A little delayed, but here’s my recap for last week! This was Week 3 of my August workout plan. I managed to technically complete all 5 strength workouts, though one of them was shortened and done at home.
Monday 8/14
This was Ethan’s first day of school and I knew we had a busy evening planned with his New Student Induction Ceremony. So I got up early and was at my desk before 6, took a quick break to get Ethan out the door, and then put my head down and worked really hard the rest of the day. It paid off, and I wrapped up for the day by just after 2:30 p.m.
I did the 15 minute stretch class as a quick “lunch break”.
After work Asher and I went to the gym and I did Leg Day #1 of the week.
Tuesday 8/15
Tuesday was a big walking day for me! I got over 14,000 steps, which for me is huge.
After Ethan left for school I did a 20 minute walk; it was crisp and fall-like out (unlike the Excessive Heat Warnings we have here this week causing issues… more on that another time…), and I wore my new soccer hoodie (with E’s high school name on it) that just arrived! I am officially prepared to be a High School Soccer Mom on the sidelines this fall. 🙂
I had a busy day with various meetings, and Asher had an afternoon soccer practice from 2-4. Fortunately my sister-in-law was able to run him there at 2:00, because I had meetings from ~1-3:30! I was able to pick him up at 4, at least.
I made tilapia, rice and a cheesy broccoli/cauliflower mix for dinner.
My “plan” was to hit the gym for 20 minutes of cardio before Ivan and Ethan got home, but…. I felt lazy and didn’t feel like going over to the gym. Instead, I did an incline treadmill walk for 30 minutes. Timing worked out perfectly and I finished up just as they walked in the door a little after 6:30.
After dinner, Ethan showered, etc. and now Ivan wanted to go for a walk! It was a gorgeous night, so I ended up tagging along. MORE walking.
Wednesday 8/16
Wednesdays are Ethan’s late start day, so I again got up early and front-loaded some work in the morning.
I had told Asher we could bike to go get breakfast together after Ethan and Ivan left. We like to do this periodically and Asher’s summer is wrapping up fast now. So I had pre-planned to take a little time out for this.
It was nothing fancy; he just wanted a sausage-egg McMuffin from McDonald’s. But it was nice to bike there (bonus- a little exercise!) and afterwards as we were leaving, he said, “That was fun.” 🙂 A “little adventure”, I think LVK would call this. 😉
I did the 15 minute lunch time stretch class at my desk, and later after work I walked to the gym for my shoulders/triceps workout. This was a quicker one, so I then made it home in time to make spaghetti before Ivan/Ethan got home.
Ended the day with my rather late grocery run…. but… it worked. Wednesday was a good day with some nice variety!
Thursday 8/17
Thursday was “supposed” to be Back/Biceps day for me, but I made the decision early on to make it a rest day. Asher had afternoon soccer and the evening was going to be totally packed with a (long) Parent Meeting for soccer on the WAY far side of town. I just really didn’t have time to get my work in and fit a workout in today. (In part because I slept really poorly that day and then overslept in the morning!)
So I really just worked all day- not even a walk. Boo. I picked Asher up from soccer by 4:00 and we stopped by the mall to kill some time before the soccer meeting. Made a trip to Dick’s for some new socks for him, and I bought him this book at Barnes and Noble:
We’d both heard of this- it’s a series on Disney+- but haven’t read or watched it. We decided we’ll both read it, and then watch the series together. 🙂
Parent meeting for soccer was from 5:30- 7:00, which ended up being almost 7:30 by the time we lingered to sign up for our required volunteer shifts. Ivan met me there after work. Being late, I had planned we would just stop for dinner on the way home. Ethan requested Chick Fil A, so that’s what we had! Ethan drove the “scary highway” home with Ivan, in the dark, and did well! (Though we passed two accidents….). Will post an official Driving Update post soon.
Friday 8/18
Friday was a chaotic morning. The carpool ride arrived almost 10 minutes early, and Ethan was NOT ready. The combination of the end of the week + being gone from ~4-9 Thursday night had left me just a little cranky, too. In the process Ethan realized his tennis shoes somehow got left out at the soccer park the day before, so he was racing around looking for shoes that…. were not there. He finally opted to just wear his Crocs to school and rushed out to the car, only for me to realize his Chromebook was still sitting on the breakfast bar on the charger. Fortunately I was able to yell out the front door and catch him.
I ended up texting him to apologize because I kind of “yelled” and was just generally very snappy. He was just kind of lollygagging along though that day AND with the carpool arriving early it was a bad combo. Ah, well. Not all mornings are sunshine and rainbows.
I headed out for my 20 minute walk, came home and did a 20 minute Emkfit 90’s dance video (which PROMPTLY righted my upside-down mood, because it was very fun), jumped in the shower by 8, and was at my desk and on camera by 8:30 for a scheduled meeting.
The rest of the day was just work + a chiro appointment + a little calendar planning session at the end of the day.
We had dinner plans with Ivan’s cousins, but I was still hoping to fit my Back/Biceps workout in. (I normally don’t plan gym on Fridays! But I had shifted it from Thursday…). I really didn’t have enough time after work, so I compromised and just did about half of it, in my basement. Asher joined me and I chalked it up as a “well, better than nothing” workout.
Saturday 8/19
Saturday morning Ethan had a soccer scrimmage and we had to drive one of his friends. While they warmed up, Ivan and I walked around the soccer complex (slowly… my back was bugging me…) to get some steps in.
The rest of the day was heavy on random housework, some cleaning/ organizing, etc. Ivan’s mom arrived on Sunday, so we had some things to put in order.
I was interrupted by this cute girl, taking hamster selfies 😉
In the late afternoon I walked over to the gym for Leg Day #2 of the week. It was HOT in the gym. But it was nearly empty, which was a treat. So I took a few gym selfies, because, well…. this may be interesting to look back on one day!
Our gym has various different weight room areas, which I actually like. Provides some nice variety. This section was recently rearranged so they could add a bunch more squat racks. (And there are even more in another weight room, and up on the sprint track.)
Weight training has DEFINITELY gained popularity lately; I think more and more people, especially women and teens, are realizing the benefits of it. The demand for weight room space has been huge lately, and our gym has really responded! We have SO MUCH weight training space now. It’s amazing.
Spent the later part of the night watching Messi play (and win) in the League Cup final!! WHAT a game! Super fun to watch. And holy guacamole on the penalty kicks- 11 penalty kicks at the end!! It was very exciting and I thought the game might never end.
Sunday 8/20
Sunday was also pretty chill! I was trying to soak up the time and take advantage of it before things get really crazy. We just don’t have many “free” weekends.
Did a bunch of household stuff and a huge email clean out. When I was ready for a break, Asher and I walked to the gym. (Ethan was working.)
Ivan was tied up with his mom arriving from Mexico and an issue with her suitcase, so I did some meal prep for the week in the afternoon! My new goal is to attempt to at least pre-cook a meal that we can eat on Monday nights. I ended up making chicken tinga for tostadas, some taco meat, sauteed some peppers that were getting old, and I even made a batch of banana nut muffins (thinking they’d be a good grab-and-go option for Ethan for snacks/ breakfasts).
After all the meal prep and clean up, I squeezed in a 15 minute Emkfit dance video before showering. I had just enough time to run to Walmart with Ethan for a few school supplies he needed before family showed up.
Ivan’s sister’s family, brother, and his mom all came to our house for dinner. (His sister had cooked mole verde and brought it over; I was glad, since I wanted the food I made to be for us for the week…). We hadn’t seen Ivan’s mom in a while, so we spent the rest of the evening just sitting at the table chatting while the little kids played, etc.
And that was the week! ~5 strength workouts, technically 3 cardio workouts (2 dance videos + 1 incline treadmill session), 3 short stretch classes and a bunch of walking! This is the most consistently active I have been in ages, and I’m loving it. (*Especially considering that we had a pretty busy week! Several evening events, sports, back to school….) But I’m feeling pretty amazing! (Minus my back acting up sometimes 😒… but the rest of me feels great.)
Quote of the Day:
What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for carpools. Have I mentioned that before? Yes? Haha. STILL very grateful for carpools.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Nice work on the workouts, especially during such a jam-packed week! And you did meal prep, too! I bet you will love having one meal figured out. I usually try to make a big meal on Sat or Sun that will yield a lot of leftovers so we can use those for a few of the meals during the week. It feels good to start the week w/ some “inventory” in the fridge!
Our mornings are NEVER sunshine and rainbows. 😉 It’s the worst time of the day in our house by far plus we don’t have a ton of margin since we ideally need to leave by 6;55 and really, it would be better to leave at 6:45-6:50 this fall. His program opens at 7 so the 6:55 is the earliest we can leave so now we get to work a tish later than I’d like. But his before care program opens at 6:30 so we *could* leave earlier if Taco was more cooperative. He is NOT a morning person!!
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Yeah, I feel pretty great about the meal prepping, BUT, I also realize that this was not one of our more typical weekends in “busy season”. Check back when I’ve been away for a 2- day swim meet or something and I’ll probably be singing a different tune…. hahha.
And I remember those days when mornings were harder! I used to have to really dictate every move, or I’d think they were getting dressed and then I’d go look and they’re sitting playing Legos or something! lol!
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What a week! You fit in so many great things.
Mornings are a gong show for us too, especially since I’m NOT a morning person. Taking care of myself is okay, but having to help the kids get going is just tough for me.
My kiddos LOVE The Mysterious Benedict Society. I think the first book is the best one. My daughter and I were just talking about this series yesterday. They loved the show on Disney+ too, though I haven’t watched it.
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That’s great to know about the book! It looks really cute. And I am always game for any “series” for the kids. Totally looks like a fun one for us to read/watch this fall and/or winter. 🙂 Might be slightly young for Asher? But the premise of the book sounded exciting and fun even for me, and it seemed like a regular novel (not for little kids), so I think it will be fine.
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My husband is (thinks about how to say this diplomatically) absent-minded. I do a checklist with him every time he leaves the house (wallet, cellphone, shoes – yes, I have to make sure he’s wearing the right shoes because he tends to walk out the door in his slippers – lunch, tickets, keys, etc.). It’s nagging most days until the day I’m not there to forget it and he has to go without food all day because no one reminded him to grab his lunch. Anyway, as I was reading this, I was hoping that Ethan finds himself a good partner/roommate one day because he sounds a lot like my dear husband.
Nice job working out! You’re so consistent and definitely a woman of your word.
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Aww, poor hubby! haha! Good thing he has your support. 😉
Of my two, E is actually the more organized in this regard, believe it or not. He’s usually pretty good with this kind of stuff and isn’t typically the scatterbrained one. I’m wondering if maybe this full, very busy week with lots of new changes kind of overloaded his brain a little bit? Also, he does have a lot of things to remember in the morning: lunch, snack, full soccer training outfit (shirts, shorts, socks, shin guards, cleats, water bottle), chromebook, has to brush teeth, put in rubber bands for braces, etc.). I told him he needs a checklist, to which he said “I already know what I need”. I told him, yeah, but it’s still easy to miss an item when it’s just a lot! Especially when rushed. So we did write it a list out on a notecard together and I told him to just get in the habit of running down the list before he leaves each day.
Last night he said that yesterday his friend forgot both his school ID AND I think his lunch at home. To which I replied, A-ha, that’s because HE doesn’t have a checklist! 😅 Which then made Ethan laugh at least. 🙂
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I read a lot of YA for fun, and liked the Mysterious Benedict Society. I’d give it 3/5 stars…it’s not amazing but the narcolepsy made it interesting to me. Fun fact: my dental hygienist actually has narcolepsy and says she used to fall asleep while cleaning people’s teeth. Can you imagine?
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that’s a nice mix of workouts. not every week needs to be heavy week. I feel like our cycle influences a lot our energy level.
your gym looks super big! how cool they are expanding more the gym area. it makes a huge difference whether you love your gym or not to get the motivation.
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Not hitting on you!! You have great legs, may I have those legs please? LOL
Well done this week! I am still plugging away at yoga every day.
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Hahahah! And I need to follow YOUR lead and do some yoga! I am so inflexible and could really benefit from more of that kind of thing.
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You had a VERY busy week! When I’m out late- like you were on Thursday night- the next morning is always rough for me. I feel like I’m behind somehow and just trying to catch up. And a slow kid in the morning- I’m trying to hard not to snap at my daughter, because I’ve done it before and it definitely doesn’t feel good. But it happens.
You’ve been amazingly consistent with your workouts. I think the treadmill incline walk is great cardio, just as good as you would get on the gym equipment. And yes, there’s definitely been an increased interest in strength training. Our gym also just got a bunch of new equipment, and new squat racks. I see all these young women doing strength, and I wish I had started earlier! Oh well… the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, etc.
Hee hee… I love the hamster selfie.
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You did so great this week, even if you had to pivot a couple of times. But you got a great variety of movements in. I love that your boys go to the gym with you.
I can only imagine how “stressful” mornings with teenage boys must be sometimes, so I totally get the ‘snappiness’… haha.
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