Thursday, January 15, 2015

Looking forward... to what?

Most people start the new year with resolutions. Mine are less resolutions, more... I don't know... thoughts? Plans?

So, I've finally warmed up to take off the second jumper and the duvet (it gets pretty cold in this house, at which point all you want to do is hide under the duvet) to give you my thoughts for the year ahead.

Last year went pretty well until about half way through the year, we moved into our first owned house, I managed to do my first and second standard/Olympic distance triathlons, and unlike previous form (1 hour to finish the super sprint, 2 hours to finish a sprint) it didn't take me 4 hours, instead just less than 3.

Then things got messy. My work decided to completely change its structure and thus we were out on a limb unless we could get one of the "new" jobs. A couple of months later, I and a couple of my colleagues were out. Since then, I've been looking for new work (so, if you know if someone who needs a nice editor who has 7 years of expertise in the STM publishing industry, why not contact me?). I am bored out of my brain and what interviews I have had I find really difficult [Think of an experience where you've influenced a decision... How would you motivate someone (something tells me that bribe them with food is not the answer here!)]. Plus I've found all that experience of working in the STM industry hasn't really provided me with the experience that people are looking for... I've never had to manage anyone or had a journal of my own to look after (apart from when someone was on leave). So I'm frustrated and bored. The first part of my "plan" or hope for this year is to find a new position. At the moment I've just set myself up as freelance (Tallscientist Editorial) to keep my "eye" in while I try and find something new. So what does 2015 have in store for me? Who knows. I really don't like the fact that I can't see where I'm going. But then again, when I started 2014, I had no idea that I would be in this position.

On the exercise front, however, plans have most definitely been made and are in place for the busiest/craziest year yet. So far, I have a 120 km sportive, a half marathon, a training week, a "non-standard" triathlon and, to finish off my year, the big one - a half ironman in the New Forest. This is not including the sprint and standard triathlons that no doubt I will be entering at some point.

The sportive and training week both are likely to have some serious hills in them, so I started to ask about whether there was any way to modify my bike to make getting up there easier. Trying to haul 15 stone plus up a hill (either on a bicycle or running) is really hard work! Unsurprisingly, the answer seems to be train, train and train some more... so I'm already running up hills anyway, so I guess I am going to start adding more cycle hill work and really trying to push myself up. So if you see me doing reps of Greenwich Hill, up and down, up and down... you know why. I'm trying to improve my power to weight ratio. More power and, hopefully through training and a sensible diet, less weight.

Although I enjoy training during the day when there is actual light, I do long for the structure having a job brings, so I hope this new year brings new opportunities with it.

Edit - after I wrote this post I then spent the next couple of hours worrying about what I'm going to do. I can't help but get stressed about these things. I don't know what I'd do without the support of my husband, friends and family.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

http://www.cvandinterviewadvisors.co.uk/interview-coaching

Worth considering. I'm terrible at interviews, especially the competency based questions as I can never think of anything on the spot.