Schedules and Training

Well summer has officially begun, and it brings a whole new way of looking at training. This summer, I'm working 12-hour shifts at a local hospital 3 to 4 days a week.  Also, my friend Melissa is living and training with me this summer while she does her CPE.  

All of this means that my training schedule (and life for that matter) is very different this summer.  First of all, 12-hour shifts are long.  I mean...really long. I have complete and total respect for anyone who does them for a living and am unbelievably grateful that I'm only doing them for the summer.  They also make training on those days somewhat challenging. My first day, I got up and did the elliptical trainer for about 20 mins.  The incredible soreness and fatigue I felt throughout that long day may have been because I had run hard that Monday or because that day sucked in general. Either way, it successfully discouraged me from working out the rest of the work week (through Thursday).  If I weren't training for triathlons (one sometime this summer with Melissa and one in September with Tim) I would think that only working out on days that I don't spend 12 hours running around a hospital (3-4 days a week depending on how many I work) would be completely acceptable.  However, that's not the case. I'm one of those people who has to improve every time they do something. I'm also competitive. So since Melissa is a better runner than I am right now, and the swim during the King Tut tri was so atrocious, 3-4 days a week of training just isn't going to cut it. 

Here is my tentative plan. I work at the hospital Monday-Wednesday doing 12 hour shifts every week. Every other week, I also work an 8-hour shift on Thursday.  Every Friday, I teach Spanish at noon for an hour.  So, on Sundays I want to do my long run. Then Monday can be a rest day.  Tuesday I can get up early and go to the gym (taking my scrubs to change into afterwards) for a swim.  Wednesday I can take off again (or maybe just stretch). Then Thursday I'll go back to the gym before work for a swim. Fridays I think should be my double day. I'll probably rotate which two I do every week.  On Saturdays, there is a really fun spin class at the gym, so that'll be my bike day. I figure, once my mileage need starts to exceed the class, I can always ride my bike around and to the gym before class. 

I know my plan is lopsided. I just don't know of another feasible way to arrange it. I have to be at work (about 30 mins away) at 6:45 so working out in the morning makes for a very early day.  And other than watering my mother's plants and cooking (terms of my "lease" lol) I have no other obligations on my non-work days. What do you think?