A change is coming...

My schedule these days is pretty awesome (ahh the life of a college student...).  A little more background on me,  I am finishing up my master's degree at KU in Occupational Therapy, while simultaneously getting started on my PhD.  Currently, I am taking 2 classes, both online and they aren't exactly the most time intensive.  This frees up quite a bit of daytime to train. My training plan has me doing 2-a-day workouts 4 days a week, with the other 3 days being 2 longer rides and a long run.  I try to stagger the 2-a-days bit with at least an hour of rest between, or just finish the 2nd one after work.  I work part time at a hospital, go to work at 1 and get off at 6, so that's not too bad.  Unfortunately, I work almost every weekend, which makes the long runs and rides a little tougher, but all-in-all, it gets done.

On Wednesday, June 1, this will ALL be changing.  I will be starting my last and final clinical rotation at an outpatient clinic, and I will be there for 3 months. So, Monday through Friday, 8:00a to 5:00p, I will be a little pre-occupied with patients.  (Side note: I really think some college/medical/business professional came up with the "wonderful" idea of clinicals, fieldworks, and internships based solely on turning a profit.  I joke about saying how I will be "volunteering" for the next 3 months full time, but honestly I am actually paying a significant amount to work somewhere for free.  Now, I know I am getting quality, real-life clinical experience, but it's still a little frustrating....).  Also adding to the scheduling changes is the fact that I will be commuting 40 minutes each way to the site. And I will still be working every weekend....

Okay, now I know pretty much everybody else has a fairly similar work schedule and still manages to fit in multisport training, but I am really starting to freak out about it.  Mainly because I don't do 5:00am wake ups.  At all. Seriously, the last 5:00a alarm went off the morning of the Heritage Park race, and I slept through it.  Twice.  My body just won't let me!  Somehow I woke up at 5:35a, and hauled ass out the door to make it there still pretty early.

I fully expect to be getting some "welcome to the real world" responses to this, and please, don't hold back. I don't have kids, there really isn't any excuse for me complaining, but I am just one for consistency in my schedule.

However, I do see some benefits for getting up early and knocking out some workouts.  Other than sleep, what else do I have to do?  Naaaaada.  Nothing.  Lately, I have been noticing the late afternoon/early evening training sessions I have always seem to have more conflicts come up, like eating dinner at the future in-laws, going out to eat with friends, OMG Papa Murphys just sent me a text with a pizza deal!!! (yes, all of the conflicts involve food).  Training in the mornings would limit the missed workouts in the afternoons, and also free up a little more time when I get off my clinical.  It would take a little more planning on my part, especially the night before. I read about all these different athletes with families and jobs, waking up at 4:00am to get a 40 mile ride in or a 12 mile run, and I kinda feel like I'm not as focused or motivated as they are.  This may be an important step for me.  And I think I'm ready to tri (lame, I know....). 

One thing that will need to change is my breakfast.  Everyday, I wake up AT LEAST an hour before I need to leave and make a legit breakfast.  It normally consists of 3 eggs (1 whole, 2 whites), maybe some bacon (center cut, no biggie), some type of carb (Oatmeal, tortilla, or english muffin), a lil bit of salsa, some OJ and coffee.  As I devour this, I watch Sportscenter and watch to see if the Royals made the highlights (yeah that was sarcasm....).

Typical breakfast, sans carbs

So, if I were to go run intervals or hill repeats after eating this, I can't image I will be getting any type of nutritional benefit from it, and due to retroperistalsis, it's going right back out my mouth. So, once again, I will need a change.  Maybe work on something portable, so I can eat in the car and save some time.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and training is going well!