SCHOOL
After our initial quarantine event, the school year seems to be going well so far. Our community positivity rates and hospitalization rates are coming down despite school openings and I very much hope they stay there. ALSO, they have changed the policy so that a single class case will no longer shut down the entire class! Instead, they will quarantine “close contacts” and notify everyone about the case so that if you choose, you can keep your child home. They will offer a virtual instruction option whenever anyone is quarantined.
I recognize not everyone would think this is a good thing, but I’m happy with it!
EXERCISE ETC
I feel like my fresh September start kind of got ruined over the past week, though I recognize that’s entirely in my head. I did work out 4x last week (3 x strength + 1 x run/walk) but took both Monday and Tuesday off. Perhaps I need to come to terms with the fact that scheduling daily workouts during call weeks is unrealistic.
That said, I am ready to get back to more activity. I’m picking back up on the Sydney Cummings series but am going to attempt to incorporate some running days because . . . well, I missed them. And I think I can do both as long as the running is ‘casual get outside’ running and not ‘attempt to follow a detailed training plan’ running.
ADMIN
I am extremely behind in email etc (both work + personal email, the latter of which includes BOBW/BLP questions, opportunities, and just life). Hoping to catch up a bit tomorrow. I think I need to plan in some days off. As I mentioned, I am working Christmas week so I will not be using as many days during that time as I usually do so . . . I might as well plan ahead to use them elsewhere!
At my organization, one gets a slight bump up in days off/year at the 10 year mark. It occurred to me that I am less than 2 years away from that milestone (though I am not sure if my years spent at 0.8-0.9 FTE might impact my clock a bit. Which means I have been there for quite some time! I don’t exactly feel like old guard yet but I will be excited for an extra ~5 vac days per year. I am determined to use them . . .
MEDIA
Probably everyone is already aware, but Kacey Musgraves’ new album is out and it is a pretty powerful listen. Recommend.
9 Comments
For the record, I think exercising 4x a week is an achievement in most people’s eyes and a massive one in a busy working week. I think consistency matters hugely when it comes to exercise (and diet for that matter) and you can be proud of yourself. It might help to set a consistency target i.e. 80 or 90%, i.e., do a tick on a day that you exercise then add them up at the end of the quarter and aim for 80 or 90% of days. That would balance out any difficult call weeks or Josh on call weekends and let you be a bit kinder to yourself!
Hahaha, my kid is dying for a rock tumbler! I remember wanting one so badly when I was a kid.
My school district (Montgomery County, MD) recently changed its quarantine policy similarly, as well. It’s been . . . a lot to keep up with. C’mon kid vaccines!!
I literally added “Rock Tumbler” to my Christmas ideas for the kids this weekend.
Where did you get yours? Aside from Amazon, I have no idea where one would go to look for this sort of thing…
Woo hoo Kacey! I’ve been listening to the new album and snagged tickets to her Boston concert in January!
We saw her in 2019 in Nashville! She was amazing. I would see her any time.
I agree with Louise that you could definitely cut yourself some slack on workouts during your call weeks! Maybe it would be better to just not even schedule workouts on those days, and instead just plan to do some casual “movement” whenever possible. Like a walk, some stretching, whatever fits in, if it does…and then if you DO have time to do a real workout, great. If not, oh well. I know it makes everything worse for me if I plan to do something and then can’t/don’t. Makes me even more crabby. But, then again, to quote you from a while back… “It’s not like you’re training for the Olympics or anything….” 😉😉
Chiming in to agree with others about cutting your workout expectations during call week. You are challenged in so many areas of your life, so adding something to your schedule probably makes the week harder. I think Kae’s suggesting of not planning it and fitting it in if it works is a good idea. I’d prioritize sleep over exercise during that week!
I will have to think about getting a rock tumbler for our 3.5yo for his bday. He LOVES rocks so I think this would be a fun gift for him!
It sounds like the adjustment to the quarantine policies make sense. I read Emily Oster’s newsletter and thought the reference to a UK study about unvaxed kids being at lower risk for serious illness than vaxed adults was interesting and very surprising!!
I would explicitly do something different for call week regarding workouts – like aiming for 3 stretching workouts. Get a list of recommended stretches for runners, and aim to do 10? 15? positions for each workout and laminate it. Check off any ones you do, walk away to a call or a kid thing if you’re needed, come back to do a few more stretches. You’ll check off a few more positions, do another interruption etc. This way you’ll feel like it’s a more complete workout you can actually feel you “Finished”.
You can try to reposition these as Stretch Weeks in your mind – that you’re doing something actively good for your body as you age (not to be insulting! I mean that as a protective joint and muscle maintenance and tune up thing!)
I love this idea!