I work for the government. My hours are flexible, so either 8-4, 9-5 etc. It's very nice - especially with kid stuff and a husband whose hours are always changing & not flexible.

I occasionally work overtime - but never take anything home (I work in a lab - so taking stuff home isn't really an option).

I really like it. It's a great work/life balance and when I'm not at work I don't want to think about it or be on call.

Last week's plan:
- Run 4x - long run still at 1h20 for now - FAIL - pnly 2 runs, see below
- Ride 2x - again, good weather means being opportunistic... WIN and even took a detour on the Friday ride home
- Coach 2x - DONE
- Do the MED exam (hard deadline) - DONE and passed (interesting focus on difference between legal and ethical issues in sport)
- Re-run our household budget #s - we are refinancing our mortgage so there's some fees and nonsense - this will give us a HELOC with lots of LOC in case we find the right piece of land.... still looking... - DONE and all is well.

The FAIL? Saturday night I had - this was a first for me - a full blown asthma attack. I woke up at 4am and couldn't get my breath, couldn't get enough air. Likely extremely high humidity + dust/pollutants + pollen triggered it. Holy crap I felt like garbage for all of Sunday. I still don't feel well enough to run, just walking the dog is a challenge. Since being diagnosed with asthma about 10 mo ago, I've only felt this bad when doing the Methacoline Challenge test (which sucked balls and kept me out of commission for days).

So I'm going to have to be more careful. And get some time out of the city, soon. Look at changing my bike route to work - again. Sigh. Feeling very demoralized right now.

This week:
- Feel better
- Run whatever
- Coach 3x, our first 4 games are on Sunday
- Maybe ride. I dunno.

Re: Work hours. Right now I am working 30 hrs a week so I can spend more time with K. She's 12 and I want to be able to be a part of her life as she starts to go through puberty/turning into a teenager. My parents were all but absent during that time for me, and I don't want her to go through it alone. I feel really lucky that my employer is willing to accommodate less than 40hrs/week. Before she was born, I think I was working probably 60-80hrs/week. With my last company (the telecom one), when she was in early school years, I'd routinely work 50+ hrs and was traveling at least once a month for work, had a company phone so was essentially working through evenings and weekends, and all sorts of hours (calling China at 7pm after dinner or calling Europe at 7am before breakfast). It was non-stop. Now I *love* the days I get to leave at 3 and hang with my kid. :-)

AP

---

------------------------
"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I have a corporate job and am in the office 9-10 hours a day. I have a standing desk, take the stairs, and encourage walking meetings but I end up sitting in meetings for a lot of the 9 - 10 hours I'm here. I feel lucky that we have a pretty healthy culture where I work -- we have a gym on campus and very occasionally I can get in a workout at lunch. Before I started triathlon training in earnest, I was a regular bike commuter (now I have too many things to carry and my legs are always tired). I often "bring work home" at night but try really hard to avoid working on the weekends unless it's a tight deadline or an emergency.

Here's what I did last week:
3 swims (1 pool, 2 open water)
3 strength sessions
2 runs (track day!)
2 bike sessions (trainer rides)
1 brick (35 mile ride, 10K run -- my first "brick"!)
1 rest day

Here's what I have planned this week:
3 swims (2 pool, 1 open water)
3 strength sessions
2 trainer rides
2 runs (hill repeats and a tempo)
1 rest day
1 race (my first Olympic distance triathlon)

---

(Formerly SoCalTricurious, now in the PNW).

One of the girls in my PhD program used to work for the government. She can't tell me what she did, beyond that it was something to do with physics. She gave up a 6-figure salary because the job was "crushing her soul" and now she's in grad school (she expects that to be less soul crushing!) I am so so curious as to what she did.

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

It's awesome that you get to spend more time with the kid/teen.
I hope you are up to snuff soon!

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Not a bad week. I swam twice, biked three times, ran once (it was cold here and I just didn't feel like dealing with it), plus did some weight lifting, a little bit of pre-hab and some yoga. A little bit of everything.

Something strange happened on my swim and I'd love to hear opinions. Firstly: If I thought I needed medical attention I would stop training and go to the doctor. Seriously, I am not one to push things. But I was doing fast-for-me 100 meter repeats and on the last few I was pushing hard enough that I sending off before I caught my breath all the way. On the very last length of the very last repeat, I suddenly couldn't breathe. It felt like I couldn't take in any air. I splashed my way to the shallow end (and waved off the lifeguard) and after some calming breaths felt perfectly fine. I biked Saturday, ran Sunday and even swam (very easy) yesterday, and it has not happened again. Years ago when we were figuring out my thyroid issues I was tested for both cardiac problems and asthma, and found nothing. Was this just a weird, fluke thing from pushing too hard? I presume I was kind of hyperventilating, since I pushed off before my breathing and heart rate calmed all the way down, and just overdid it with not enough rest. Thoughts? It has never happened before, and I am actually good about exhaling in the water (it is the one swimming thing I can actually do!).

My work schedule: I am in the office from 8-ish to about 4:45-ish and I have a half-hour commute each way. I work in digital media for a university so I rarely do anything more than retweet once or twice in the evenings/on the weekends. I very occasionally have to work an evening or weekend, maybe once a month, and those are for special events.

Immediately before this I worked half-remotely half-onsite for an agency and while the working from home part was nice, not to mention nobody noticing you weren't at your desk/online until 9:30 at least!!!, I don't think I could ever go back unless it was for huge money. I was always doing client edits until 7 or 8, answering emails after dinner, stress eating... I was pretty miserable. I miss having extra time in the mornings but being done for the day by 4:30-5 almost every single day is a pretty sweet trade-off.

---

http://mediocremultisport.blogspot.com

Sorry to hear some of the womens are having respiratory issues - hope you find relief and peace of mind about it soon!

As for work, I'm a 9-5 office person, often working until 5:30 or so. My husband works a few minutes away and starts at 8:30, so I'm in the area earlier because we only have one car. The bitch of it all is that our commute is 75km each way on the busiest highway in the entire world, and takes over an hour even in good conditions - it's taken us 3hrs to get to work before due to weather or road events (crashes, chemical spills, highway closures). We leave around 7:15am and I don't think we've ever been home before 6:15pm.

Last week's goals:
swim x 3: win with 4
bike x 1: FAIL
run x 5: win with 6 - just shy of 60k
core/strength x 4: win

Ran for a couple of hours at a local natural/conservation area for a friend's birthday - lots of challenging little single track hills still with some slippery snow and a brutally cold wind, but the sun was shining and it was fun getting lost in the woods for a bit. I was the only one to hang around for the birthday boy's last loop, so was very happy he didn't have to run alone, though it pushed me to run much harder as he's a total ultra badass and I'm just a chubby, slow wanker.

This week's goals:
swim x 3
bike x 1
run x 5
core/strength x 4

In a clear case of being surrounded by bad influences (running with Steve on Saturday, briefly running with his lady Rhonda who made history as the 1st blind person to attempt the Barkley Marathons on April 2nd, watching the 2012 Barkley documentary on Netflix on Saturday night), I made a decision on Sunday during brunch that I may live to regret.

I'm now registered for the 12hr day race at the Dirty Girls Ultra on July 23rd. It's apparently the last year for the race (which I've been meaning to do for a couple of years, though they do also have a 32k & 6hr option...plus a 12hr night race and 24hr race), so we're even going to camp at the race site for the full experience. You can actually pitch your tent in the field where the start/finish is, and it's a 5 mile/8k loop with multiple climbs of the Niagara Escarpment.

Hilly and rooty. Lots of places to go arse over teakettle, and I'm notoriously clumsy when running for 3+hrs.

Longest I've ever run before is just over 6hrs.

I am not a smart girl.

---

__________________________________________________________
ill advised racing inc.

I have had the exact same breathing issue as you - and only during swimming. My dr diagnosed it as EIA (exercise induced asthma) and I got an inhaler. I used it off & on for maybe 6 months & then it seemed to go away on it's own. I don't even know if that's really what it was. It was alarming while it was happening, but the episodes didn't seem to last long or create chronic effects. My husband has diagnosed asthma and his attacks look very different than what I experienced.

No help really - but at least you know you aren't alone.

Chlorine can exacerbate asthma too.

Update: I am feeling a lot better but am almost afraid to try to run... I'll have to suck it up and try ez tomorrow I guess... see how coaching tonight goes too. Get in a few laps with the kids...

---

------------------------
"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

Decent week last week. I swam 2x, ran 21 miles total, but sadly biked only twice.
Missed one day of biking because hubby and I got ill, like food poisoning type thing on Fri. night. We were both couch bound and even had to cancel our evening plans.

Work. I am most often 8:30-5. But I have a 60 min commute one way. Longer if there's weather or an accident. One weekend of every 4 I'm on call (which means working a few hours, or even a whole day). I would love to have a closer job but I work in an extremely extremely small, specialized field. Probably only about 5,000 people in the US that do what I do. I was unable to find a closer job. My job cannot be done remotely (health care field, direct patient contact). Believe me, if one comes up I'm taking it.... unless it's with this one company who would be miserable to work for.
Usually M-Th I do one workout before work and one after. I usually take a full day off from working out, that would be Friday, but sometimes I'll throw on a 3mi run or easy swim. Only if I feel like it. Knowing I only have to do the doubles 4 days of the week helps. Having one of the work days be a day off helps. But it's a grind.
My old career - I did 7:30-4, never any time in the evenings or weekends. But it was horrible. I had the worst boss. The career was mind numbingly awful.

Glad you are feeling better!

---

http://mediocremultisport.blogspot.com

Thanks. I never thought it would feel that bad. All those years I took breathing for granted... and I think about all the things I've exposed myself to (mainly for work)... AP

---

------------------------
"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

wow, you have to be at work early and leave the house early. What time of day do you usually train?

I have not had that happen swimming. It wouldn't have sent me to a doctor.

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

My goals last week were 15 hrs of dissertation work (17.25 !) and the paper done. I also swam 6x, goal was 5. 9900 yds there. I rode 32 miles in bike commuting, and ran 48.9 mi (6 runs).

I also played raquetball for the first time, which I am not good at, and made me sore :P LOL.

goals this week
15 hrs dissertation
start studying for physics test next wed.
day off from running
swim 6x

planning to go to the ST road show in PDX this weekend!

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Good work crushing your goals tigerchik and good luck on your exam.

---

(Formerly SoCalTricurious, now in the PNW).

I mean, lots of people have to be at work at 6 and 7 a.m., so I didn't think 8 was THAT early, but it is the earliest I've ever had to be to work in my 15 years in the professional job market.

Last season I got up at 4:30 a.m. to either ride the trainer before work or hit the pool on my way in. I would also run most days after work. This year I decided F THAT. I do my training after work now, either a run or trainer ride after I get home and a late dinner, or an early dinner and then a swim later in the evening. I don't train as much but I feel better balanced. I get up at a more reasonable 5:45-6 depending on if I showered or packed my lunch the night before. I have to budget time for taking the mutts out (we live in a condo so I physically have to take them outside for an actual walk) and make a hot breakfast every morning -- my non-negotiable. (Today was reheated sausage, two fried eggs, and sauteed mushrooms.) I try to be out the door by 7:30, but usually it's closer to 7:40.

---

http://mediocremultisport.blogspot.com

I'm a grad student... having to be at work before 9 is early in my world :-)

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD