Time Management

This post is somewhat of a continuation from my post last week - There will always be critics.  When I tell people about my workout regimen, I usually get the "I don't have the time for that" excuse.  Even though my diet was total crap before September 24, 2011, I have always exercised.  I love cardio.  I was a cheerleader in the 8th grade, I did drill team in 9th grade.  In high school I remember doing Denise Austin aerobic videos before school and situps before bed.  When I went to college I took advantage of their gym and went to step/aerobic classes.  I started running after I had a breast reduction in 1996 (I know, boo hoo!  I am 5'2" and before my surgery I measured a FF bra size).  I guess that I really started in 1997 because I had to heal and all that jazz.  I started gradually with a run/walk program and I eventually lost the 15 pounds that I had gained when as a freshmen.  During the first 10 years of my marriage, I either ran or walked on and off with friends, went to the gym when I had a membership, or did workout videos at home.  In 2007 I became friends with "J-wanna," aka Tara Scott.  We call her J-wanna because she always starts out a conversation with "you wanna ...?"  She talked me into running my first 1/2 marathon in Ogden, Utah.  We had so much fun!  We stuck together through the whole race, pushing and encouraging each other.  I guess that I should mention that Tara has done about a million marathons, so this distance was a piece of cake.  A few weeks after the race she tried to convince me into running a marathon and I told her that I never would run a marathon.  Well, I was wrong.  I have now run 3 marathons and 7 half marathons.  Tara also talked me into doing an all women 100 mile road bike ride last year.

As for strength training, I have finally learned to like it.  I still don't love it.  I still prefer to run, but I see how strength training is sculpting my body and I do love that.  I was an off again/ on again strength trainer, but now I make sure that I do it 4 times a week plus Monica's Tabata Class, which also include resistance training.  Right now I am averaging 10 hours of exercise per week.  Monday-2, Tuesday-1, Wednesday-2, Thursday-2, Friday-2, and Saturday-2.  In a few months my mileage will increase, so my Thursday and Saturday hours of exercise will increase as I prepare for my marathon in June.  I also am currently working about 20-25 hours per week and I have 2 very busy children.  How do I do it?  First of all, I have a very supportive husband (which means he's scared of me), 2 low maintenance children (again, scared of me), and I have a difficult time sleeping in past 6 am.  Since Mondays and Thursdays are my days off, I get up around 5:30 or 6 am and I start laundry, today I cleaned my bathroom and dusted before I had to get the kids going.  I seem to be doing laundry all day on these days and cleaning. Last year I had some bulging discs so I wasn't able to vacuum.  My husband actually likes to vacuum, so he has taken up the vacuuming and that has helped out immensely.  My children also help out, but I usually have mostly everything done by the time they get home from school so they can chill a little before they have to venture out for their other activities.  

As for food, when I tried to do all of my food prep in one day, I found it overwhelming so I use Mondays to get ready for Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday to get ready for the rest of the week.  On the days that I work, I pack my cooler and get my breakfast ready the night before to allow me more time to exercise in the morning.  As a general rule, I do not like getting up before 5 am, so on the days that I have to leave for work by 7 am, I cut my workouts down.  I have to allow myself an hour to get ready because I don't like to be rushed.  When my husband is home he will either make dinner or help me out with dinner and cleaning up.  I don't make elaborate meals, even on my days off.  I try to stick with simple, clean ingredients and make meals that we all enjoy.  I try not to leave housework for the days that I work, because I'm usually beat.

What all of this comes down to is time management.  I don't watch TV while my kids are at school unless it's while I am folding laundry.  I listen to books on my iPhone while I do housework and then I will read, blog, etc. in the evenings during our quiet time.  Or right now, while I had a few minutes before my daughter comes home from school and dinner is in the crock pot and laundry is waiting for me to fold it.  I don't do much shopping during the week, except for groceries.  I actually don't enjoy shopping that much so I usually have to force myself to go.  I do love online shopping though, which is not good for my piggy bank.

As for finding time to workout, I sit down on Sunday and plan out my week in my Exercise Journal that I made for myself.  I look at my marathon training schedule, my HIIT schedule, and my strength training schedule and then I plan out what I am going to do for the week.  I also decide what time of day I will be exercising and for how long.  I have 5 runs scheduled for this week, so I will do one of those as a HIIT (speedwork), one as a long run, 2 short runs, and one easy, whatever I want it to be run.  I have split my strength training into 4 days, to do on my lighter run days.  On Friday, I plan on doing a HIIT at home, similar to what I did on Saturday.  I also leave these plans somewhat open to change, then I won't get overly stressed if something doesn't go according to plan.  I prefer to work out as early as possible, so I set it as #1 priority for every single day.

I have often told people that anyone can run a marathon.  I honestly believe it.  I think that anyone can do anything they put their mind to.  If I have enough time to do all of this, anyone does.  All you have to do is make it a priority.  Tell your family that you are taking time for yourself.  If they don't understand, then you have not made them scared of you and that's your problem. Just kidding!  Seriously though, I know that I am a much nicer mother and wife if I have had time to do something for myself for 2 hours and then I can devote the rest of the day to my family.  You might have to sacrifice your love for Pinterest or TV or cooking crazy, extravagant meals, but in the long run everyone will be happier.  I honestly believe that my health is more important than anything else in my life right.  When I am healthy I am happier and I am able to do all the other things that are vitally important much more efficiently and with a smile.  Also I am showing my children that my life has value, too.  My husband really is so supportive and that is the key.  He gets it because he loves to be fit too.  And really, he is a little bit scared of me!