The Wall

You hear about The Wall all the time for endurance athletes. You know, that point in a marathon where your body feels like it can’t go any further? Well, it happened to me this weekend….only it was more like The Wall in my life!

I knew this weekend was bonkers heading into it. Life is busy for Will and me these days and this weekend was a clear indication that we need to simmer down just a notch. Thursday night was our chaotic weekend kick-off and we were double booked for two meetings: a grand opening in South Denver at 6pm and a business meeting dinner in North Denver at 7:30. Of course, this schedule entirely depended upon our regular work days concluding at a normal time, which didn’t happen. We missed the store opening completely and barely made it to the second dinner on time.

On Friday, we drove to Denver for the new Warren Miller ski film, No Turning Back. The kicker? We were two hours late already {having missed the special VIP meet-and-greet entirely} and I was on the phone dealing with some work issues while he drove the car.  What’s that study about multitasking damaging the brain?! We arrived halfway through the first half, but had to leave early to make a quick trip to the airport.

Chautauqua in Boulder, CO. We ran the Mesa Trail from Chautauqua to Eldorado Canyon with a small jaunt up to NCAR for our 15-mile extravaganza

Saturday was chock-full of trail running plans with a 15-miler on deck with the CrossFit girls. Everyone planned to meet at my house at 9:30am, so I awoke at 6. Why so early? Too much to do before the girls got to my house! I managed to get all my errands and chores done before they arrived, but it made for a hectic morning. As for the run? It was spectacular, albeit tougher than I expected! We managed all 15 miles but it was a hard reminder of how prepared I need to be when I run longer distances. The weather didn’t come close to hitting the predicted highs, so I ran chilled all day long because I was under-dressed. I was testing some new shoes that caused some problems with my socks, and I hadn’t packed extras. Additionally, the trails were far snowier than I expected, and the slip-sliding was draining. None of us had realized the conditions on the trails, so no one had brought microspikes. Naturally, I would have been more prepared if my morning was more calm and relaxed, but the chaos was taking its toll on my brain. I was scattered.

As a result, the run took much longer than anticipated, and we all had to zoom home from Boulder to shower and clean-up; it was time for a going-away party! The party was fun and it was so good to see friendly faces from my CrossFit gym, but again, I was a bit preoccupied. My mind was split between the present company, work stuff, and knowing that I had a busy Sunday ahead of me. I kept waffling on when to leave the bar. Should I go early so I could be better prepared for Sunday? Should I stay late so that I could properly say goodbye to my friend?

Sunday morning arrived far too early and I immediately felt exhausted when my alarm screeched at 7am. After the 15 miles, I knew my body needed more sleep to recover, but frankly, I didn’t have the time. My parents were coming home, so it was time for me to return Tiger, their Boxer pup that I had been watching. I needed to get him there before my two-hour CrossFit clinic at 10am, so I had to hustle to gather his belongings, get myself dressed, walk Tally, and deal with more work stuff. I managed to get to my clinic on time, but I was essentially worthless. SO TIRED.

I love gymnastics clinics at the gym and fortunately, I was able to rally and find some energy to practice some skills that I’ve been working on: pistols, pull-ups, and handstand push-ups. However, I felt my body becoming weaker and weaker as the two hours passed. My coffee-induced alertness was slipping away and the fog of exhaustion was creeping over my body. Our coach assigned a 7-minute WOD at the very end of the clinic to practice many of the skills, and I immediately knew it would be a struggle. I mean, let’s face it: I knew the entire clinic would hurt the day after a 15-miler, but this WOD was going to be a separate level of torture. The jump-rope even felt heavy in my hands!

Working on my pull-ups {in the purple tank}

Oddly enough, the 7 minutes didn’t hurt as badly as I expected…because I couldn’t do a freaking thing. The WOD focused on three movements–pull-ups, handstand push-ups and double unders–and I was just a hot mess. I could barely grip the bar during pull-ups, and I finally quit attempting the handstand push-ups after crashing down on my head. As for the double unders? You’d think I had never seen a jump-rope in my life!

I rationalized to myself that something was better than nothing, but I left the gym frustrated. As I mentioned last week, I don’t have a high tolerance for weakness in myself and I was semi-disgusted at my lack of performance. Regardless, I didn’t stress on it for too long because I had more work stuff to take care of. Gotta go, go, GO!

I finally arrived home mid-afternoon and sat down on the couch for “just a minute.” Next thing I knew, I woke up and it was dark outside. I had slept through the entire afternoon with Tals curled up at my feet. Immediately, I panicked: I had so much to do and I wasted the entire afternoon sleeping?! Ain’t nobody got time fo dat!

But I couldn’t get my body to move. It was so.tired. And finally it hit me: I was running myself ragged!

While driving to Denver on Friday, Will and I joked about how we *literally* don’t have a free weekend until the middle of March. And of course, they are all packed with incredibly fun things. In my mind, I hate to pass up events or opportunities or fun festivities because I never know when something similar will roll around again. But, the more I thought about it, what difference does it make if I miss stuff? The way I’m packing it in now means I’m scattered and not fully present anyway; is there even a difference?

A reminder to slow down and focus on the present: I saw these expired flowers on a run last week and instead of zooming through the field, I stopped and took a photo…and it’s beautiful.

Of course, this will all become easier in a week when our company closes for the winter. The day job will be a non-issue and the entire week will open up. However, I know this is coming and always manage to fill my days accordingly. And I also realize that these are all fun things; some people have children added into the mix too, so I probably should stop complaining. That aside, I see a problem here that I need to fix, regardless of my future schedule. I can’t keep doing this to my brain or my body; it’s just too darn much! But how do you decide what stays or goes??

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Is it weird to schedule in a full day of rest every week?! How do you guys manage the life chaos that we ALL have?