This week has been extremely crazy.
I work in a small, locally owned bicycle shop, also known as an LBS. This small business has been around for almost 25 years, when the young couple purchased an existing shop from friends.
They have expanded and has been a pillar of the community, supporting local sports teams, having an annual bicycle consignment sale, and urging the community to become a "Bicycle Friendly Community."
It's a great place to work, with great people.
This week, we have installed a brand new Point of Sale (POS) and inventory management system.
Fortunately the learning curve has been fairly easy, but there has been a lot of work to do.
Before this week, the staff needed to work on cleaning "things" up: making sure items barcodes work so they can be scanned into the new system; if an item did not have a barcode, getting it one (or finding it a new home); remerchandising the shop, so it would be easier to find items, and look nice to customers.
This week, we began the install. New computers were brought in, and new software loaded. Then the hard part: a full physical inventory of the entire store.
Even though it was "all hands on deck", it still took all day, plus!
After that, we began the process of learning all the features of the new system. And there is a lot it can do, that our old system could not.
I must admit, it has been fun.
The museum geek in me has been loving this. Scanning items and making sure they are properly cataloged in the system has given me joy. Walking over to a bicycle, scanning the barcode, then scanning the serial number has made me smile behind my mask.
It has been very rewarding.
I know that it hasn't been easy. There are lots of things that we can mess up. And for us "old folks", there has been quite the learning curve.
There is a lot of work still to do, as we now need to start manually input our orders into the system...and we have a lot of outstanding backorders.
This pandemic has really messed things up. We may not have many bikes to sell, but we have hundreds on backorder...we are just waiting for them to show up.
So what does this all have to do with my training?
The better question is, so how did the training go with all this extra work?
It did not.
This entire week has been focused on work. Going into work early, and staying late has meant that my runs and strength training has not happened. Add in a shot of 4 inches of snow, which meant there was a school delay, and that did not help either.
I've come home from work, and all I've wanted to do is go to bed.
Instead, I quickly made dinner; helped boys with their homework; and then reviewed some modules about the new system.
Then I went to bed.
But, we are almost done.
A week off of training is not good. But, it is early in training, and it isn't going to kill me. Now, the projected 6 degree temperature Sunday morning, when I am supposed to meet my fast friends and run 8 miles...that's another story.
One thing I have learned, is that I need to prioritize. I also need to listen to my body. I am mentally and physically tired.
And this early in the training cycle, I can take a little break.
And my boys...they will always take priority.
So, this week is a wash. I will put it behind me, and focus on the next week. I know that next week was my "rest week", but I'll make it this week. I do some extra next week.
And remember, it's an Ironman...not a sprint. Slow and steady will "win" the race.
Time to get back to work.
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