A Family Affair

I really struggle to achieve balance in my life.  I have a very demanding career, three active children and the desire to train for running and triathlon events.  As with anyone who trains for these types of activities, I have a hard time with taking time for myself away from the family.  But I do believe that being a happy, healthy person is a good example for my kids.  So I'm determined to figure this scheduling thing out!

Friday night I decided to have a Family Swim Night.  Ella and Grace are taking swimming lessons.  Grace is like a fish and loves the water, but Ella is having trouble.  She is very scared of the water and is not adapting well to the swimming lessons.  So we all went to the pool...even Ryann came along!  Stephen and the girls played in the lanes they had designated as "rec" and I swam laps and practiced some of the drills we learned in the swim clinic.

So after our Family Swim Night, I was more confident heading into the Swim Clinic.  I eagerly jumped into my lane ready for the class.  We did new drills, some of which I did well and some I struggled with.  But overall I was doing GREAT.  The instructors were making constructive comments to all of the swimmers during the whole class.  I got a "good Karen" but nothing else.  At one point I started to wonder if they were really watching me, but they definitely were.  I quickly realized that I wasn't getting any criticism because I was doing things right!  YAY ME! 

Thoughts on my triathlon training...I feel good about the swim clinic and the cycling clinic...but I don't feel like I'm doing a training program. I have googled some training programs to see what I need to be doing.  Oddly enough, I'm falling short on the running.  If only it wasn't so cold!  I need to get back to a good running routine.