Once again, my son’s arrival home caused a huge swirl of chaos. It all started innocently enough, when he announced that he plans to do a lot of cooking this summer. PERFECT! Finally, someone else wants to cook around here. Then he said we would just need a few things- a wok, rice cooker, several cooking utensils, a trip to the Asian market…ahem.
So this week included a shopping spree at the Chinese Grocery, a large Amazon delivery, and then oh yes, one last thing- the entire kitchen needed to be cleaned out and reorganized.
We spent Saturday afternoon taking every single thing out of the kitchen, cleaning everything and laying down new shelf paper in all the cabinets. Now everything needs to be put back, and I’m filled with despair. I think I would rather just move out of the house than get this all put away and organized. But! You’re here for the weekly rundown, and I did have a great week of workouts! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting. Let’s get into it!
Sunday
Well, oof. The good news is I ran ten miles. The bad news is that this run was fraught with difficulties. To begin with, it was so hot and humid- 80 degrees already at 6:30 am. I drove to the trail and when I got there realized I forgot my Nathan belt, which is how I hold my phone. Not a complete disaster, because my phone can go in my hydration vest. But that meant that if I wanted to take out my phone, I had to take off the whole vest. Whatever.
I started down the trail and it actually felt pretty good for a few miles… because it was cloudy. As soon as the sun came out, I started to get uncomfortable. Right around this time I realized I had forgotten to put LMNT in my morning water, which is what I usually do before a long run in the heat. Darn it! I wish I hadn’t remembered that right then. It probably didn’t make that much of a difference, but it was a little defeating, mentally. I thought about ending the run at seven miles, but had a second wind after I ate a caffeinated gel.
By nine miles, the wheels had completely come off. I was glad to stop, take off my vest, and have a short break while I set up my phone for a picture. And then I finished the run, but that last mile was not pretty. No more long trail runs until next winter! There’s just not enough shade. In spite of all my complaints, I was happy I did this run (of course!)
Monday
Started the week with a 30 minute yoga class, as always on Peloton with Denis Morton.
Tuesday
I played around with the scheduling of my runs and lower body strength workouts this week. This morning, I started with a 20 minute glutes and legs strength class with Matty Maggiacomo (again on Peloton.) Then I ran two miles, and then a quick core class.
Wednesday
Speed work! I did a mile warm up, then ran 8x 400s, again on a stretch of sidewalk, conveniently measuring almost exactly 1/4 mile with no cross streets. I walked for one minute between each interval, and then did a short cool down run.
No picture from this day because I didn’t have time to fool around! I had to take my daughter to school at 7:35, and I returned from my run at 7:31, which I thought was perfect. My daughter yelled at me for cutting it so close though. SHEESH! Can’t wait for school to be done.
Later in the day, Rebecca Kennedy’s 5 minute core class. If I only have fine minutes, this is the best class! And I did pull-ups.
Thursday
Okay, my legs were tired. I did a 45 minute yoga slow flow, as always with Denis from 5/22/22. This class was just what I needed- it had some challenging poses, and also a lot of good stretching. My legs were happy.
Friday
So this was a controversial decision. I decided to start with a 30 minute glutes and legs strength class, again with Matty Maggiacomo, and this class was HARD. Then I did a three mile run. Have you ever done a “brick” workout, where you run right off the bike? Well, that’s what my legs felt like at first. They felt better as the run went on, but this was a tough combo.
Saturday
I need more yoga! But first, a 10 minute core class with Ben Alldis. Then I did Denis’s Reggae slow flow- good class.
On tap for Sunday…
Remember how sad I was that I couldn’t do my birthday run to the beach? Well, it’s happening today!!! I’m excited. Then, later in the day, if the kitchen is functional, we’re cooking an Asian feast. Should be interesting.
And that’s it! It was a crazy, crazy week. My daughter had several end-of-school activities, but now summer vacation has started. PHEW! Next week should be a lot easier.
How was your week? Ate the kids done with school where you live? Does it affect your schedule?
If you had a crazy May, do you think things will calm down in June? –Things should be calmer here for a couple weeks, and then camp starts. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!
36 Responses
My May was definitely not as crazy as yours! I think being empty nesters definitely reduces the crazy–but I do kind of miss it. I love that you are supporting your son in his cooking venture–I’m looking forward to hearing all about it! Both my boys enjoy cooking, but especially my oldest, who is at the indy 500 this weekend with his buddies. They rented an RV and he brought along his smoker, lol
Yes, I have thought about it- I’ll miss these days. But on the other hand I can see how it would be nice to have more time to do my own things. My son will be living in an apartment next year so he’ll be cooking then. He seems very interested in it, so I hope he enjoys it!
I hope your son follows through with his promise to cook. My son did the same after college and I loved it — even though I had to buy more butter because that’s why his dishes tasted so good! 😉
LOL on your timing. It was objectively perfect but I can understand why your daughter was worried.
Yay on the 10 mile run — it was tough but you did it!
I will do a 10 min glutes + legs workout before a run, but I save longer classes for afterwards. But I hate being sweaty during my strength workouts so that order is getting harder to cope with.
Yes, that’s one of the reasons I switched the order of the workouts- I come home from my runs drenched in sweat, so doing a 30 minute strength class is really not enjoyable. But I don’t know- we’ll see.
Yes, it’s interesting seeing how a 19-year-old’s mind works when it comes to meals. I’m more focused on making it healthy, and his main focus is making it as delicious as possible. We’ve been having a few debates on the matter. I can see why you had to replace the butter, ha ha.
Ha your son cracks me up! I hope he does end up preparing some amazing meals for you! Your week did have some complications but you ran 10 miles yay! I try to lay out everything I need in advance for my long runs so I don’t forget anything. Figuring out the Peloton strength + running took me some time too. You will find a good schedule for you
I was VERY CAREFUL to lay everything out in advance for my long run today- leaving from the house definitely makes things a bit easier (as opposed to driving to the start location.). I’ll be reporting back on these amazing meals!
I can’t wait to hear what your son cooks for you and yes I can’t blame you for wanting to move out while he gets it all organized.
I thought that it was cool enough to run outside yesterday but ended up getting spanked by the humidity and ending up with all wheels off the bus. There’s really no reason why I need to do long runs right now but something keeps calling me to build up my mileage again.
Yes, I also have no actual reason to do long runs, I just like them. Although my last couple have not been that enjoyable so I’m questioning my sanity a little.
Enjoy cooking with your son! Sounds like it’s already off to quite the start. Hope you got some help with the kitchen reorg. Nice job on that long trail run! I’m hot just reading about it!
I will have to say that although I wasn’t happy my son bullied me into reorganizing the kitchen, he really has been doing a lot of the work. So I can’t complain too much- I’ll be really happy when it’s done!
I’d love to have another cook in my kitchen! I’ve had runs like your 10-miler where (almost) everything that could go wrong did. But, I’m always glad to persevere & cross that “finish line.”
Well, the jury is still out on how great it’s going to be to have another cook- we’ll see after tonight’s dinner!
Yay for another 10 mile run & a birthday beach run (sounds divine, minus the heat).
May was busy, but not Mayhem. June could start out that way . . . school here basically ends when Summer really starts, but of course I don’t have kids in school. To me it just means not having to deal with school buses anymore.
Yes, even if you don’t have kids in school it’s kind of nice when the school traffic disappears.
My beach run was great- hot (of course) but not as hot as last week’s trail run.
Oh I feel you on all the end-of-school stuff. Thing 2 had her last final on Thursday so school is officially over. I think June will calm down a bit here but I’m headed to Oregon and have to keep all the workflow going too so we’ll see how it shakes out. Hooray for the birthday 10! Hope it went well!
Thanks Marcia! Is your whole family going to Oregon? That’s a state I’ve never been to, and I’m looking forward to hearing all about it.
Your son wants to cook? I wish someone else here would beside me!!
Yay for a beach run.
The last two Sundays here have felt like Florida.. I don’t min a run but a LONG race… no bueno!!
Yes, I was thinking about you because I ran right past the place where we walked after our run! I think that was actually the last time I was at the beack- it’s been way too long.
Overall it sounds like you had a really great week!
That’s so funny about getting all those kitchen appliances, but at least the pay off is that you’ll be doing less cooking this summer so that’s a huge plus!
Yes, if I really end up doing less cooking it will all be worth it! We’ll see.
I keep saying I’m going to do some deep spring cleaning “this year”, and it never gets done. I would be stressing it a bit if all of my cupboards had been emptied out! I wish someone would come make dinner for me. I do well with ideas for cold weather food, because making soup is my favorite and using a crockpot is so easy… but come summertime I’m clueless. It makes it worse with both kids home. I really have to get working on a weekly menu plan!
I will have a bit of a more relaxed morning schedule now that school is out. But really it’s more like being done with my run at 6:45am instead of 6:30.. but hey, 15 mins is huge! Hope you had a great beach run!
You need my son to come and bully you into emptying out your cupboards! I never would have done it without him, but now, of course, I’m so glad it’s done.
Sounds like a tough long trail run, but there is definitely a nice sense of accomplishment.
A giant pile of things to reorganize can feel SO daunting, but like other commenters I hope your son really jumps into cooking with two feet. Such a useful life skill and one that can bring real pleasure, too.
Our schools in Canada go to the end of June.
So far he’s cooking very enthusiastically! My only complaint is that I’m called upon to be the sous-chef, and I’d like him to get to the point where he cooks by himself while I’m doing something else, like oh I don’t know… taking a nap? Ha ha.
Wow, that’s hot!
I am here for discussion about rearranging the kitchen and cupboards, I live for that kind of stuff.
Summer vacation hasn’t started yet. Here the kids have a few more weeks of classes, and then a couple of final exams, so we go until late June. We don’t start school here until September. It won’t really affect me all that much, other than having them home a lot, which is nice. What will affect me is that my own yoga classes that I teach finish up next week and then I don’t teach at all until September! The place I teach at runs children’s camps throughout the summer so all the adult programming goes on hold. It’s nice but strange.
Actually, that’s really nice! You get to have a summer vacation with your kids. Wow, school must start late there. We ended already but school starts again on August 10th, which seems insane to me. That’s still summer!
The idea of pulling everything out of my kitchen and reorganizing it makes me absolutely shudder. I mean, that pan we use everyday is an inconvenient place for a reason – how dare someone suggest there’s a better solution! I hope he ends up cooking A LOT to make it worth the hassle!
It was a nightmare, but now I’m so happy it’s done! Yes, my son better cook a lot. He started off well with last night’s dinner.
Well, I can’t wait to hear about this Asian feast! I think you have just inspired me to make egg rolls this week. Yum.
Great job on those runs. The heat and humidity is really just soul sucking at this point. My race this morning was just plain awful.
Yes, I can imagine. I actually felt like I was crawling through my five mile race a few weeks ago. I certainly hope this will get easier once we’re acclimated (???)
Good job on getting your 10-mile run completed despite several things going wrong.
Yay for summer vacation and easier schedules! School was out last week where I grew up, but the local kids don’t get out until late June. 🙁
Hang in there, I cleaned out all of my kitchen cabinets in February during the update. You’ll be thrilled after you purge and get reorganized!
Yes, it was totally worth it! The only problem is, now I’m aware that the rest of the house needs a purge. Sigh.
Ugh, hot, humid runs with no shade are so hard. Good for you for making it 10 miles! I have not run that far since last October and don’t know when I will run that far again! It was a good challenge, but I think I need to stick to 10k for a bit longer under life feels more manageable! 😛
That is funny about your son and his interest in cooking and all the work it brought about! I hope you got your kitchen back in order. I love organization projects like that but they are overwhelming and take a ton of time and I need to be in the right frame of mind. I usually do them in Jan/Feb when it’s cold outside and I need something to distract myself/make me feel productive.
May was such a weird month with all the covid isolation. It was ‘busy’ in a different way. But we had limited options in what we could do. June is getting off to a busy start with my sister’s arrival tonight, my nephew’s grad party this weekend, and then another trip to my parent’s lake place for Father’s Day weekend. But I am more excited about this summer than last summer now that the toddler is down to 1 nap. It was tough to do much last summer when he napped 2-3 times a day still. But this summer we’ll be able to go to the zoo, parks, farmers markets, etc etc!
When my kids were little I didn’t run any long distances. Once a year I would work up to a ten mile run on my birthday, but otherwise I kept it short.
Yes, getting rid of naps is huge! You can definitely do more- it’s hard when you have an older one who needs to be active, and young one who needs to nap.
Oh, I love that your son wants to cook.. but yeah, “new cooks” always need a lot of new fancy utensils and things LOL (I hope it’s all worth it though!).
Nice work this week. You’ve been so committed to get these long runs in. I am just starting back up with running… I’ve been slacking for a while or so it seems
Well, after the big Asian feast my son has not been cooking. But he’s better about getting his own lunches and snacks (whereas before he always used to ask me to fix them.) I’m going to have him cook another dinner this week!
Good luck with your runs- it’s fun getting back into it if you haven’t been doing it for a while.