Well, school is back in session, and it didn’t take long for me to remember how challenging it is to juggle all the different things that my kids do. There’s hockey, of course, plus football for Jamie, and then homework. Both kids have had an activity every night, and with my husband working, it has been a challenge to get them fed, showered, and in bed at a decent hour. More like impossible! JJ looked at me in the evening on Wednesday and said, “Mom, I need to get to bed early tonight, because I have baggies.” (That would be his term for bags under his eyes.) It’s pretty bad when your nine-year-old knows that he hasn’t got enough sleep!
He’s not the only one losing sleep. After Monday’s dual hockey practices followed by all the first day of school papers to sign etc., etc.,, I ended up getting to bed at 11:15 p.m. That made getting up at 4:45 AM rather challenging, but I did it, and ran 4 miles. I was tired pretty much all day, though.
Then came Tuesday night. Jamie’s hockey team had an unexpected team meeting after practice, which meant we didn’t get home until after 9pm, and even though I’d made a crockpot recipe, it still took time to finish it, and then they both had to shower. Once I got them in bed, I had to prep for the next day’s crockpot meal, as well as clean up the kitchen and iron clothes. I didn’t get to bed till 11 p.m., and since I’d already cut my sleep short the night before, getting up Wednesday morning for my 3-mile run was extremely difficult. Actually, more like impossible. So I rolled back over and went to bed for another hour.
Of course, as soon as I woke up for real, I felt guilty. I mean, it was only a 3-mile run, after all! So, even though I had already taken a shower by the time I got the kids on the bus, I still went out after the bus pulled away and ran 3 miles. :p I am so anal!! :p I knew it would make me late for work, but also I knew it would be okay, and I figured I could just try to run as fast as I could. I ended up with a “pace” run, which wasn’t anticipated, but I’ll take it!
I guess the extra hour of sleep might’ve helped a little. 🙂 When I got to work, I discovered someone had made a stop on the way into office:
I felt justified in eating half of one. Only half, though! I was proud of myself for resisting.
Later that night, I asked my husband to take the boys to their respective practices (hockey for JJ, football for Jamie) on his way to work so that I could go home and do my Insanity workout. This was my second one (after the initial fit test), and I’m happy to say that although it was hard, it wasn’t impossible. My lack of coordination still causes me to struggle, but it feels good to know I can get through it without too many pauses. I do think that being a marathon runner has helped keep me “in the game” with this very intense workout, but it sure is a lot of jumping. :/
I have to laugh, because in the first video, among the big group of people doing the workout behind Shawn T (the leader), there was a guy in the back who was clearly designed to be the “struggler.” You know…the one who’s having a really hard time, but pushing through it, to make all of us mere mortals feel better about being so miserable while doing the program. (Compare him to the b*tch in the front who makes it look like she’s out for a Sunday stroll. 😉 )
I chose to focus on Struggler Guy when I was watching the screen, because it did actually make me feel better to know I wasn’t alone. Then, about two thirds of the way through, Shawn T went to the back of the group and approached that guy. He asked him how he was doing, and Struggler Guy kind of panted out a “platitude” answer, clearly not able to talk much at that point. Shawn T responded kind of smugly, “You run marathons, don’t you? Not quite the same, is it?” Seriously?? (I may or may not have cursed at the screen at that point.)
Still, it’s definitely a good workout, and I do feel very accomplished when I’m done. In fact, I wore my heart rate monitor for this last workout, since Shawn T talks about “checking your heart rate” a lot during the workout. I didn’t start it right away (I thought I could just leave it on the table and look at it once in a while, but I forgot that it will power off if it isn’t being used!) My average heart rate ended up being 131, and that was without the warm-up exercises right at the beginning.
Interestingly, it calculated that I burned 234 calories. If I add in a few extra for the warm-up exercises, that’s about what I burn for a 3-mile run!
Thursday, I did strength training, but other than that, I took it easy. I also gathered tomatoes…
I wish there were more, but I’ll take what I can get! I also picked another crop that is just beginning to come in…
Raspberries! Those are just the first few. It looks like we’re REALLY going to have a good raspberry crop this year. If I can get enough for 5 cups (crushed), it’ll be the first time I’ve ever made an entire batch of raspberry jam from my own berries. I’m so excited!
After that, I picked up my super-star all-athlete from practice.
Love that kid. 🙂 He was so exhausted, but he’s such a trooper…hockey and/or football 5 days a week right now…and then he runs long on Saturday for his 10k training!!
I went to bed early, because I had to get up at 4:45am to do…intervals!! Ughhhhhhhhh. Okay, I say that, and yet…after doing Insanity, they really don’t seem as hard as they used to. Ha ha!! Plus, it was only 52 degrees when I went out—great interval weather!!
I determined that I would NOT walk any of the rest breaks, even if it meant going slower for the actual intervals. When I was done, I had only one sub-8-minute split, but I did have my best overall pace for intervals since I started doing them in July!
Yeah, I’m pretty proud of that. 🙂 I’m also rather proud of being so hard core that I jumped in the pool afterwards—even though it was 52 degrees!!
That is the best pic I could get in the dark at 6am, but I was bound and determined to give you all a picture to prove that I did get in that frigid water, ha ha. It was cold at first, but after a few moments, it felt great!
So, that’s my exercise report for the week. I was hoping to get three posts in this week, but I don’t see that happening. Tomorrow is 11 miles and then cleaning the house, so I don’t expect to have any energy left after that, ha ha!
Have an awesome weekend, everyone—thanks for reading!!
