On Friday, I came up with a new weekend schedule. It involved sleep and exercise, because the old patterns weren't working. This was the old pattern:

Stay up late on Friday night with Beloved; sleep as late as possible on Saturdays (typically 9 or 9:30, when the "can ___ come over for a playdate?" phone calls start rolling in); stay up late on Saturdays with Beloved; sleep RIDICULOUSLY late on Sundays (i.e., 10 or 10:30); stay up late on Sundays, despite my presence in bed, tossing and turning and wishing I were asleep, with the knowledge that I have to be up early on Monday; wake up early on Monday, and spend the day miserably tired.

Note that there is no exercise in there --- not just because the above paragraph tends to talk more about sleep patterns, but because I typically start off a weekend with good intentions, but find my time full without fitting it in. My weekends are full of good and important things, so I generally don't beat myself up about it too much. Things like time with kids; housework; time with kids; school work (ha!); cello lessons; time with kids; transporting kids; time with Beloved; plays; time with kids; etc.

Friday, though, I thought I would try something that would hopefully get exercise into the weekend AND adjust the sleep patterns.

I thought - stay up late on Friday night with Beloved; sleep late on Saturday a.m.; do not even TRY to exercise on Saturday - it's a day off. Enjoy doing other things without guilt.

Stay up late on Saturday with Beloved (or in this weekend's case - out with friends); but GET UP EARLY on Sunday - I was thinking not too early - perhaps 7:30 or 8. Still later than during the week, but early enough that I could ride the bike to the gym, work out, ride the bike home, and still be back in time to start the day with the kids (they sleep later, and often wake up and just read for an hour or so on the weekends).

That way, I'd be tired on Sunday instead of Monday, and be able to get into bed early on Sunday without difficulty.

Unfortunately ----

Even though I felt invigorating by my pants and skirts last night ---

I got up at 9:45.

And since E and I had to leave for cello lessons at 11:30 -- There was no time to go to the gym.

While E was getting ready for cello, a friend of hers called and asked her to go with her and her family to the movies. (This time to Meet the Robinsons -- Yesterday I took her to see The Last Mimzy.) She is the one who complains if I leave to work out on the weekends, and why I try to fit it in during the wee hours (by our family's standards). So I asked Beloved if he would mind if I took an hour out of the afternoon. He said no. J said no. They made plans to do other fun things together.

So I took E to her cello lesson, read IP in a Dunkin Donuts while she was musically edified, took her to her friend's house, walked home, took a few quizzes, and then went for a run.

It was interesting today, because I decided, in the interest of time, to do my old running route here at home, rather than go to the gym. We have intense stair paths, hilly roads, and a reservoir with a well-manicured path around it. The combination, I think, makes for a good, diverse work out.

I used to jog the stair paths, quickly walk the hilly sidewalks (mostly b/c I'm old and running on the root-ravaged sidewalks is sort of dangerous on a foot that has been twice injured), and then did one lap around the reservoir switching b/t walking and jogging.

TODAY, however, I changed it a wee bit. I ran around the reservoir - with no walking - TWICE. I really felt the difference in my abilities from my time in the gym this past month, and it felt great. The weather was wonderful (50 and sunny), and lots of people were out enjoying the day and some exercise. I was tempted to go around a third time, but was afraid E would call needing to be picked up, and the phone would ring into emptiness.

I am considering alternating b/t outdoors and the gym more often. I felt a different pull on my muscles being outside and doing real running, and it's likely good for me to keep it mixed up a bit.

Beautiful day!

Now I'm gonna go fuck it up with stupid laundry. And kitchen cleaning. Damn.

Labels: exercise, family, kids, weekends

posted by Zuska @ 3:20 PM

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