Excuses, excuses, excuses...

Yes, I know that it's been, like, forever since I posted last. I might as well give you the list of excuses, just to get it over with.

1. It's been really, really hot. I know it's been hot all over and the rest of you managed to crank out some posts despite the heat, but I'm just not that tough. I don't like to be hot. I moved to the Adirondacks to get away from the heat. My house has no air conditioning and even the heat coming off my laptop was more than I could bear. Besides, the heat drains me and zaps all my creativity.
2. I've been really, really busy. Yoga classes were full over the summer, as the town filled up with seasonal residents and visitors. In addition to my regular schedule, I taught three workshops and took on some additional classes in other locations for the season. I was, actually, doing some writing over the summer, but most of it was workshop handouts and outlines.
3. I've been training really, really hard. Maybe I didn't train as hard as I could have (see number 1 above), but I've already doubled my 2009 bike mileage and equaled my 2009 run mileage, with a month to go until September's Olympic distance triathlon and my first half-marathon.
4. Sometimes, after all the other stuff (see numbers 1 through 3), I am too tired to put a sentence together, even when I have time.
5. Sometimes I just don't feel like writing.

Now that the excuses are out of the way, I thought I'd share a quick update about what my brain has been busy doing while I wasn't writing blog posts.

I've been planning. And organizing. And scheduling. And thinking. Like Winnie the Pooh. Think, think, think.

Most of my thinking and planning is about the 2011 Tupper Lake Tinman. I really want to try a half-Ironman distance next year and Tupper Lake is right here in the Adirondacks, so it didn't take much thought to put that on the schedule. The excessive thinking is about how to train for that sucker. I'm already struggling to keep up with my training for the shorter distances. I'm trying to figure out how to fit it in. I think I can do it.

Unless...(Pick any of the above excuses and substitute "training" for "writing".)

Another part of my plan is to find a triathlon coach. He (or she) must be the kind of coach who won't listen to my excuses.

Of course, some of that thinking is devoted to yoga. I would like to continue to grow the studio, but more importantly I would like to grow as a teacher. I've been neglecting my own yoga needs to keep myself available to my students, but I decided it's time to give myself a vacation. I'm looking forward to five days at the Kripalu Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, in October. The first 2 1/2 days will be a workshop for teachers. The second 2 1/2 days will be a Vinyasa workshop with Seane Corn. The second part is just for me.

While all this training and yoga thinking is going on, I can't forget about the three other people and two dogs who would like some occasional attention. I also can't forget the house we live in or the food we eat. I have spent the last few weeks working on streamlining and organizing so we can keep up with the housework, lest more training means that nobody outside our family can ever set foot inside our house without being attacked by rabid dust bunnies.

Did I mention a social life might be nice, too?

I think I've been here before. It always comes back to balance. As anyone who has taking yoga with me in the past couple of weeks can tell you, I've been doing lots of thinking about balance. Funny how practice mirrors life.

(Try this: From mountain pose, come into chair pose, then take eagle. Without putting your foot down, straighten the standing leg and come to tree. Then dancer. Then warrior III. Bend the standing leg and set your extended leg down on your toes for crescent lunge. Flow to down dog, then return to mountain and do the other side. Too easy? Maybe next post I'll add the rest of the balance flow.)