Every Single Day

Failing.

Well, I think we're officially failing at this thing. The idea behind the Every Day Exercise quest was to make a commitment that would ensure we got exercise even when work, parenting, and life combined to make things hectic. We were allowing those three things to take over, and to provide us with a ready excuse not to exercise, and we needed to change our mindset to put fitness and active-ness back at the top of the priority list.

And then work, parenting, and life combined to kick our asses. For a while, we were doing a decent juggling act, missing some days here and there, but mostly finding ways to squeeze in at least 30 minutes of SOMETHING active almost every day. But about 10 days ago, Milo stopped sleeping at night, stopped napping at home on the weekends, and started climbing out of his crib EVEN IN HIS SLEEP SACK. For those of you unfamiliar with toddler sleeping attire, this is something like scaling a chain-link fence with your legs in a garbage bag.

As we deal with this transition, no one is getting any sleep. This means that 5:30 a.m. workouts aren't happening, and that's the only time I have on most weekdays. Nor do we have our evenings free, as we're now spending them returning Milo to his room over, and over, and over again. I've managed a couple of bike rides and some long walks with the jogging stroller, and Steve's ridden several days this week, but there have been more than a few days when we did nothing besides work and attempt to get Milo to sleep.

I'm flying to New York tomorrow for a conference, and am hoping to be able to exercise every day while I'm on my own. Steve has rides planned, thanks to the generosity of Milo's grandparents, almost every day. So it's possible that we'll get back on track soon. But right now, our quest feels like a failure.

(As i read this post over, I realize that in all this whining, I didn't even mention the weather, which has been cold, wet, and yucky for weeks now. This is exacerbating the challenge of finding time and opportunity to exercise, in a huge way. Sigh.)

Days 145 to . . . um . . . a whole bunch later.

What has it been? A week? More? I've been exercising every day, I swear, but haven't had any time to write about the exercising. Things are nuts - huge brief, kitchen, life, travel, life, work, work, work, etc. etc. etc. I realized a few days ago that I've been absolutely bone tired for weeks now, totally worn out from the cycle of getting up early to work out, working frantically all day, racing home to spend a couple of hours with Milo while he's still awake, and then painting, tiling, and organizing the kitchen until midnight or later. I need a break.

I've been taking that break, sort of, in the form of slacking off exercise-wise. I'm still working out, but at a pretty low intensity most days. I've had some nice runs and bike rides, but for the most part, I've been stretching, doing yoga, and working out with the fit ball and light weights at home, while watching brainless TV. I think this is what my body needs right now, and I'm counting on muscle memory and years of experience to carry me through the sprint triathlon that's coming up in less than 3 weeks. We'll see.

Steve has been getting better workouts in - lots of long, hard bike rides - but has not been able to exercise every day. He's planning to rededicate himself to the Every Day cause for the second half of the year.

Days 141-144.

I feel like I've barely sat down over the past four days, except for the long, long workdays of pounding out the Monster Brief (currently up to 200 pages, and hopefully not growing much longer). Let's see. Thursday, I didn't think I was going to get any exercise, but I ended up stretching and doing push-ups and crunches for an hour or so after dinner, while Steve ran out to help a friend with a minor gear crisis. Steve ran on Thursday, I think - I can't remember now!

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were All Biking All The Time for Steve - 30 miles hard on Friday, 26 miles, moderate, with me on Saturday, and a 35-mile, very fast-paced, and ultimately drenched ride today. I ran for 35 minutes on Friday morning, rode with Steve yesterday, and climbed for a couple of hours in the gym this afternoon. Good workouts all around.

When we weren't exercising, we were painting, tiling, cleaning, organizing, and otherwise trying to finish the kitchen. And when we weren't doing that, we were wrangling an extremely energetic little kid. No rest for the weary, and more of the same on tap for tomorrow.

Days 138-140.

Monday morning, I went for a run. I ran for 30 minutes and did sprint intervals, 30-45 seconds on and 20-30 seconds off, for the last 7 minutes. Great workout, though short. Steve had planned to ride, but was derailed by a day of kitchen craziness.

Tuesday, Steve's workout time was once again eaten up by the kitchen, but hopefully for the last time. I spent about 90 minutes doing abs, pushups, shoulder exercises, lunges, and stretches, while Steve and our contractor friend got everything working in the kitchen.

Today, Steve finally had some time to play! He went climbing after work, a good long evening on the rocks. Milo and I went for a 45-minute walk around the lake and through the neighborhood.

I really, really, really need to get into triathlon training mode already.

Days 134-137.

We've had a good weekend of exercise, with no time to sit at the computer and write about it. Thursday, Milo and I went for a 40-minute power walk with a friend. The pace was brisk, but the toddler-mandated interruptions were many, so the workout was only so-so. Meanwhile, Steve went for a great bike ride, about 40 miles total.

Friday morning, I did 45 minutes of yoga and core exercises. Steve went for another good bike ride in the evening, about 30 miles.

I got in a great run on Saturday, 40 minutes at a strong pace. The weather was perfect! Steve spent the whole day putting finishing touches on the new kitchen, and didn't get to run or ride. But Saturday night, we walked downtown from my parents' house for a date night, about 30-40 minutes each way. We undid much of the exercise benefits of the walk with the sushi, sake, and dessert crepes we consumed in the middle, but that's why we exercise!

Today, Steve went for a long, hard ride with some friends, about 45 miles with a big hill climb. I did a short ride to a friend's house, to the playground, and eventually home, with a lot of running around in between. Then I did about 90 minutes of core stuff and stretching while Milo napped. Lots more running around with the toddler in the afternoon, too!

Days 131-133.

Let's see . . . Monday, I was tired and sore, and I did a leisurely 45-minute walk with Milo that included a stop at the supermarket. Steve ran about 4 miles, including hill sprints.

Tuesday morning,  I did 40 minutes of crunches, pushups, and stretching. I don't think Steve had time to exercise, but he did get some bike adjustments at lunchtime, so he was pedaling for around 30 minutes.

I got out for a nice run this morning. It looked really windy and threatening out, from the cozy confines of my bed, but once I got outside, I discovered that the weather was perfect. I ran for 30 minutes and did some hill sprints. Steve did not have time to exercise. However, the kitchen remodel is almost done, so he will be soon able to pick up the every day baton again.

Days 127-130.

Let's see. . . .Thursday, Dawn and I climbed for about 1.5 hours, and pushed ourselves on some hard 5.11s. Steve went for a good, long bike ride.

On Friday morning, I went for a 30-minute run. It is finally light out early enough for me to run in the early mornings - hooray! The weather was perfect, and I felt really good. It has been a while since I've run without Milo in the jogger, and I felt so free and fast. I did miss his commentary, however, and found myself saying "red Jeep! Doggie! Basketball hoop! 'nother basketball hoop! Th'ee basketball hoop" in my head. I can't remember whether Steve got a workout in on Friday.

Steve did get in a good ride on Saturday, about 2 hours long. I took it easy, but did about 20 minutes of walking and an hour of stretches and crunches.

Today, I ran the annual Title Nine Mother's Day race. They extended the course to 9.9K this year, which was longer than I've been running lately. I finished in just under an hour - not very fast, but I felt good. I had to stop twice to stretch my IT band, but the knee pain I was starting to feel subsided with the stretches. The weather was cold and yucky out. Great for running, not so great for Daddy and Toddler spectating. The boys were troupers, nevertheless. Steve got something of a workout while I was running, as he was in motion almost the whole time trying to keep MIlo warm and entertained.

Days 125 & 126.

The days are starting to blur. Yesterday, I did an hour of yoga in the morning. I can't remember whether Steve got exercise other than the hour he spent unloading the cabinets from the delivery truck. Today, I rode the bike for 45 minutes this morning, then did crunches and stretches. I also went for a fast, uphill 30-minute walk with Milo after work. Steve had to go back and forth to the house several times today, then work late to make up for lost time, and he didn't get in a workout.

Day 124.

I couldn't drag myself out of bed to exercise this morning, but Milo and I went for a nice long walk after work. We walked for about 40 minutes, then our last ten minutes' worth took another half-hour, as Milo decided he wanted to get out of his stroller and walk himself. That, of course, meant walking, jumping, picking up rocks, sniffing flowers, feeling leaves, and pushing the stroller himself, so it took a while. I was happy to have gotten in my work-out and to be able to slow down and (literally!) smell the flowers, toddler style.

Steve used our absence to tear out tile from the kitchen floor, exhausting, back-breaking work that surely qualifies as his daily dose. After we got Milo to bed, we spent another hour breaking down the drywall and wood scraps that were still piled outside the house - more hard labor!

Days 122 & 123.

Yet another rainy Saturday was not conducive to getting back on the exercise wagon. We did paint for several hours, though, which was kind of physical (sort of, maybe?). After we painted, I spent an hour doing crunches, push-ups, and lunges in the basement, but Steve didn't get any "real" exercise.

Today was nicer - we walked to breakfast and the park in the morning, and had a lot of fun running around with Milo. In the afternoon, I took Milo for a 30-minute run, followed by an energetic hour at the playground and another 40 minutes of walking to, through, and home from the supermarket. Meanwhile, Steve finally got out on his bike, and rode about 30 miles. We both got rained on a little, but it was mostly pretty nice out. It really felt this weekend like we'd been transported to Seattle - we want our 300 days of sunshine, dammit!