Working out during the workweek

How do you have time to work out? Especially during the work week? A very common question I get when talking to others. It's usually not a hard question to answer, but by the time I explain it...it can take a while. As you can guess...well, it's complicated. Working out for me is not a chore. It's something I LOVE to do. It is MY time and I love the way it makes me feel during and after the workout. If I hated it, well, I wouldn't do it. For me, it's hard to understand how people DON'T work out. When I hear excuses like, "I don't have time," "I am too tired after work,""I'm too busy with my kids," "I can't miss my favorite ____ fill in the blank (show/sports game/Netflix series)" it just informs me with the obvious--it's not a priority in their life. It's amazing what people WILL find the time in their lives to do, but provide every reason why working out is not one of them. Just silly. So, if those are your excuses, then of course you are always going to see the same results.

So, back to the question--how do I have time to work out. Well, I don't. But, I always find the time. It means I must sacrifice something else to do so. Eventually, it just becomes routine. As above, I can't imagine my life without working out because it's just part of my day. Like waking up and going to bed, working out always falls somewhere in the middle. I work full time--5 days a week. As my job is over an hour away, this means I get up at 5:30 AM and out the door by 6:30 AM to drive 15 minutes to the train station. From there, I ride an "Express" train to Philadelphia, which is about 35 minutes. I get to work at 7:30 AM and start from there.

I respond to emails, finish up on charting from the day before. My first patient comes at 8AM and I work until 4 PM. Some days I get a lunch, others, I "inhale" my lunch in between patients, barely getting time to pee. I go from room to room, back to back patients. I leave work by 4PM to rush back two blocks to the train station to catch the 4:23PM train to get home. I arrive back at the parking lot at 5PM and drive back home. Sitting on the train in the afternoons my eyes get heavy and I wish I could fall asleep, but I don't. Because I feel like missing my stop would be even worse, so I just keep going. After hopping in my car once at the train station, I might have to pick up the boys. But, usually Kris is able to get them and start supper. Where would I be without a man who knew and actually enjoyed cooking! I am lucky to say the least. Once "mom" enters the door, it seems my next shift starts. The shift I want to start begins in moving into homework, making lunches, baths, prayers, wrapping up the night with the family. The boys get to bed by 7:30-8PM. Some nights I still have work to finish, but that usually has to wait. I can do that before bed, right. Because I choose to work out next at home or our local gym. It's either a weight lifting or a cardio day. I know what I will be doing before the time comes as I plan this out on my train ride home. I keep a running log of my max weights and work off of them using my lifting schedule. Some nights I am exhausted by this point. I would rather just go right to bed when the kids go to bed. But, I don't. I make myself either use our garage weightlifting gym (yes, even when freezing outside, I turn a heater on) or go down to our basement and run on the treadmill. Once I get going in either activity, I am usually fine and awake again. I usually work out for an hour 5-6 days per week. (And have to coordinate who is working out where and when with Kris since he works out just as much as I do :)

Now, if I plan on going to a Crossfit class (for those not familiar, it's a combination of weightlifting, gymnastics, high intensity interval training and cardio), I have to adjust my schedule even more and plan accordingly. Sometimes I will go to a 6AM weekday class, which means I must get up at 5AM and have everything packed and ready the night before. Because after class, I then drive an hour to Philadelphia. No, this is not a smooth, relaxing drive. This is white knuckle driving for 60 minutes straight stopping/going, driving down narrow, old roads and being cut off. AGGRESSIVE driving is the only way to describe it. A sea of cars, accidents, it is nuts. So, thanking God I make it to work this way, I start work and go- go-go until I'm done and pray I escape rush hour traffic on the way home. If I feel like I just can't muster enough energy to do one of these crazy days, I will then decide just to workout on my own at home early in the morning getting up at 5AM to get a quick run in. Whatever is needed based on the workweek. Now, if I want to attend a Crossfit class in the evening, I will drive straight from the train station to the gym to catch the 5 or 6PM class depending on my workday. This means I miss supper with my family. Kris will have to do supper alone and get the boys ready for bed and have homework done. It is definitely clear communication with how this will be done and a family sacrifice. We try to eat family dinners together as it is important to us. I never do this more than once or twice during the week.

On the weekends, working out is easy as we generally go to the gym as a family on Saturday and Sundays. Kris and I will work out together first, then we will pick the boys up and play basketball, run on the track, or go swimming.

So, this probably sounds crazy to some, but this is how I make it work. It never gets any easier to wake at 5AM to work out, but I do it. I push through it, drink my coffee and go to bed early at night. I have to constantly work at a healthy lifestyle. It may seem crazy, but this actually keeps my sanity.  Cheaper than any therapy and something we as a family can do together.  If you really want something you will go after it. If you don't, well then you won't. You are stuck with the same results.

Weekend routine

Weekends are a nice break from the busy workweek....but in this house, still maintain routine. Friday afternoons, Kris usually picks the boys up early from their afterschool care and together they play outdoors, run to their favorite toys, or maybe down the street to their friend's house. I try to rush home as well, hoping the trains are on time, which usually by surprise, are on time. Friday night we go out to eat at one of our favorite spots--(Iron Hill Brewery or the Metropolitan). Both family friendly places to eat where kids even get dessert with their meals for a reasonable price. If going out seems like a chore and we are exhausted, we rely on our favorite pizza place (Montgomery Pizza) with the usual salad, garlic knots, and pizza. After a family meal together we all unwind with a movie. Friday night=Movie night. Kids shower and get in their jammies, I pull out my lap top and finish my work for the day next to them on the couch. Bedtime is consistently 8PM for Nathan and Ryan and they brush their teeth, say prayers, and hop in to bed. Kris and I usually have our movie night as well and a cocktail, if needed!!

On Saturdays, we sleep in to 730-8A. Yes, this is sleeping in, in this house! Coffee and breakfast. We can find the boys watching some cartoons in the living room on the couch. We get ourselves together while planning out our day. There is always a plan in this house! GYM TIME is next. Either I go to a class at Cross Fit Generation (my box for Crossfit) or we go as a family to the local YMCA. The boys go to the kids center where they get to play games, color, and there are always different activities they can participate in. Kris and I head to the weights and start weightlifting together. This lasts for about an hour, hour and a half before we grab the boys and either move on to the basketball courts, upstairs track, or swimming pools. This can certainly vary if they have sports that day, as we won't keep them there long and spend a longer Sunday day there instead. If we believe in exercise and a healthy lifestyle, we should be working with our boys as well. So, we shoot hoops, practice dribbling/passing the ball. This can be painful at times if one is wanting the ball or failing at basketball shots. But, we push through. Nathan and Ryan love running laps upstairs on the track and challenge us to running races constantly!! Trust me, you don't want to beat them, but sometimes you just have to :) In the pool, we let them do their thing as they are both good swimmers. We at times end up playing catch in the pool for a while, with the occasional close call of smacking some other innocent swimmer.

Coming home we are all hungry and have lunch. The boys end up playing with their toys inside or their neighborhood friends. I spend the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday trying to catch up from the work week with vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, laundry. Did I say laundry? Seems unending...but then again there is only four of us! The boys at times will be helpful with chores as well. I can usually convince one of them to vacuum upstairs (and sometimes they fight about it and we have to break it up). If Kris is doing outside chores with any man tools or yard work, they are "eager beavers" to get out and help. They love raking leaves, shoveling snow, or getting an opportunity to watch some "man project" being done outside. But, in the end, any mention of going to a friends' house will be an excellent motivator to get any wanted job done immediately :)

Lately, they have had basketball practices in the evenings, so Kris and I sit back and watch them play. It's nice to see the progression with barely knowing how to dribble to understanding how to pass, get their hands up and make some shots! Saturday evenings are typically pretty low key with a nice meal and perhaps a show or movie together.

Sundays are definitely a day of rest in the mornings. We (I mean Kris and I) try to sleep in with peace and quiet. Something I think we have earned in six and a half years with babies, then toddlers up alot of the night and early morning risers--some times as early as 5 or 530. Coffee, a nice big breakfast together with pancakes or waffles and fruit are a central point of our Sunday mornings. Late morning church is next and no rushing to get there as it's right across the street from us. Remainder of our Sundays are tying up loose ends with meal prepping for a nice Sunday meal or now weekly lunch meals. That's right. On Sundays, I prepare a large batch of oatmeal for my breakfast for the week. Kris is in charge of our lunches in which he meal preps with a protein, veggies, and small portion carb.

Snacks are packed for the week for the boys and their lunch made up the night before as mornings are too crazy here. The rest of the Sunday afternoons are either gym time or outdoor time. We've been pretty lucky here with reasonable weather even through the winter months with mild cooler temps. Playing soccer together as a family, catch or even tennis. Sometimes we let them loose at one of the large playground near us and go for long walks together. I think we are fairly active with our kids. Boys have lots of energy and we believe in ways in channeling that energy and preventing them from wrestling and fighting. I grew up in Southern Florida, so being outside constantly as a child is what I remember and doesn't seem too strange to me. So, in the end, this has been our "regular" weekends and what we know as normal. For some, it may be extreme and others, may seem pretty relaxed. But this won't last forever as the upcoming warmer months will bring a definite change of pace as we will begin our weekend adventures away with our camper and trips to the beach. I look forward to bringing you along to share these moments with you !

A new beginning

You may be thinking, another blog? I've stopped and started so many times. But, what can I say--I am relentless. I started writing my first blog about six years ago soon after Nathan and Ryan were born. It served as a good form of communication when the boys were so little, as I struggled with keeping family up to date on their early arrival and progress as preemies. You may remember they were born prematurely at 29 weeks and spent about three months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a rough pregnancy for me being on bed rest. I had just completed graduate school, ran my first marathon, started a new career, and was pregnant with twins at the age of 30. I wasn't used to lying in bed all day, so I planned for things I would do once they were born and make a commitment to myself that I would always try to make the most of life. Nathan and Ryan came home from the hospital and I started to document and take pictures of our twin journey. The blog started off as, "Ryan and Nathan's page." I did well for a while, keeping things up to date, then time seemed to sneak by and I didn't stick with it. My second blog was named, "Momfriends" in which the stress of raising twins, a travelling husband, and full time job seemed to catch up with me. It was perhaps more of a "venting experience" than anything else. My third attempt at a blog was named, "She said, She thought, She wrote" trying to capture a bit of my days working, perspective on life, and train rides to the city. It too ended as I didn't feel I had the right material and really needed more of a focus..... After reflecting on all of these blogs, I've come full circle and am starting where I left things off....in the beginning. My life. Our life. As just the 4 of us. I realized we have a lot to share and say and hope we can bring you along our crazy ride of a life. It will hopefully be entertaining and I welcome any feedback! Here's to another round of blogging, because I really do enjoy it. I just need a little encouragement to keep me going and not give up.