Last week was rough on the work and school front. Lots of long days made it really hard for me to find time for workouts.

I managed to run on Monday, but ended up missing my yoga class on Wednesday. Then I had plans to do a run over my lunch break on Friday, but got pulled into a meeting, so that plan went out the window.



Earlier this month, I wasn't as concerned about not fitting in my workouts. If work or school got in the way, it was a bummer, but not the end of the world.

But now with spring race season -- and the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler -- quickly approaching, fitting in those workouts is going to be really important.

In the past, I've always made my training plans with runs scheduled on certain days. Maybe Mondays were intervals and Wednesdays were tempos and then Saturdays were long runs. But with my more unpredictable schedule this semester, I think I'm going to need to be more flexible with my workouts and not have them necessarily pinned to certain days.

My plan now is to look at my calendar for the week on Sunday nights, and figure out when I'm most likely to be able to schedule my workouts for that week, and then try to block that time accordingly.

I know sometimes things will come up that might throw my schedule into disarray, but I'm hoping that by focusing on just one week at a time, I'll be able to make most of my workouts happen.

I also know this means I need to try to make this time a priority and stop over-committing myself to other things. In my attempt to keep having fun during the semester, I probably say "yes" to a few too many after-work social engagements.

This week, I already have plans to catch up with two colleagues from other agencies Tuesday night and then book club on Wednesday night. I have an option to hit up an event Thursday night, but I think I'm going to have to turn it down, even though I'd really like to go. Otherwise I'll never fit in my classes and my workouts, and then race day will roll around and I'll hit the wall somewhere near mile 2 and no one wants that.

So we're going to give this week-by-week training plan thing a try and see how it goes. I'm feeling that if I can be a little creative with my schedule, I'll be able to make it all work.