Where did all the time go?

That's what I ask myself every day! It's certainly not used in going to the gym or out exercising on my bike or out for a run. A couple of weeks ago, instead of fighting for time in the morning, I decided to fit my exercise regimen into my daughter's schedule by doing TKD with her in the late afternoon.

This is the adults class, but kids can join in.

We just started and are lowly white belts, but we're having a great time and hopefully yellow belts will be around the corner. I sometimes go to the children's class, and I get to run around like a little kid which I enjoy. I'm racing against them - go figure, I'm always losing and have to do pushups, but hey, it's good for me, right?

Me doing a jumping race

What I really like about it is that it provides a more structured environment for my daughter. She's learning how to become tougher and to be more mature, which the teacher tells her she needs to do in order for her to become a yellow belt. I just wished I had a chance to do something like this when I was a kid - but I guess TKD didn't really catch on until the 70's. We watched my friend's son test for his blue belt - and I was amazed with the discipline and the spirit he had throughout his testing. He rocked that test! We saw them break boards, and now my daughter is excited about trying to do this, which is a requirement for your next belt. I'm not going to test until the teacher says my daughter is ready to test to keep her confidence up. Of course, I'll put up a video of my first belt test when that happens.

BTW.... a big congrats to my sis, ShirleyPerly for finishing in her iron triathlon this past weekend! Whoo hoo!

Life almost back to normal

Now that my daughter has returned to school, I'm almost recovered from the summer! And, this means that I can finally get back to reading some blogs and writing a bit. It's funny how fall weather hit so quickly here - the first week of school, it was still in the 100's, as it had been since June. Then all of a sudden, KAPOW, the weather is now fall like in the 80's with crisp mornings.

I've decided to take a class at the local college, and my husband and I are working feverishly on a project for our biz that starts next week. He's finally starting to use his gym membership and I'm finally able to do some more regular exercise. I started this week in doing morning 2 mile walks, after I walk my daughter to school. Then in the afternoon, I do some other exercise that's more aerobic in nature. I feel like I'm spoiling myself rotten! :-)

Today, I found a race to run. The price is right - FREE. It's at my gym. Though there are several different lengths, I'm going for just the 3 miler, since I've not been running as regularly.

My project for today is...get a chore list for my 5 year old. I'm hoping this will help her become more aware of finances. I've never done a chore list before (with stars and allowance to go with it), but I hear some people swear by it. Would love to hear your comments on this idea.

So, hope everyone is doing well. Will try to catch up to blogs more this week. Next week will start another round of a hectic schedule that will go on for a few weeks. But, it's all good! Better to be too busy than sitting around twiddling my thumbs!

Getting ready for the fall

I keep saying I'm going to update my blog. Days become weeks, and before you know it, it's been too long! I've been much more active on facebook these days than here on my blog. Maybe it's because I've not done anything interesting in terms of my exercise regiment.

My weeks this summer have been so wholly dependent on my daughter's schedule. And, her schedule has been changing every week. And, so I've tried to just eek out a workout somewhere in between. That's about all I've been able to do, as her camp schedule was so light these past few weeks.

Starting this week, I'm finally going to have a bit of time - yay! This week, we have a full day camp. It's heaven for me! Next week, school starts up again, and we'll be back on a regular schedule. I'm one of those people who need alone time to get "stuff" done. And, this semester, I'm also taking one class. Anyone else taking a course this fall?

Other than this, I'm just prodding along. I try to get a workout in 5 days a week - anything counts as a workout - believe me! I've decided not to participate in races for now, and rather just focus on getting organized. Papers are flying everywhere in my office! It's definitely time to file these receipts and papers away!

The Balancing Act

It started off great this week.

Monday at the gym for some cardio.

Tuesday an early morning swim followed by 1.5 hours of yard work after I dropped off my child for summer camp. I thought I had accomplished so much tuesday morning just before the real heat set in. I took a shower, but then I found that I was so tired! I struggled to stay awake for a few hours to do some work before I had to pick up my daughter.

At 1:45pm I picked her up from summer camp. By then, I was exhausted. Next came 5 more hours of running around to keep her occupied. At 7pm, I trudged home. By then, I was dazed and confused.

Thank goodness my husband was home. I passed off my daughter to her and vegged. I put on a DVD - a real doozy of a chick flick (He's just not into you). I then just laid there like a bump on the log watching the boob tube. Oh, what luxury! I had not been able to do this in quite some time! Two hours later, I felt like I had recovered a bit. I could then think clearly, at least.

Wednesday - rest day. Felt good.

Thursday - yard work for one hour. I told myself not to overdo it, especially in the heat. Did 4 hours of work for my biz.

Friday - totally slacked off on exercising. Did 4 more hours of work for my biz.

Saturday - today - back on the wagon with a 4 mile run.

Now that I write down what I did, it looks somewhat balanced. But, when I'm living it, it feels like I'm really slacking off in everything. If I'm not working on my biz, I feel like a slacker! If I'm not exercising regularly, I'm a slacker! If I'm not social networking, I'm a slacker! When my yard is a mess, I'm a slacker. When my house is messy, I"m a slacker!

Then, I have to stop myself...

I'm a parent and ....ugh...a housewife. Now, my life is all about mastering the balancing act. More importantly, learning to become satisfied with what I can realistically accomplish in a day or a week...that's the hardest part.

It's about taking stock and doing some hard line prioritizing.

Priority #1: care for and spend time with family. Essentially 6 to 8 hours a day spent here.

Priority #2: get just enough exercise to stay sane. This essentially means to devote 1 hour of exercise a day and no more, since any more makes me too tired to do priority #1.

Priority #3: Housewifey chores that have absolutely have to get done . This means - keep clean clothes at hand, wash dishes so ants don't come, and sweep when I step of lots of crumbs, cook...a little. That's about all I can do in 1 to 2 hours a day.

Priority #4: biz here and there. I need to be happy with a solid 1 to 2 hours a day.

Everything else is Priority #5. And believe me, there are tons of stuff in this category. Everything from mowing the lawn, all other housework, filing the mountains of paperwork in my office, any social stuff, doing social networking, education, relaxing, etc. The list goes on and on. This is my biggest hurdle. There's just too much here to do in 2 to 3 hours a day that I have left.

So, as I'm writing this, I realize that I have to work more on prioritizing. But, wait...that's in priority #5, right? I'm going to work on priority #4 now :-)

Pflugerville Triathlon Race Results

I finally got my first triathlon for 2009 under my belt this past weekend. It was my friend G's first tri and she did fantastic! It was my 2nd time around on this tri, and with an overcast morning, it made for great weather, even though it was in the 90's. Here's my stats - from this race and last year's race.

Here's the video proof:

Pflugerville 2009 Triathlon from JL on Vimeo.

Things that went well include:
1. I wore a new outfit - my Nike two piece swimsuit. I put on bike shorts just for the bike - and the moisture issues has been resolved - yay!
2. Last year, I was so anxious when swimming - this time, I was much more relaxed - and it was more enjoyable!
3. Maddy, my bike, performed so well! She's my reason for my improved bike time.


Lessons learned:
1. Stop bringing two boatloads of water on a 14 mile bike ride! I don't know why I always do this!
2. Don't buy gummy bear types of energy food as they're hard to chew while biking or running. I had a hard time breathing and chewing!
3. Stop bringing a boatload of water on my run - I only needed 1/2 of a bottle, at least on this overcast day. It's just too heavy to tote. I ended up dumping some of it after I got smart.
4. Eat more healthy - I was eating way too much junk food the week before the race.
5. Should do a few more bricks before the real thing. I only did one half-ass brick, and I could feel it when running. I felt like a slug!

All in all, I was happy to be out there, especially having my friend G with me. It was her first triathlon and she was awesome! Go G!

My Chip Time for the Pflugerville Tri - more to come!

My Chip Time

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Another Bike Ride

From 2009_06_12_Bike_Ride_Limecreek

Now that the Pflugerville Triathlon is looming near, I've been doing much more biking than usual. Yesterday, my friends, J, G, and I did a 20 mile hilly loop thru the Town of Volente, where they have Volente Beach Park. Muscles are sore from the hills (a good feeling mentally!), but, doing these types of workouts make me more comfortable in thinking I can get thru my first sprint tri of the year.

From 2009_06_12_Bike_Ride_Limecreek

I've not had a chance to do much wilt-proof running since my daughter has been out of school. These upcoming 2 weeks, I'll get to do a few, since my daughter is in summer camps in the morning. I hope this will at least mentally prepare me....wait.I only have one more week until my triathlon! Oh well, at least I have one week.

And, I'm going to do a few sessions in the lap pool. The one thing that I don't do well is sighting. Why don't lakes just have those nice black lines like the pool does? What's all this murkiness about?