deciding on a new workout schedule
It might come as a surprise to you (or maybe not) that I am in fact the world’s worst decision maker. Wait, I take that back – I’m the world’s 2nd worst decision maker. I’m married to the world’s worst decision maker. Seriously… I have no idea how we decided on a name for our baby. Except part of the reason we aren’t sharing the name until I pop her out is because we’re afraid we might change our mind and be stuck with a bunch of stuff with her no-longer-name on it.
I’m really ashamed to admit the decision-making issue I am currently having. With the school year starting this week, I am no longer free to workout pretty much whenever I want. So, I have been trying to figure out exactly when I want to schedule my workouts.
Back in the spring, when my baby bump was a little smaller and I wasn’t so exhausted as I am now, I was doing 2-a-day workouts. I would lift in the morning 3 or 4 days a week and then run in the afternoon when I got home from work. It worked pretty perfectly at the time, but I am realizing more and more just how little energy I have at the end of the day. Now, add in standing all day and keeping 160-something 4 to 12 year olds in order and physically active and I know I will be completely drained by the time I get home.
You’d think this would be a fairly easy problem to fix – just lift + run in the morning. Sure, that’s what I was doing this summer and it worked perfectly, but with my constant exhaustion (the 3rd trimester has not been nice to me), waking up before 5 AM is pretty hard.
So, I’ve had to change things up again. Did I mention that I am the world’s (2nd) worst decision-maker? I have been wanting to try the New Rules of Lifting workouts for awhile now, so I’m going to try a couple of the workouts out for awhile (modifying them as I need to for my pregnant body) to see if maybe this is something I want to really focus on after the baby arrives. There are only 6 exercises with each workout and the intensity level is just right for what I am able to do now.
But, with doing those workouts 3 days a week, I had to try to find time to fit in some cardio (my run/walk routine). Doing a brick for the workouts (lift + run one right after the other) just isn’t going to work for me during the week – too much precious sleep time sacrificed. This is what I came up with:
Monday: strength
Tuesday: run/walk on treadmill
Wednesday: run/walk on treadmill
Thursday: strength
Friday: run/walk on treadmill
Saturday: strength+ run/walk
Sunday: rest
It’s not ideal for me since I would much rather be running outside, but I have a fear of running in the dark after a too-close-for-comfort experience a few years ago (that’s another story in itself). If I’m not too overly exhausted upon getting home from work, I might add in a 20 minute yoga session or a short walk (like I did yesterday afternoon after I decided it was WAY too hot for me to run outside).
Ha – I wish that was a recent workout, but I’m lucky to run 15 minutes, let alone 3 miles!
Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am, in fact, pregnant. I mean, I am 33 weeks along in my pregnancy, and I am still wanting to be able to do the same workouts I was doing prior to becoming pregnant. I guess maybe it’s that “last hurrah” before the baby comes – like I’m afraid I’ll never be able to run like I used to, which I know is not true. I have to remind myself that 20 to 30 minutes a day is PLENTY – more than enough even! It’s hard to admit, but from the way my feet were screaming at me this weekend at my shower, I know I need to take it easy.
Hopefully I can stick with this decision and not change my mind 10 billion times like I always do. (You will be seeing my lack of decision making skills again once I am trying to develop training plans for races post-baby.) Again, stupid things to worry about, but that’s just how my brain works!