Friday, the 2nd was my first day back at work and I feel like I never left. On a positive note, I had to wonder how I survived without the place for the last 13 months. Work is good, it's not always perfect, but I missed it. The week consisted of some office work and two days of recerting my rules card. Now, I'm back training in Northern Ontario nights where I belong. My first night shift was fine, I never hit “the wall” which confirms the fact that I am a night person. Some people will do anything to hold days but I'd much rather smash all the knuckles on my hand with a hammer. I'll be weeks away from retirement and still working nights.

If you would have told me that I was going to miss my job this much four years ago I would have told you to lay off the crack. I'm back to riding my bike and it's my plan to ride as long as the weather doesn't drop below -30. I'll probably combine riding with the C-Train in the winter but that has to do with how dark some of my route is more than the weather.

In case you're wondering, I did manage to get most of my workouts in this week but it was in such a disorganized way that there was no point in logging it. Some days I crammed in 30 minutes of running and some days I went all out and spent several hours on my bike. Several factors in my life contributed to this lack of exercise organisation.

I'm working on a final paper which requires a couple of hours of quiet time each night. Junior likes to give me a hand by trying to eat my notebook and playing smashy-smashy on my keyboard but really, brilliant as he is, I don't think he's up to graduate level work yet (even in a business degree). So my evenings get used up by trying to write as much as possible from my notes and chicken scratches collected during the day when the baby is otherwise distracted or napping.

... if the Canadiens make it to the playoffs I'm going to stop shaving and waxing, force ES to grow a beard and draw facial hair on Junior in the hopes that what just happened in Philly doesn't happen again.

So ski season and hockey season have ended on the same day for me this year.

Bugger.

Into the pool, no excuses. Not even the most typical of all excuses (if you're female) could keep me from the pool today. I've got work to do:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_4

I also had an extra 10 minutes of swimming to do because I missed this day last week. I needed to find a solution to being tired at the end of the day and as it happens, the city pool I frequent has babysitting. I took advantage of the service today so I could do my swimming in the morning. Junior and I headed out to the pool for 0900 hrs and it turned out to be a great time to swim. I had the pool to myself. Best of all, I'm done my training for the day and I don't have the late evening swim to dread.

And so ends my week of sloth (I suck) it's time to move on. I can't ever get this week I've lost back but I can certainly punish myself for the week that has just passed. Last week I was supposed to ride my bike for 30 mins:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_3_sunday

It was easy to get 70 minutes worth of cycling in today. In fact, I did 80 minutes because I rode my bike to Kensington for my usual brunch date with my friends. My time, both ways was good and with the weather finally looking up I can see many bike rides ahead of me this summer (especially when I get back to work). Climbing up the hills around Max Bell Centre was largely done on foot but I'll eventually get back to the point I was at two years ago when I could cycle up those hills right after night shift.

I probably could have got back into my routine today but we needed to make a trip to Red Deer:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_3_saturday

If I would have planned better, I could have at least got a run in but I figured that I might as well make this week a total write-off.

Hey! Today's the first day I managed to do what I supposed to:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_3_friday

Yeah, yea me. I managed to take a rest day after ignoring my training plan all week. I did go for a walk again and the time in the sun is certainly helping. The boy is still not sleeping through the night.

Today I was busy in the evening which isn't a much better excuse but I did manage to get out for a long walk even if I didn't train:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_3_thursday

I'm glad that Spring finally seems to be here. Everything in my yard is suddenly green and budding. I'm starting to feel better but I hate the fact that I let my frustration get in the way sometimes.

I wanted to get back on track today but it just didn't happen:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_3_wednesday

See how easy it is to slip into a bad pattern? I have other disruptions in my week coming up so I now know that Sunday is the best day to pick up things again. Tired is no excuse but it is the one I'm sticking with. The baby has been getting up a couple of times a night so sleep has been bad for both ES and I.

Well, I made it through the test I had today with some success but it was more stressful than I had anticipated so I crapped out again:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_3_tuesday

It's going to be one of those weeks. Apparently, I've decided to just wallow in my own self-defeatism.