Swamped

Not only have I been swamped with class work and research work, I've been swamped and stressed by life in general. I'm not sure how much of it is caused by my too-much-school-for-the past-6-years funk, but I definitely experienced a major dip in my "estado de animo" (as Ray once said) this week.

I'm not overwhelmed by the amount of homework or the material. I'm still sticking to my grad-school-is-easier-than-undergrad-and-funner-too hypothesis, at least for the time being. Despite this, I'm afflicted by a complete lack of motivation. Even more so than than this past Spring semester... or so many more before that. And even though I wasn't struggling with the course load, I dropped one of my classes. Not hard, not entirely a lot of work... just a lot of work that I didn't feel like doing. Why spend 5 hours a week working on a project that I am uninterested in when I could be outside?

I'm still trying to make progress in my Summer of Speed (and general fitness/get in shape time). I am speedier than before. I finished my first four weeks, the last of which was rough. I was upset, emotional and unmotivated. Cutting calories (being hungry all the time) and upping hours is rough.  I thought it was my third week, but midway through the week we checked my logs and realized I was in fact in the middle of a "rest" week that had not started restfully. That week helped me a lot more than I realized and it finished with me ready to hit the road again. Which I did. Week 5 was awesome, one of my top mileage/hours weeks ever. I wanted to up it another notch for week 6... but then work happened.

I was trying this new thing where I would spend more time doing things I like, including being outside and riding, and quit putting that stuff off for work. I realized how closely my estado de animo is tied with the amount of sunlight I get on a regular basis. It was going well, until the workshop. Another workshop. In early, out late, this past Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So much for another high mileage/hours week, so far I've gotten in 50 minutes. Not only that, but the stress and politics of the workshop have really gotten to me.

The good news is, I'm not going back until next Wednesday. 5 whole days without class or work. I hardly know what to do with myself... except I could clean the apartment, sit by the pool, finally finish Hillary's book (I'm almost to the Lewinsky thing), watch the world cup, watch the tour (man, my tivo is going to be busy!) and ride a lot, naturally. I'll be doing all that in Columbus with yet another visit to Will's parent's house, making it the 4th visit this summer and doubling the number of times I've been there ever in just a few weeks. Fortunately, it's become one of my favorite places to get away and the timing of this visit seems flawless. Not to mention we're kicking off the weekend at Sweetwater with many of our friends. I couldn't think of a better way to start my longest block of days off since... I can't remember when.

They're going to have to drag me back Wednesday morning. At least Wednesdays start with David's spinning class... my favorite spinning class.

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