It takes a village...

Talking to Jen the other day I told her I have no idea how some women juggle the ironman training with jobs. Inevitably, my days are scheduled around a work out of some kind, but the rest of the time gets filled in very quickly. Take yesterday for example: At 9am Joey had his endocrinologist visit and at 10:15 I was supposed to go to PT, but Joey's visit ran late since he needed to get his blood work done. I couldn't reschedule that, but after dropping Joey back at school, I grabbed a quick lunch at home, moved laundry around, and did dishes before running to my acupuncture appointment at 1:15. Home again at 2 to pick Joey up from school, then run back out at 3 to go to the doctors (for me). By the time I got home at 4, I still needed to bash the kids over the head to get homework done, check emails and then get them out the door for dinner at the Thai restaurant. We did get home in time for 8pm bedtimes--myself included! Since I was a single mom last night, there wouldn't be any swimming. Sigh. My "village" includes coaches, a nutritionist, a physical therapist, an acupuncturist, a doctor, multiple training buddies, and of course the husband and kids. All I'm missing are a personal chef and cleaning lady!

Now that the school year has started, I was hoping to have more "free time" during the day to get in some workouts and avoid calling in the sitter. I've been able the past two weeks to limit my evening training to late Monday night swims and of course the Tuesday bricks. This week starts afterschool activities--soccer practice, dance team tryouts and dance class, lego robotics team. Yet more schlepping of kids hither and yon, thus the need to keep my afternoons free.

I am taking some consolation in the fact that there are only 5 weeks of seriously long training left before we start our taper. My weekends are booked from now until October 11th--alternating long rides and long runs. Looking at the schedule, they all seem doable, with the caveat from Tina the nutritionist that I keep to the meal plan and get in ALL my calories. The only little hiccup I can see really giving me a hard time are the issues I'm having in my girl-parts areas. Not to be too graphic, but in-grown bikini-line hairs + bike shorts + lots of milage in the saddle = unhappy Kate. Anyone got any good suggestions on what to do?

On another note, I've started my Janus Charity Challenge fundraising for the JDRF in earnest by mailing out almost 100 letters. I've raised almost $2000 already! Joey's appointment with the endocrinologist yesterday went well, but his A1C (a 3-month history of his blood sugar (BG) levels) count was up meaning he's been running high more often. It has been hard to get over our fear of his low blood sugar readings--they are what promted his seizures in May and December--but yesterday we have made some changes to his carb/insulin ratios so hopefully that will help. To avoid future health issues, it is important to keep his BG levels within a certain range. Joey was so brave having his blood drawn. Four tubes they filled up, and he sat perfectly still on my lap, watching the whole time, and never cried. No wonder he's my hero! If you click his picture on the left, it will take you to my fundraising page.