Balancing It All

I've spent this last week easing back into some work stuff. Next week gets even more intense. You see, teachers don't get all summer off like many people think we do. Sure, we get several uninterrupted weeks of fun in the sun, but that is intertwined with professional development classes (thus far I've done 37 hours, still have 27 more before school starts on August 15th) as well as meetings, and classroom set-up--which is a week long process for most. I tell you this not to complain, but to update you on my what my summer vacation really looks like.

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I've been thinking, "how in the world am I going to work full-time, attend after school meetings and more professional development, plan excellent, motivating lessons for my students, keep up with mounds of paperwork, take care of my child, keep my house clean, finish reading the series of books I've started, and train for a half-marathon???" The answer is "I DON'T HAVE A CLUE!" and I'm freaking out a little bit, as I always do this time of year. The difference this year is that I am training, which I was not last summer when school started. I was barely even running at all.

Anyone have any advice?? I know some of you have to work full-time, have kids and run or workout even more than I do. How do you balance it all?? What's your secret? Do tell...

What do you eat before a run?

I don't know if it's the heat or my diet or what, but lately I am finding myself struggling to make it through even a short run or a 25 minute workout with Jillian. Yes, it's hot outside, but most of my workouts have been indoors in the comfort of my air conditioned home.

Excuse the shweatiness

I once read that summer workouts, whether indoor or out, are affected by the air temperatures outside, as well as the humidity. Of course it is more humid in my house in the summer than in the winter when the dry hot air is blasting through the vents. But could that really be why I'm struggling to push through a workout? I seriously doubt it.

So then I turn to my eating habits to see if that has something to do with my energy levels. This morning I ate a granola bar (almonds and yogurt, not the little chocolate filled kind) and drank half a cup of coffee. Then I proceeded to eat a small container of low-fat strawberry yogurt. And now I am munching on some plain wheat toast. Lunch will typically be a salad with chicken and fruit, and sometimes if I eat out, like yesterday, a chicken or turkey sandwich with my salad. Dinner is often some kind of lean meat, a vegetable or two, like corn, and then fruit for dessert. I think I eat pretty balanced, but it seems like something is missing.


Maybe I need more protein? I'm not a huge meat eater, other than chicken and turkey or lean pork. Red meat and fish are just not my thing. I try to get protein from nuts, protein powder in my smoothies, and some dairy products. Sometimes I even eat energy bars like Luna or Powerbars. Yesterday post-workout, I had a whole wheat bagel with almond butter on one side, peanut butter on the other (I'm conservative with that expensive almond butter!!) with banana:

Yeah, don't hate on my Christmas plate in July!!

 I also have a love/hate relationship with caffeine. Of course, I am a sweet tea lover (real or fake sugar) and I have coffee every morning. On the days I drink a ton of caffeine, I feel like I can workout harder if I do it before I crash from post-caffeine wind up. But like yesterday, I had tea at lunch and then by the time I started Ripped in 30, I was exhausted and that was after a nap.

Most days I drink lots of water and/or Powerade Zero (after a workout). The last few days I have been lacking on water because I was sitting in professional development classes with a big cup of sweet tea. And I drank and drank until it was gone--I prefer to drink my calories, obviously. I started wondering about dehydration last night when I had double Charlie Horses in my hips. Talk about painful.

After everything I've eaten this morning, I still don't seem to feel energetic enough to hit the treadmill and run a few miles. Some days are better than others, but lately, I just feel drained when running or working out.

Sometimes when I try to run in the morning or around lunchtime, I struggle more than when I run at night. Maybe I need to have a full day's calories before I workout??

So I guess my question for you is,  

What do you eat before you run or workout to give you the energy to keep going?

A Weekend Trip and A Day Back to Work

I had a nice weekend with family. We traveled a few hours away to visit my sister-in-law and her fam for my nephew's baptism on Sunday. I forgot my camera, so all I got were these crappy iPhone pictures:

My nephew, daughter and niece

I mostly ate horribly. But I did have one really big, yummy salad. Sometimes I can make good choices when everyone else is eating burgers and fries...

 I was able to workout on Saturday before leaving, and then I ran a mile last night when we got back. I was literally running at 10:45 last night. Oh what I won't do to get a run in...

Then today I got a taste of what's to come. Back to work for the day.

I had a 7 hour "professional development" on Safe Crisis Management. This is what we use in our schools in any incidence where a student becomes physically violent towards themselves or someone else. Basically, if I have to, I can safely restrain a student to prevent  him or her from hurting someone. Everything from breaking up a fight to calming a kid down in a crisis situation. I work in a large urban school district with a large population of students that come from proverty, abuse,  and neglect and don't always have those coping skills to handle anger or other strong emotions.

Every year I have a 1 day "recertification" and then every other month I attend practice sessions. For the recertification today, I had to perform a lot of physical holds, first in practice and then for a test. It's almost like wrestling, only methodical and only used in an emergency. There is a lot of lifting, bearing another person's weight and moving up and down on the floor. My knees are sore and bruised. But I did notice that strength-wise, I am able to handle someone larger than me, which was really difficult a year ago. I guess all this strength training and running is paying off in more ways than one!

 My plan was for today to be a rest day. But I'm feeling antsy and really need to get back on the Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 wagon. I am having a hard time lately taking a rest day. It's almost like I'm afraid I'll gain weight or lose some muscle tone if I don't. I feel lazy.

How many rest days do you take? Is it hard for you to take them?