I started calling around and found a place in Binghamton to rent from, they were super nice, and the had a full sized backhoe and it was cheaper! Whew! It came Wednesday morning. Dave got right to work as the septic would be coming later that day and things were going great. Then I noticed I wasn't hearing anything outside and discovered that the dumb thing broke! Luckily this was an easy fix, it was just a bolt that broke, but it still was frustrating. I called them and let them know it happened and they apologized and said we could keep it longer to compensate us. Good customer service!
Dave got the hole dug with plenty of time for the septic tank to be delivered. The guy was putting it in and he says, "Have you put in one of these before?" I start thinking, uh-oh, we must have done something wrong! Dave told him no, he hadn't. He says, "you did a better job than most contractors do." Whew! That was such a great thing to hear, after that rocky start, to hear that we're doing really great work. Dave got the leech bed dug, the rocks came and that was done. Dave was furiously digging on the trenches. Since we're running water lines they have to be three feet down to get below frost line. We live in an area with a lot of hard pan, which is really mucky stuff and super hard. So it was slow going. We realized that he wasn't going to get it all done Wednesday. So he got up as soon as he could see and got to work. I called the place as soon as they were open to see how long we could keep it. For some reason I was feeling super stressed about how things were going. Now instead of Dave taking one day off he had to take three off.
Dave got the trenches dug and it was time to lay the lines; water, natural gas, and electric. The electric was pretty big as it was going so far, and it had to be put through conduit. We got it done, but it took quite a while. We really wanted to get it in while we had the backhoe so Dave could use it to fill in the trench. Otherwise it would be A LOT of shoveling that we'd rather not have to do by hand!
Right where we had to tie into the house a lot of hand digging had to be done as there's other pipes buried in the ground. Dave got all the other trench filled in so we started working on that. Wouldn't you know it but it started to rain. Not just a little sprinkle, but a decent downpour. Now our trench is getting full of water. We have the electric in conduit that really shouldn't get water in it, all sorts of stuff. So we're furiously working, trying to get it done. At about 9:15 we got everything done that we could do. Wet, tired, and very dirty we headed inside.
Now here's the thing, we're athletes, we need to do our workouts. Monday was an off day for me after my tough weekend, so helping Dave with stuff was no problem. Tuesday I did a 60 minute session with the trainer and then went straight out for a nice 40K, a solid day of training! Wednesday we got up early before the backhoe was to be delivered and got 5K easy in. Dave was going to do his speed workout in the afternoon/evening. I decided to make it a cross training day so I could be close by in case he needed help, so I did 25K of cross training to make a 30K day. Thursday we got up super early, I was going to do a nice 20K in the morning and we had classes to go to in the evening. I only got in 3K before feeling stressed about helping Dave. We were working most of the day, and at one point I wasn't needed for a while and I was so tired I decided that a nap was the smartest thing. I thought I'd be able to come in and get some cross training in, but that didn't happen. Dave got no workout in, and we didn't get to go to our classes.
As an athlete, how do you handle when things go wrong or not as planned? I really wanted this to be another 200K or more week. Now I'm not sure I can make that happen. I know sometimes life can get in the way, but if I'm really serious about my goals, how can I justify not doing my workouts exactly as they're scheduled? Everyone handles things different ways. I know one athlete who ALWAYS does exactly what's on his program, no matter what. He said he's only modified his workout about five times in the last four or five years from what his coach has given him. I know people that barely even follow a schedule and just do whatever from day to day (some are quite successful too....) and most I think are in between. Sometimes you get sick, have a deadline at work, issues with the kids, life things.
They say you always make time for the things that are important to you. What is important to you? If you can't always get your full workout in, do you get something in? Do you do your ab work? Do you stay hydrated? Do you meditate? Read a motivational book (or blog)? Do you find a way to keep moving forward every single day? Sometimes life gets in the way, but you can choose how you will handle it! Do what you can, work your hardest, use your time wisely, and at the end of the day be able to look yourself in the mirror and know you did everything you could.
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