Monday, August 27, 2012

Tell It Like It Is...

I'm a tell-it-like-it-is kind of a girl so here is what's up with me:

I have found it harder to keep up with all my workouts and running since I've gone back to work.

I completely stopped the 30 day shred about a week before I went back to work because I found that running and doing that was putting too much stress on my body (well maybe not too much, but a LOT more than I could handle at the time and I was starting to get injured).

I've still been running. I completed the Couch to 5K training and just ran to run for a couple of weeks. I find it difficult to do that--to just run without anyone telling me what to do. Then I started the Couch to 13.1 training program. I'm a week into it, but instead of running 3 days a week and being done, it has me (well I'm supposed to be) running one day, cross training one day, running one day, cross training one day for all seven days a week. Yikes!

Fitting in the time for running is harder now that I work all day outside of the home. Life is back, full-swing, and it seems like there is something every night of the week. I can't run (outside) on Mondays because Ansleigh has dance class on Monday nights and homework EVERY NIGHT (the kid is in pre-kindergarten and has homework EVERY night!) and dinner and bath. I can't run (outside) Tuesday nights my husband plays church league softball unless it is pouring rain. If it is raining that much, I can't run outside and if he's gone, I have both kids to feed, bath, etc. and don't forget the homework. Wednesday nights is church dinner, kids choir, and my mom's bible study. When I get home with the girls (Hubs has praise team and choir practice), we still have to do homework, bath, and tiny tot needs her bottle. Thursdays I can run outside. We actually have nothing those days. Fridays I could run outside too but by then, I'm just so dang tired.

My goal has been to run Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday mornings. I usually have to do Tuesday nights on the treadmill my mom gave me (Thanks, Mom!!!). Thursdays and Saturdays I like to run outside, but the weather often dictates if it is outdoors or on the screened-in porch on the treadmill.

I like to run outside, but I've recently run into some interesting "experiences" that have made me question running near my home. When I run outside I'm almost always spotted by one of my students (they are seniors who drive and where we live is zoned for the school I teach at). Two weeks ago, I had a guy (not a student!) literally hanging out his truck window whistling at me, while another guy raced by on a bike and said, "I bet you get that all the time." Just a few days ago, I had a guy ride alongside of me for half a mile asking me strange questions like how often I jog and can he jog with me.

Yes, my husband could run with me, but that implies that he wants to go run three days a week. If he did, we'd have to take both of the kids with us, just so I could be safe while I'm running. Yes, I could run with a friend, but I don't have many friends who live in my area of town who would want to run with me and could run on my schedule. Where does that leave me? I don't know.

On the other side, I have found that it is easier to control what I eat when I'm working all day and don't have time to think about how hungry I am. Plus, even if I do get hungry, I don't have anything to eat there aside from what I bring with me from home. I bring a morning snack (granola bar) and my lunch (sandwich and chocolate pudding). You can't eat what you don't have. :) I have eaten a little too much pasta lately on the weekends and then I've had to work it off.

I'm still losing weight, but it is slower than when I could kill myself this summer. I find myself longing for the summer days of waiting for my husband to get home so I could fly out the door running. In my mind, I thought that since I'm not coaching anymore, I'd be able to come home and work out or run before the kids came home but that hasn't happened one single time since I went back to work. I've found that I stay later at work trying to get papers graded and things prepared for the next day, working hard not to get behind. When I do get home, it is time to start dinner, or go pick up the kids and then start dinner. Or go pick up the kids and get to ballet or church.

I keep telling myself that I'm going to start getting up at 5:15 (YIKES!) in the morning to run once the time changes and it is daylight then. I'm not a morning person and I LOVE to sleep so we'll see if that actually happens. Plus, I could still get abducted at 5:30 in the morning just like I can at 7:30 at night.

I have the Mickey's Jingle Run (or whatever it is called) November 10th coming up and I am going to do the Color Run in December. February is the Princess 1/2 Marathon. I am committed. I haven't registered yet because it costs money, lots of money, but I will as soon as I get a few more pay checks.


Anyone want to run with me? Anyone have any tips on how to stay safe running alone? Anyone have any motivating thoughts/advice for me?

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