This Monday comes a major change for me. I am embarking on a new chapter in my nursing career as I join the faculty at a local community college. Since our son was born my nursing career has been part-time, supplemented by teaching group fitness, coaching, etc. I have worked nights evenings and weekends for eternity. aside from the experiences I have had as a nurse, I haven’t really advanced my nursing career.

When we had our son that was the plan. I worked around being a mom, and I trained around that. With a special needs child I dedicated myself to being available at all times of the day.

Now that he’s an 8th grader I am able to work on my career again. I will still be coaching but I did cut down how many athletes I will work with by a significant amount. I now have a set schedule that mirrors my son’s. I feel so good about returning to the ‘working world’ and moving forward with my career goals. Part of that is earning my Masters degree which I also begin Sept 8th.

How does that affect training and more to the point, nutrition? Luckily it forces me to get off the distance bandwagon that I have been a victim to for years. By default I will train 20 hours a week and in turn that doesn’t help my body composition goals. Ironic isn’t it?

To train that much you have to fuel it or you can’t sustain it. And while my body comp is where it should be right now….. as I transition to short course I can’t afford an extra ounce on this frame. So body comp improvement is goal number one.

I don’t believe in “I don’t have time to make healthy meals”. I know what busy is like. I don’t buy that at all. Make time. As I move towards this new chapter I have ultra organized myself and part of that is bring nutritionally organized. You won’t see me at a vending machine or with pizza in my hand. You will see me with my lunchbox filled with good food.

Like this:

I love my lunch bots and I love fruit kabobs. Those up there took me all of three minutes to make. You have time people. You have time. And the grapes? 30 seconds to pull off.

I also went through Paleo breakfasts and lunches to go and made a list of all the ones I liked. Sunday I will make them for this week, and next Sunday I will do the same for the following week. I will spend a good two hours on Sunday to meal prep for the week, and trust me….. it makes the entire week so much better. So so much smoother.

Planning is really and truly the key to all of this.

Training wise….. I am in my off season and healing an injury (that’s ahead of schedule!). I am mostly swimming and weight training. The beauty of this is that it does not require the fueling that 20 hours per week does. This week I am down 3 pounds already. I am a fan of getting body comp in check during the off season. During the on season it’s very hard for me. I can maintain like it’s my job. plus, getting body comp in check now helps me through the holidays! We aren’t the type to hit a lot of parties though!

So here is to a new chapter in both my professional and athletic career. At forty I don’t want to reinvent myself or put myself back together. I want to begin again and be better to my body as an athlete.

Lesson of today? You do have time. Eat up!