Catch up Run

I couldn't go for a run yesterday. The cleaners were coming, and lot of things needed to be taken care of at work. But went for a catch-up run today instead. 1.8 miles in 23 minutes. This is my 2nd week of serious work-out, and it still is early days.

After the baby, I started dancing when he was around 5 months old. I thought that would put me back in my old shape. R's parents were around, and I used to go and dance on Saturdays. It really wasn't the ideal situation, as in-laws would cook and R would be home taking care of the baby while I was out dancing. But I stuck to it for a few months. A few months of getting shouted at in dance class for leaving class early, for not practicing at home, and realizing that your body is really not able to do certain exercises, steps the way you want to. And rushing back home to a house where food needs to be taken care of, where plans were being made of taking the baby out, and everyone is waiting for me. This once a week scramble did nothing for my dance, my weight or my self-esteem. What was once a joy, became a struggle, a chore.

After the in-laws left early September, I moved my dance class to a weekday. Got the nanny for an extra hour. And realized that the teacher was least interested in teaching dance to someone who didn't want to perform. And I was always in catch-up mode at work, as I would spend the better part of a weekday off for dance.

By the end of November, after realizing that a few months of 3 hours of dance every week was not helping with my dance or my weight, I decided to quit.

Since Jan, I decided to jog and with the baby in a jogging stroller. But it was not working out. Some days it would be raining. Some days the baby needed to poop or just play and was not interested in going out. Eventually I came up with this plan after reading this article.

1. Identify 2 days in a week as your work-out days. Get the nanny to come an extra hour that day.
2. Identify the time. 9:00 am worked for me. It energized me for the day. Most people commute before starting work. I run around the neighbourhood before I start my day. Lunch time didn't work - I would get hungry and just decide to skip the run.
3. Pick your choice of work-out. Dance was out b'coz of the sheer number of hours it took. I decided to jog instead.
4. Make sure food is cooked, chores done for those two days in advance. If possible work extra hours the day before at night.
5. Stick to the plan.
6. If you are not able to work-out the scheduled days, don't beat yourself up. If you can catch up, super, if not continue with your plan.
7. Weekends try and do something fun. Hike with the baby, or brisk walk with the baby or even run. And you get 3 days a week of work-out.

Once you get this schedule down for about a couple of months, add one more day to your work-week routine and try and work out 4 days a week.