How I Balance Fitness, Work And Life

Hi friends! I hope you are having a good week so far. Training for a half marathon is time consuming to say the least. I would run after work 4 days a week. Once it was all said and done, I’d be busy until about 5:45 or 6 pm each night I had to run. That’s quite the commitment. In order to keep my balance in place, I did a few things each week. Now that the half marathon has passed, I’m still running but lower mileage than before.

I Write Down My Workouts

I love my planner. Some of you may be more up to tech savvy with your planner but I love to put pen to paper when it comes to life organization. As soon as my runs would are uploaded, I take out my pen and planner to write them down. This would allow me to look ahead when I would plan things for next week or so.When I have strength workouts I want to complete, I write those down as well. It’s helps me feel like I “have” to get these done and gives me a the satisfaction of crossing them off when it’s complete.

I Get Everything Together The Night Before

To make sure I don’t have to spend too much time after work getting ready to go run, I lay out all my clothes the night before. Everything from my sports bra and socks to my watch. When I pull my clothes out, I check the weather so I know what the best option will be. Knowing everything is ready and charged means I can mindless change, stretch then head out the door.

I Plan Dinners A Week In Advance

Before making my grocery list, I ask Alex what nights he won’t be home for dinner during the week and write it down. Then we go through and think of a few meals that we’ll want to have that week. This helps me know what I need to take out of the freezer or if I have to put something in the crock pot before we head to work. For me, I feel best on runs (and in general!) when I eat a healthy diet with treats when I feel like it. Knowing meals are planned helps take guess work out of getting food on the table after I run.

I Move During The Work Day

I work in an office that is connected to a million square foot warehouse. My job involves going into the warehouse and looking at the packages. When I go out I chose to walk and people always tell me I should drive the golf cart. Now sometimes I do but I prefer to walk. It helps me get movement during the day instead of just sitting at my desk.

One perk of working in a warehouse to develop packaging is that I need to conduct part fits from time to time. On days I know I have a lot of fitting to do, I’ll wear a stretchy dress shirt like this one. It helps me move easier and still look professional which is a plus.

Most of you probably don’t work in a giant warehouse but you can still get movement during the day. At past jobs, instead of messaging a coworker when I had a question, I would walk to their desk. Face to face contact is always a good thing plus you get movement. If you and a coworker have a meeting set, see if you can walk around and chat instead of sitting in a conference room.

I Give Myself A Break When I Need One

Sometimes you have a bad day or a can’t pass up opportunity that comes along. If this happens, I either skip a run (if it’s recovery) or I switch the days around so I can get in a speed workout. If the run doesn’t happen that’s okay. One skipped run won’t kill your progress if it happens. It’s so much better to factor in your mental health than kill yourself to get a run in. Or even if you do get a workout in but you’ve had a bad day, a glass of wine and relaxing on the couch is just what your head needs so go for it!

Question of the day: How do you balance fitness/health with a busy work week?