A Topsy-Turvy Week (and I Didn't Stress Out)

Our family routine was completely thrown off this week. Mostly because my husband has been away on a (rare) work trip so I've been running the show solo here. But also because my daughter's trip to emerg for stitches last Friday turned into her missing four days of school this week, which in turn meant that I worked from home in order to look after her.

My husband is very, very hands on with the kids, house and dog and it was a real change to not have him here.

This is the kind of change in routine that would ordinarily cause me a fair bit of stress. Thank goodness it was just for one week. And it was a huge help that my son is old enough to help out with dog and sister.

Still, I had to get a bit creative with how to keep all the balls in the air - parenting, running the house, work, making sure that the dog got enough exercise, fitting in my workouts and staying on track with my C25K runs.

I used some of the standards that we're all supposed to do to make life run more smoothly (but we never seem to do around here) - such as making sure lunches and backpacks are packed and coffee maker is filled every evening, picking up little messes before they turn into big ones, that sort of thing  - but I came up with a few of my own to make it through the week.  

For example - I skipped my Monday night laps at the pool, but took the kids to family swim time on Friday. So fun.

I had to miss Zumba, but got in some extra lunchtime walks with the dog & daughter while working from home.

I also turned one of the walk-the-dog-before-breakfast walks (which my husband usually does) into a C25K run.  And I'm going to admit that I slept in my running clothes the night before so there'd be no bleary-eyed attempts to get dressed early in the morning. You have to understand that I am NOT an early riser, so it was either this or run in my PJs. Which I also have done in the past.

I should probably be embarrassed about that. Ha.

Anyway, I also made sure that I ate well, drank a lot of water and got adequate sleep. Can't cut corners when it comes to that.

Looking forward to my husband coming home this weekend. We miss him!

What about you - what strategies help you make it through a particularly busy time?

Here's this week's recap -

Saturday - rest day.

Sunday - Started with a headache that I couldn't shake so headed to the couch for a nap. Woke up and noticed that someone else thought that a nap was a good idea too -

Hey! No dogs on the furniture - you know better than that!

...and then felt rejuvinated enough to do C25K week 5, run 2 (run 8 mins, walk 5, run 8). New record for me. Actually, everything over "run for 1 minute" is a record for me.

Monday - 2.6K dog walk; Curves + boot camp (360 arm reps w/5lb weights, 100 leg lifts on each side, 250 crunches. 2x30sec planks)

Tuesday - Husband left for the airport. 2K dog walk.

Wednesday - Up at 5:45am for Stella's morning walk and did C25K week 5 run 3. This was the first long run - I was supposed to run for 20 minutes, and was delighted to manage to go 14 minutes, walk 1, run 5. Later, 1K dog walk; boot camp (360 crunches, 300 arm reps w/5lb weights, 30s side planks, 20 pushups).

Get the ball, Stella!

Thursday - 1.8K dog walk, 1K dog walk, then C25K week 6 run 1 (run 5mins, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5). With the dog.

Sweaty. Happy. And check it out - it's a photo of me, not my dog.

Friday - Overslept. Whoops. Made up for it by driving the dog to the dog park, which confused her greatly but allowed her to get her off-leash running time in before we left for work/school. Figured that was more important than just going for a quick walk. Later; 1.8K dog walk followed by family swim with the kids and one of my son's friends. We played volleyball, monkey in the middle, raced a few lengths, and I tossed my daughter around. Can't believe we don't do this more often in the wintertime. So fun.