A Stinky week

Literally.

Colin has had diarrhea since Monday.  Never, in my almost 9 years of being a mom, have a dealt with diarrhea.  Okay, it wasn't too terrible, but bad enough that we were not leaving the house.

I am terrible at working out at home, but I am trying hard to commit to working out from 8-9am no matter what, even if that means making something up at home.  Ben graciously bought me a TRX system when I first began homeschooling, so that I would always have a workout option at home.  I confess that I have not used it as much as I should, so I hung it on our schoolroom door and busted out my handy-dandy notebook.  Yes, I'm that oldschool that I write everything in a notebook, including my workouts.

The kids were gloriously occupied with some bonus electronic time that morning and it was the puppy that quickly became my obstacle.  She thought it was great fun to lick my face as I was in plank and run away with my mat as I switched positions and would walk underneath me as I did push ups.  I finally had enough and shooed her outside, but in my haste to getting back to my workout, I slammed my finger in the sliding glass door.  Yep, that's how cool I am.  If I was one to use curse words, many would have been flying in that minute.  I grabbed a coffee mug, filled it with ice and plunged my finger in it.  I have no idea why, that's just the solution that came to my pain filled head.

I spent the rest of my workout time doing leg lifts with my hand in the cup.  I tried to keep positive and remind myself that even a little is better than nothing.

I finished up with some lunges across the backyard and Maya tried to say she was sorry for causing my crushed my finger.  Although, I can't say it's her fault...I think it's really my slow reflexes fault. 

This was my home workout:

TRX upper body (10 reps each):

• Chess Press
• Tricep extensions
• Chest fly
• Tricep push ups
• Lateral pulls
• Bicep curls

HIIT (30 seconds each)

• Burpees
• Jumping jacks
• Mountain Climbers
• Frogger (plank to squat)
• Run stairs

TRX lower body (10 reps each):

• Squats
• Single leg squat
• Calf raises 
• Front lunges
• Hip raises

HIIT (30 seconds each)

• High knees
• Lateral hops
• Jump squats
• Walking lunges

Finished with planks, pushups, pullups and leg lifts

 

I almost quit

It's the truth.
I knew moving would be tough in regards to working out, but I wasn't prepared for how hard it has been.

Obstacles I've faced include:

• Business of unpacking and setting up a new home.
• Trips to explore a new state and visit friends.
• Ben's ever changing work schedule.
• A YMCA that only offers childwatch for ages 6 and up after 5pm.
• A puppy to potty train and that means not leaving her for too long.
• Trying hard to give our kids a consistent homeschool schedule...and started back up school in general.

Alison doing school with Maya right under her feet...her favorite spot

• And the biggest one is the fact that the desert is trying to kill me.

When the stars do align and I actually get out on the road (or even the treadmill) I'm pretty sure I'm going to die every second of the run.  A week before we arrived in Arizona, I ran my fastest 5k and was averaging in the 7 minute pace range for my training runs.  The second I landed in Arizona, my pace slowed a whole minute and I can't make it more than a mile without stopping to regroup.  And heaven forbid I forget water, because then it's just plain over.

I have researched every possible possibility to get a run in.  I signed up for 'Stroller Warriors', convinced that there would be other homeschool families and my kids could ride their bikes along with me.  Much to my dismay, there are only babies included in the group and they run the canals which make the pathway too narrow for multiple bike riders and strollers and runners.  Leave it to my kids to fall into a canal...

Running the canals solo

 
I thought this was the perfect push to get me active with my kids and include them in my workouts.  One attempt proved that theory false.  Eli is slow as molasses...really hope that he finds his speed and confidence to ride a bike soon.  I even attempted to put my much too big boys in our bike trailer turned "stroller", which equaled us splitting the front wheel in half, 1/2 a mile down the road.  That was fun.

Our ONE attempt to run as a family

I got up at 5 am every morning for a week to run before Ben left for work, but it left me dead tired the rest of the day and my runs were very short and slow.  Then Ben's schedule changed again, and he had to leave for work by 5:45 and that plan was shot. 

I even went as far as to look into what it would cost to rent out a space and make my own "Homeschool Mom's Gym".  Then I priced out making my own gym in our garage, but it's no where near safe to workout in an Arizona gym.  There is a gym in my dreams, where all the homeschool moms of kids who are older than 3, can come to get a good workout, maybe take a class together or meet with a trainer, and the kids can play and be active together.  There would be room with a tutor so they could do school if needed and a gym where they could learn a new sport.  If only I was a millionaire who knew an abundance of these so called moms, I would create it.

One time, I was so desperate that I ran laps in our backyard!  The kids were really starting to get worried about me that day.

I started to feel alone, defeated and tired of working crazy hard to get a small workout in, one in which I was pretty sure was going to kill me.  The desert, my friends, is no joke.  One day I thought, "They say if you run, you are a runner.  So, if I'm not running, I guess I'm not a runner.  I guess I should just quit trying so hard to be something I can't be."  I let that sit for a few days.  What if I don't run?  Maybe I should quit?  And you know what?  I was crazy sad.

If I was that sad about losing it, then it must be something important to me and worth fighting for.  What I need to quit is believing the lie that it's easy for everyone else and that there is no one else out there who struggles to fit in a workout.  I have to believe and have hope that there is someone out there who is in similar shoes and can relate to the crazy obstacles I face every day.

I've started the last several weeks like it was New Year's Day; ready to start my new plan and make it work!  My plan?  Here is my morning plan for working out and homeschooling:

6:00 wake up, GET DRESSED (key to success) drink coffee, read the Bible
7:00 cook breakfast for kiddos
7:15 Breakfast
7:30 clean up dishes, kiddos get dressed, make beds, brush teeth
7:50 Out the door to go the Y
8:00-9:00 Workout at the Y.  Alison can workout in a small section in the fitness center, then works on independent school work by my treadmill.  No one has yelled at us yet.

Selfies in the gym are always awkward

9:15 Home for snack time while I shower
9:30 School time until lunch

My "perfect" schedule worked a handful of times.  I struggle feeling guilty taking my kids to the Y in the morning; I feel like I'm inconveniencing the workers and boring my kids by putting them in a baby room.  I should probably just let it go, but that's just how I'm wired.

By this week, I realized that this is just becoming comical.  After I took the above picture, I picked up the boys from the childwatch and Colin informed me that he didn't feel good.  Super.  Sure enough, he threw up later that day.  Awesome.  Now I'm the mom who takes sick kids to the Y...I hate those moms.  Why couldn't he just have a cold?  But of course he's sick.  Naturally, it was due time for one of the kids to get sick. 

In light of all this, I figured why not blog through all the obstacles.  I'm tired of complaining, but there has to be another mom out there who has the most obscene obstacles to overcome to carve out some sanity-saving-workout-time and maybe will be encouraged by my sweaty life.

Day 1 coming up and it won't disappoint.