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May 4, 2007
Decisions, Decisions
Our beautiful weather continues. I'm starting to wonder what we did to deserve all this! Oh wait...that's right...we endured week after week of awful weather and now all the nice stuff is all piled up together! :)
This morning a swim - a short and sweet one at that.
3500 yds total @YMCA
wu: 300 easy, 200 kick, 200 easy
ms: 6x(100 easy w/1 min rest, 4x50 w/15 sec rest for first 2 and 5 sec rest for second 2), 20x25 w/10 sec rest as evens hard, odds easy
cd: 500 easy
So basically it was just some hard 25s and 50s with a bunch of rest which is like heaven when compared with hard 600s. My 50s ranged from 36-40 sec (I get faster as the workout goes as it takes me a while to get rolling) and my 25s were all around 16-18 sec. I'm no speed demon, that's for sure. :)
After work I went to the YMCA to lift. I can honestly stay I'm stronger than when I started all this. Lifting for me was always just a maintenance type thing - I don't think I ever had the goal of physically getting much stronger. But this program from my new coaches has changed that. The lifting in addition to the past year of swimming has made a big difference in my upper body - I am no longer the skinny runner type! :) (don't get me wrong - I'm no Hulk Hogan either... :)
Anyway, my blog title refers to an email I got today from my graduate school advisor. Oh yeah...graduate school. I think I had tried to forget about that. :) She wanted to know when we could meet to schedule for the fall semester. Hmm... The last class I took was last fall and going into this triathlon season I knew I wanted to take the spring and summer off. I needed a break both financially (my change in status at my job that allows for working 3-4 days/week no longer covers tuition assistance as it did before) but also mentally. Right after I quit graduate school the first time I had about 6 months of no school before I started again. I apparentely didn't learn my lesson well. :)
Anyway, those first few semesters I went pretty hard at it with school in addition to working full time and of course running, etc... And then I hit that point where I just didn't want to do it any more.
So I took a break this spring and summer with the intention of going back in the fall. I have about 1/3 of my program left to go before I'll have my masters. Not much classwork, but then the thesis. Yeah - the hard part.
And the email comes today asking about the fall and well here I was just getting used to not stressing about homework. UGH.
I thought some about the email all day and decided that I needed to talk with my advisor about taking a leave of absense from school. Basically that just means I can take a year or two and they won't kick me out but I won't be an active student. Good compromise I suppose because I WILL finish that masters - mark my words. I may be 45 years old and have to take half the credits over again but I will finish it.
But here's the thing - I'm just not good at doing two things at once. Never have been, probably never will be. I'm not well rounded, not interested in getting into a lot of things. Just don't care for having too much on my plate.
One of the single greatest talents I have as a person is my single minded focus. I'm calling it a talent but it can be bad too. It's gotten me into trouble more than once - just ask O...or maybe my parents. But once I have my mind set on something I want or want to do, well please just don't get in my way.
And so that focus is very clearly on triathlon right now. And it's not on school. I have to work because...well we need to pay our mortgage. And over the years I've learned that focusing too much on one thing to the neglect of more important things (family, friends, etc) is detrimental. But still, I see the next couple years as my chance to see what I can accomplish in a sport that challenges me in so many ways. I may never amount to nothing and I may never win another race, but I will be able to say I gave it my all. And right now school would just add a stressor that I don't want to add. School will always be there. My mom taught me that when she went back to graduate school when my sister in I were in junior high/high school so that she could change professions. Triathlon will always be there too. The countless age groupers that compete up into their 60s and 70s are proof. But competing on the highest level in triathlon won't always be there. There are no 50 and 60 year old pros standing atop the podiums.
So that was my thinking and the way I came to my decision to put off school for a little longer. We'll give 'er a go and see what happens!
Now excuse me while I go mix up some brew for my long ride tomorrow and pick out what I want to dine on while I'm cycling... should I go with orange Shot Bloks or strawberry?! :) Decisions, decisions!
Posted by beth at May 4, 2007 7:58 PM
Comments
Beth, sounds like you made a good decision. You are getting your training now and are so motivated! Graduate school and your thesis will be waiting for you when you want to return! I hope you have/had a good ride today.
Posted by: mary at May 5, 2007 9:17 AM