Ah… Finally things are getting back to normal here – which means insanely busy with work and kids, and training for yet another race. I’m on the doorstep of my last race of the season – Ironman 70.3 North Carolina/Beach to Battleship – and the training has been a rollercoaster the past few weeks. One week I’m rocking the socks out of the training, and the next having trouble fitting it in.

Story of my life.

But one thing that is going well is creativity. On my single mom days, I have to get creative to fit in the workouts. I’m taking it day by day, workout by workout. It’s the only way to stay sane.

For example, one trick I’ve used a couple times is the Outdoor-Indoor Combo Run. To fit in a long run on a single mom weekend, I would normally have to do it all on the treadmill. But I’ve been able to arrange segments of childcare in order to slip outside for part of a run, which has been awesome. A couple weeks ago I even managed to get in 8 of my 12 miles outside.

(PS – this is from Instagram Stories, which I’m finding totally fun – check it out by following me on Instagram!)

And then I finished up on the treadmill for 4 more miles. And just like that, a 12 mile run is complete!

Meanwhile, it’s the last few weeks of my son’s soccer games and I’m loving watching him play. Last year, I’d sometimes do a run on the way to, from, or even during my daughter’s games, since I had a block of time available and the soccer park is my favorite place to run. But now I can’t miss the games – they are exciting and he is so passionate about soccer. And I’m often there alone with the other kids watching him play.

I got in another outdoor-indoor run this weekend. I ran 3 miles with my 4.5 year old in the stroller. He still loves it!

Then I finished up 3 more miles on the treadmill. I was supposed to do 8 miles total, but was just happy for the 6 I got in. Sometimes you gotta take what you can get.

And let’s all just say it together when we look at this next photo: “Awww….”. No words necessary.

I love that he is so affectionate. He gets pretty zen about the running stroller – he’s happy and chill. I don’t want the running stroller days to ever end, even though he’s getting heavy to push uphill!

Bike training is going well on my new bike trainer – the Wahoo KICKR. I’ve been posting about it on Instagram, and will do a better review of it here after I use it a bit more. I’ve ridden on the KICKR 4-5 times and it’s really cool! Having a “smart trainer” is a huge step up from the old hand-me-down trainer I was using, which required a wrench to mount the bike on and take it off!

More on the KICKR to come, but so far so good! For more info, check it out:

The bike trainer allows me to bike while my kids are eating, playing games, or watching a movie. I have it set up on the main level of the house, so I can hear if the boys are starting to get rowdy. Then it’s just a quick call-out to them, or to hop off to mediate a “sharing issue” or get them a snack. But in general they’re pretty happy when I’m on the bike.

Basically, I’m in a good, solid taper for Ironman 70.3 North Carolina/Beach to Battleship. And by that I mean that my midweek workouts last week were scarce, but I’ve managed to squeeze in my weekend workouts creatively. And this week has started out pretty well with a swim on a single mom day, thanks to a babysitter.

I’m lining up my 2017 race plans and feeling ready but with some pre-race jitters about Ironman 70.3 North Carolina. The usual.

Do you ever have to get creative to fit in workouts?

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