This morning I went to swim and did this workout from 50 swim workouts.
I wore my grab bag suit and a bright pink swim cap. I felt slightly dorky like I was either in kindergarten or trying to be a highlighter.
Yeah, the eyebrows. I know. I’m hoping someone gives me a wax for my birthday. Which is February 22 so if you need an address to send gifts and cards and money to, let me know.
Today, I branched out and did something I’ve never done before. I took a shower at the pool. I mean I actually brought my clothes, blow-dryer, makeup and did a full-on routine I would do at home. Only difference was the shower had lots of stray pieces of hair that did not belong to me. Thankfully, they weren't short enough to be pubes. Or, maybe the people who swim at my pool have really long pubes in which case I’m very grossed out right now.
I did the pool/shower/hair thing because I had to go to Emma’s school to work with the fourth graders on their writing right after the swim. My daughter’s teacher asked me to set up a blog for the fourth graders. Every other week, I write a blog post for them (and try to leave out stuff to do with penises and bodily functions). I pose a question to the kids and they respond to me by writing an essay in the comments section. Today’s post was called, “Go to the Beach Any Day of the Week” and was about visualization your favorite place as a relaxation/escape technique.
A reader, Ginger, emailed to say, “I thought an idea for a blog post would be addressing how you juggle caring for your home, your work, your children, being involved with them, and training.”
It’s a great question. Honestly, for me it’s not as hard as it could be because I have three HUGE things working in my favor:
- My kids, ages 9 and 13, are in all day school from 8:00am-3:00 p.m.
- I do not work full time. At best, I work 20 hours/week
- Ken helps a shitload. He does the laundry, drives the kids around, helps with homework, does the dishes, makes the bed. Maybe he could wax my eyebrows too.
When my kids were young and home all day, I didn’t work out nearly as much as I do now. You’ll remember I just started running 2 1/2 years ago. Before that, I did no training and did not even exercise consistently. I breast fed and watched Oprah. When I finally did start to work out I used the jogger a ton, as well as the bike “Burley.” I also put my kids in an hour or so of childcare at the gym and got up super early to workout before Ken left in the morning.
I know lots of you are taking care of little kids all day and fitting in training, so you are the ones people should be looking to for answers, not me.
My theory is to start early and don’t stop until the Bachelor comes on at 8:00 p.m.
Here are my tips for trying to get it all done and not losing your mind:
- The List: Every Sunday I make a to-do list that breaks out the things I have planned for every single day. I create it on the computer then print out a hard copy so it’s always in front of me. As the week goes on, I am constantly adding to this list. I get great satisfaction in crossing stuff off each day. This is similar to the one I use.
- Meal Planning: I plan weekly meals (at least five meals at time) and make a shopping list (in order of the way I walk around the store – anal, I know). Sometimes I even use a pre-generated template so I don’t forget anything. I rarely cook the same thing twice because I love experimenting with different recipes, makes cooking more fun. I read tons of magazines and recipe books and have a collection of stuff to try. This week on tap:
- Greek chicken, fingerling potatoes, broccoli
- Huevos rancheros, sliced apples w/cinnamon sugar
- Vegetarian black bean chili w/avocado salsa, crescent rolls, salad
- Shart brownies with a side of corn
- Commit to the Workout: I have a training schedule and follow it to a “tee.” I know the night before exactly what I will do first think in the morning for a workout. I lay out my clothes, have my bag packed for the gym (if need be), have the coffee set on self timer and my breakfast ready to go. This helps motivate me to get out the door. I never skip it if it’s on the calendar.
- Just Say, “No”: I used to say “yes” to it all. I was PTO president, made cupcakes for every party, managed my kids sport teams, darned the socks and milked the cows. And, to be completely honest, I didn’t love every minute of it (especially yanking on the cow teat). So, I cut back and removed the stuff I didn’t like and found a way to fit in the stuff I did.
- Stay In: For some reason, having to leave home at night stresses me out and makes me feel overwhelmed. For that reason, I try not to schedule evening work meetings or workouts. Going out drinking with the girls, however, is still on the schedule – priorities.
- One Activity at a Time. I know lots of families that have every moment scheduled with school, homework, sports, music lessons, play dates, art classes,etc. We don’t do that. For the most part, my kids are involved in one sport/activity/lesson at a time. This leaves time for hanging out with the family, doing homework, eating dinner together every night and reasonable bedtimes. This might get harder as they get older, but works for us now.
- Don’t Get the Phone. Someone once told me that just because someone decides to call you doesn’t mean you have to talk. It’s not like I never pick up, but I don’t feel compelled to answer all calls every minute. Same goes for texts and emails.
Like I said, many of you are better and more hard-core balancers than I. This is just the stuff that works for us. So, I’d like to know what’s your best tip for balancing/juggling training and home life?
Feeling the need to shower again,
SUAR
