Planned Miles: ???
Completed Miles: ???
I’m in a funk
Shucks! Things were going so well, but I’m now kind of over NYC Marathon training. Ok, I have been doing my weekday runs pretty consistently, but I have been a struggle with completing . . . well, starting my long runs. For instance, I have not done a long run for the past THREE weekends because life has kinda messed up my flow. A few things that have been messing me up:
General Exhaustion
I’ve mentioned that my day-to-day schedule has kind of changed a bit. I have to pick up the hubby from the train station around 11:30 pm, which means I have been getting to bed around 1 am. Since it is quite humid in VA, I have been trying to wake up around 5/6 am to do my long runs. For the last two weekends, I simply overslept and by the time I got my life together it was 10 – 11 am. By this time, I have no motivation to go for a 10+ mile run in 85+ F degree weather. Perhaps, I should stop trying to wake up so early and just come to terms with starting my runs at 10 am. This will be tough because that’s the time I normally finish my long runs, so I’ll have to get over this mental block.
I think my weekly workouts have been adding to my overall exhaustion that cumulates on the weekend. Last Wednesday, the November Project had a Sunrise 6K on VA Beach’s Ocean front. While I enjoyed meeting and running on the Oceanfront at 5:15 am, I was so tired over the next few days especially with getting shut-eye at 1 – 2 am.
Also, I wonder if I’m doing too many non-running activities during the week. In addition to running, I have been doing mixed martial arts HIIT, yoga, laps in the pool, and weekly November Project HIIT workouts. I don’t know, I’m just finding it hard to balance everything.
General self-confidence
As I have mentioned a few times on this thing, I’m currently on the hunt for a new job/career. I have to say that this has been harder than anticipated. Right now, I am trying to transition from a project management role in Higher Education to one in Biomedicine/Pharma/Life Science, but this transition has been frustrating. While I have been on a few interviews and had plenty of informational interviews, NOTHING has materialized. I know that switching careers is a slow process, but it feels like I’m constantly getting the running around. I think that I am in a very weird position in this transition because I’m overqualified for most Ph.D. entry-level positions but underqualified (in terms of experience) for more senior positions. Seriously, where the hell are all of the mid-level level positions?
The other piece that is quite annoying is feeling like I’m wasting time with cold applying. For each position, I try my best to personalize my resume and cover letter for the role (as one should do) and apply for positions where I have at least 85% of the minimum qualifications. Doing this can take anywhere from 30 – 60 minutes depending on the role. Not that it takes me an hour to update/modify my resume. Some companies ask you to upload your resume so it can populate the fields on the application. Of course, the resume never populate the fields correctly so you have to spend time ensuring that the correct information appears in the various fields and that the formatting is not all screwed up. After doing that, it’s a kick in the balls to get the general “thanks but no thanks” email. It’s a punch in the neck to spend time submitting a resume over the weekend and getting one of those emails first thing on a Monday morning. What a crappy way to begin the week. With this quick turnaround, you know that an actual human did NOT review the application. I would not complain if I was rejected after interviewing with a human or a team of humans, but it’s soul crushing not even get past the general application stage.
I know that you are not supposed to compare yourself to others, but I have I looked up the LinkedIn profiles of folks who have the roles for which I have applied. I checked out a couple of LinkedIn profiles of folks who recently were hired into a medical science liaison position. I will admit that I was quite flabbergasted that all three folks started the position straight out of their postdoctoral training. I’m sure these folks are well capable of doing their role so I’m not saying that they are not qualified. However, I was like ok this person received their PhD in a biomedical field, did 3-5 years of a postdoc in a similar field, and received an offer. Meanwhile, I have received a PhD in a similar filed, did a 5-year postdoc, directed a research and development (R&D) program in Pharma, and managed an academic program for the last five years. I do not understand what is so “wrong” about me that I cannot even get a callback.
- Maybe I’m too “old”. While many companies do not ask you to input your age, I’m sure that one could deduce my age from my education and work history.
- Maybe I’m too “old”, part 2. Perhaps, some hiring managers might think that I’m too set in my ways. Back when I was a lab rat, one of my bosses always wanted to hire technicians straight out of undergrad because it is “easier to mold someone in their early 20s compared to their 30s”.
- Maybe I’m too much of a risk. Since I’m transitioning from one industry to another, hiring managers might think I’ll stay with the company for a couple of months and move back into higher education.
I simply don’t know, and the constant back and forth is driving me a bit insane. Over the past few months, there have been so many reports about the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, and companies not finding enough workers. So again, where are all the damn jobs?
Oppss, It looks like this training report turned into a rant about my job hunting struggles.
Long Run Chronicles:
Next subject.
ETC:
-While my job search has been a mess, I am getting good use out of my Va Beach Public LIbrary card.
-Oh another thing that has been contributing to my exhaustion . . . mowing the lawn every week. Would that count as a workout? According to Strava, I walk about 3 – 4 miles while cutting the grass and doing other landscaping crap. That said, I think mowing and general landscaping have provided some serenity. It least, I know that I can control the aesthetic of the yard.
NYC Marathon 2022 Training Plan:
Goals for the week:
-Get my freakin’ life together.
Long Run Playlist:
N/A
Questions of the Day:
-How is your training going?
-Since misery loves company, what has been your biggest struggle in finding a job/career?
Social Media Plug:
Run There, Drink That 
I remember the days (weeks) of searching for a job and the frustration in those “automatic” fields.
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I always found it easy to get a job, I was forever doing temp jobs and getting offered the full-time role, got the first job I applied for out of university, etc., etc. Did my library and information science postgrad (not a Master’s as I didn’t write up my dissertation, but enough to qualify). Could. Not. Get. A. Job. Applied for 35 or so, three interviews (including being told in the interview I had too much personality to be a cataloguer (ended up being a cataloguer for a few years later) and ended up working not in a library but at a library supplier, thus ending any chance I had to get a qualified library job (job I worked in at a library was unqualified, every qualified position I applied for brought up that I’d worked out of libraries after my training year in one (I had to save up for my postgrad!) and in a library supplier after my postgrad. So yes. You will get there and it will be good in the end.
Re the training schedule, that sounds really tough. Can you do a long run in the evening or is it not safe?
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I missed at least 3 long runs last year during NYCM training (and a whole lot of weekday runs). You’ll get there!
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I missed a few last year, but not three in a row. 😦 I’m going to try my best to get plenty of rest on Thursday and Friday so I can get it done.
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Job searching sucks. I remember when I was trying to move to a new state 15+ years ago, it took me about a year and three months to find a job and when I did finally get one, it only paid $30K/year. (This was when I was still in journalism.) My plan was to stay there for a year or so and then move into something that hopefully paid a better wage, but then…. the Great Recession hit and I got stuck. I landed a better paying journalism job in 2014 before I burned out on news completely, then pivoted to communications/marketing about five years ago. I’ve had my ups and downs in that field, too, but I finally am in a job I like and that pays decent. Keep plugging away. I completely understand how frustrating and demoralizing it can be.
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One year + three months. Ugh. I’m glad that you were able to pivot into something that you like.
I don’t have a choice but to keep plugging away. That’s why I vent on WordPress and get back to my job . . . of finding a job. 😉
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Don’t let my experience discourage you! Keep in mind, this was right before a historic recession, and I was in the newspaper industry at the time, which was laying off people left and right in the mid-2000s. It was a horrible time to be looking for a job. You will get something great!
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