Old School

I'm old school. I don't have a smart phone that thinks for me. I do use my Outlook calendar at work but if there is anything that occurs outside of my normal work hours, it gets HANDWRITTEN in an old-fashioned planner. I use a DayMinder monthly calendar so I can see an entire month at a time. If I know in advance that I will have to work late or over a weekend, I write it down. All of my TNT coaching and/or fundraising commitments, it's written down. Babysitting my brother's rug rats, it's written down. If it's not in the planner, there's a good chance that it's going getting done.

Know what else gets written down? My training plan. In red ink. I schedule my workouts just like any other commitment. If I don't have a solid plan in writing, it's just not going to happen. Just because I write it all down in red ink, doesn't mean I'm uptight about cancelling or rescheduling. If my body isn't up to running/walking/swimming/spinning for some reason, I listen and do something else...or nothing at all. If I'm overwhelmed at work and just plain exhausted, I'll take a day off. The red ink is done on purpose as well. All of my other commitments are written in black or blue ink. The red stands out so I don't forget. A big red 12 MILER will stand out more so I know to allow a couple hours that day to my workout.

By having a plan and writing it on my social and work calendar, I know exactly what needs done for the day and what I need to do to make it happen. I can see if I have to work early/late one day and know right away if an early morning swim just isn't going to work. By looking at the entire week/month, I can swap out workouts. Maybe I can't swim one day but I can get in a 30 minute core workout at home instead. Schedule your workouts like any other appointment but be a little flexible when needed!

What else is in my planner? The Pilot prints out a copy of his schedule for me each month and it gets tucked into my planner. This way I can also try to work my calendar around his. This can be tricky. I have to train but I hate not being able to see him for several days and then have him come home only for me to have to leave for several hours to go to a long walk or run. Sometimes I can make it all work out. Sometimes I can't. Last night it all worked out. I had a late meeting get cancelled so I was going to have time to get in a run before the sun went down but The Pilot was home. Solution? He just tagged along with me. I nearly broke him (I like to think it's because he's a couple years older than me and his knees are falling apart) but we got in 4 miles and spent some time together. :)

Thank you, Pilot, for taking this very artsy photo of my planners of past.

Some may use their fancy smart phones to keep their lives in order but something about writing things down helps me not just remember everything but there is some satisfaction at looking at the last month and seeing all of the things I accomplished. To make me even more neurotic, I keep all of my planners. It comes in handy when I'm behind in my scrapbooking (which I always am) and I can't remember when I did a certain race or some other event. It also helps when all of the other bloggers start doing their year end recaps and include all of their mileage and race times. I have my planner to look back on!