training
Monday - strength session with Ronan @ Ocean Fitness
Tuesday - 4km run
Wed - nothing
Thurs - nothing
Friday - strength session @ Ocean Fitness
Sat - 5km run
Sun - strength session @ Ocean Fitness & 18km bike
Mon (yes it's next week but still cramming stuff in that I missed last week!) - 1km swim and 5km run

Gratitude
David and I are at the lovely stage in life where both our parents and our kids are all alive, safe, healthy and (for the most part) happy. My kids still love me and are overjoyed to see me at the end of the working day - that definitely won't last but I'll enjoy it while it does!