Exercising as a Mom

Being responsible for 3 small children makes it hard to exercise. For the past couple years I've mostly rode the exercise bike. That way I can do it at home while supervising the kids. Except the bike is in the play room, and it's hard to have Katy in there. She still puts things in her mouth, and there are lots of legos and other small toys in there. Oh, and occasionally she wanders over and tries to get hit by the pedals. There have been many days that I wait for Katy's nap to do it. Then I don't get showered or dressed until the afternoon, and I feel like a bum.

I also go walking, but it isn't an intense enough work out. I prefer something that I can do for 20 min, get sweaty & breathing hard, and be done. Walking just takes too long, and doesn't ever get quite the same results as harder work outs. My main purpose for exercising is to keep me from getting too cranky, and walking just doesn't do that.

I have a few exercise movies, but that seems to have the bad points of both the other two. Kids get in the way, and I generally don't feel like I've worked off the moodiness. And I feel like everyone can look in my house and see me jumping about looking silly.

So I mentioned that I went for a run last week. I went Monday & Wednesday mornings. But Dan leaves at 6:15, and it's just too hard to be done by then. Not getting enough sleep also brings out my cranky side. So if I can get up early & go for a run, or sleep in & not run, and be equally moody, that's not a tough call!

Katy has had a few really poor sleeping nights lately, one of those being Thursday night (I believe that was the night when she had a really hard time going back to sleep after waking up around 2:30), so Friday morning I just couldn't do it. I tried running Friday night, but that didn't really go great, either. Molly was way spazzier, freaking out at headlights (it was 10:00 by the time I got around to it) and constantly running in front of my feet. And as soon as we turned around and headed for home she pulled at the leash and tried to run fast the whole way home. And I had a stitch in my side most of the time. I suppose I could go earlier in the evening, but there really isn't a good time. Dan gets home a little after four. Then I make dinner, eat dinner, clean up, spend some time as a family, and before we know it it is 7:00 and time for the bedtime routine. Then the kids are in bed around 8, and I feel like I deserve a break. Then I try to get some of the cleaning done that the children kept me from getting to. And then it's time for bed.

So this morning it occurred to me to go with the kids. I don't know why I just totally assumed I couldn't. I put the younger two in the stroller, and they were both great! It's just a regular stroller, so I felt like a dork jogging with it. Maybe I should invest in a jogging stroller, but I don't know if that'd be worth it (is it that much better, and will I keep jogging long enough to make it worth it?). I had David ride his bike, and he did pretty well. I know we've gone for longer walks than that and he's been fine, but he ended up walking his bike the last quarter or so. Molly was pretty good, and it was nice to once again get some of her puppy energy out early. It was definitely harder pushing a stroller, but that just means it's a better workout, right? I mean, my buns were burning, and I haven't noticed that when jogging alone. So I'm going to try again on Thursday. Maybe we'll finally find the perfect workout. Katy & Ryan get a ride, David gets some exercise (important with his ADHD), Molly gets a nice walk (she walks quickly while I jog...how embarrassing...), and I get a jog. Wish me luck!