My week
I get asked a lot about what a regular day looks like for me.
As a runner, I normally measure my time per week and not per day,
because I do one kind of training one day in a week and a different kind of training another day – this I believe are the basics of a solid progress. Therefore, the shortest cycle in my life would be a week period. I know that the most critical question is, how I manage my work, the kids and my running training/triathlon. So therefore, I have decided to present an average week, that might give you an insight and some ideas:
MONDAY
5:50 Alarm clock goes off
I don’t drink coffee, however I have breakfast immediately, most often oat-flakes with fruit yoghurt and drink a protein shake.
I usually drink a protein shake in the morning
Tip: your body will get used to having breakfast immediately after you wake up in about a week.
After that, you will wake up hungry like a wolf. It is advisable to have a big healthy breakfast.
7:10 Leaving for school, and within approximately 40 minutes, I have delivered all three kids at school.
8:00-9:00
Most often at this time I am already doing some sports. Mondays I normally start at the gym, it is about 3 minutes from school. I do an hour usually, with one of my girlfriends, thus I connect spending time with friends and sport at the same time!!! ( we hardly ever go out these days..)
Tip: at the gym, I only do abs, upper body and bottom exercises, as I do running, cycling and swimming. I don’t do any cardio, and I also don’t need leg strengthening. Like this ,1 hour at the gym is more than enough.
I save time, and this particular method is also perfect for lean muscles (this is not efficient for weight increase, but as a runner, this is not my main aim.)
In the gym I train for core muscles and gluteus
Tip: I do the above mentioned exercises in supersets, – which means that while one muscle is resting, I work on the other one, so I do not need to rest minutes in between the overall exercises. All together I do not need more than 45-60 min in a gym for an effective workout.
9:30-15:30 Office – work.
I sit in front of a computer 6 hours a day.
16:00 Time to pick up the kids. On Monday, I only have to take Hanga to her extra curriculum. Hunor goes with granny.
17:00 Shopping with Huba – this is normally my big shopping day.
18:00-21:00 Time for family.
Hanga is taken home from her athletics by her classmates parents.
Homework, dinner, games and play, bathing time and preparations for bedtime.
21:30 Home trainer at home – the best way of unloading at the end of the day. (45 – 60 min)
TUESDAY:
5:50 Wake up
7:10 Off to school
In a good mood in the morning heading to school every day at 7 am.
8:00 Spinning – sometimes I like to spin with others
Tip: you can make your training more exciting by doing some of your exercises with others.
9:30-18:30 Work
Since I have 9 hours here instead of 6 as usual, I put all my beauty hours here alternating between the following: nailbar, eyelashes, hairdresser or facials. (at an average of 1,5-2 h)
Usually my partner chooses the colour of my nails.
This is my longest day. On this day, my family takes care of all the children’s extra curriculum, and taking them back home.
Since many years, this is my free afternoon.
Tip: every woman is entitled to a free afternoon. It is up to you how you achieve this. In my experience, it is better if it is a fixed day/afternoon, as it will be easier to manage with pick ups and drop offs with other family members.
19:00 Running – Speedwork (approximately 10 kilometers)
Since 2012, I do training with an amateur club close to my work. I generally run there from work around 18:45. We start at 19:00, and we do different kind of acceleration training each week. The trainer writes on Facebook in the morning of the day, what kind of exercises we are going to do that evening.
This training is my holy grail.
Running with your mates makes your training plan colourful.
I have a lot to thank this group called Élményfutárok, and our dear trainer. (Élményfutárok is roughly translated as “joy couriers”) I am very attached to this particular training.
21:00 Goodnight kiss to the kids – and if I have time, a hot bath, sauna and relaxing at home.
WEDNESDAY:
5:50 Wake up
7:10 I take the kids to school
8:00-9:00
Gym – similar to Mondays, I do a lot of abs, shoulders, back and bottom exercises during this 1 hour.
Tip: running typically strengthens the lower body parts. Therefore it is important to also concentrate on the upper body with swimming and other upper body exercises, to make our body more proportional.
It is indeed very important to strengthen our abs and lower back muscles, to take away the pressure of the constant impact from our spine while running. A typical runners injury is a 5-6 vertebra congestion, that can put a pressure on a sitting nerve, and create a numbing experience in our legs, or pain in our backs. So, to prevent this, we have to keep our lower back muscles, our spine muscles and our back muscles in good shape.
9:30-15:30 Work
16:00 I take Hanga to athletics. The boys have extra curriculum at school such as, football, basketball, piano and solfeggio.
16:30 – 17:30
I do some running on the athletics field where Hanga does her training.
(most of the time I do 12 kilometers, varying between different types of exercises, such as pace player training, brisk or steady pace running).
Once in a week I run with my daughter during her athletic session.
Tip: do not just hang out in the café, or by the field waiting for your kid. Do your own training at the same time!
I don’t gossip with the other mothers while Hanga is training, I do my own at the same time – this is a conscious decision. We have to sacrifice some things, to find time for sports. I sacrifice school and parent networking to find time.
Hanga is proud that her mother is running with her. In exchange, I am happy to watch her while she is training.
Sometimes I even steal some tricks of the trade from her trainers.
Thus we all get something out of it, Hanga her training, I mine, and even some extra tricks of the trade.
18:00-21:00 Family time
Shopping, homework, dinner, games and play, bath time and bedtime.
For me this is not the end of the day. I often go and train on the home trainer.
THURSDAY:
5:50 Waking up
7:10 Off to school
8:00-9:30 Running
This day I usually turn up later to work, and therefore have time to go running before.
Start your day with running.
Normally I start my day with running at a steady pace.
Tip: a good idea is to put your running shoes and training gear on already at home before taking the kids to school, so that you don’t have to waste time changing your clothing.
Tip: Try starting your day with running.
My best friend usually jogs to work, and when my kids were smaller, I went running in the morning before they woke up and before taking them to kindergarten. It’s a totally different feeling. You feel extremely energetic all day!
10:00-16:00 Work
Tip: it takes me about 5 minutes to have a quick shower, do my make up, and to get dressed after my morning run. If you don’t have a shower at work, you can have a quick refreshment in the ladies room. After all, you don’t get overly sweaty after a loose, low pulse, steady pace session.
16:00-16:30 Shopping
17:00 Pick up at school
18:00-19:00 – Swimming
All my three kids do swimming. I also join them in the pool, and use this hour for myself. Normally I can do 2 kilometers, which is perfect training for half distance in triathlon.
Tip: for the benefit of being together with your kids, frequent a pool, that leaves area for the public to swim, and you will be able to swim at the same time.
We do our swimming session at the same time.
20:00 Evening family shift – as I like to call it
FRIDAY:
5:50 Wake up
7:10 Off to school
8:00-9:00 Swimming
My daughter Hanga has school swimming session in the morning. I volunteered to go with the kids, which is greatly appreciated by the teachers. I help the girls to change their clothing, dry their hair etc. At the same time, I can use this time again for yet another 2 kilometers, while they are at it in the pool. Here I normally do pace player swimming, to improve my pace.
I volounteered as a helping hand at the school swimming sessions. Of course I do my own swimming class, also.
10.00-15:30 Work
16:00-19:30
I pick up the kids, and spend the next couple of hours taking them to various extra curriculum activities. This afternoon I have absolutely no time at all to do any training of my own, it is as tight as that.
20:00
Home-trainer/cycling, running, or evening off – depending on what week it is. Friday evenings are kept consciously free, and spontaneous.
I can sit on the home trainer usually at night. Sometimes I also wake up 1 hour earlier than usual.
Tip: you need one evening, where you have the possibility to freely choose what you would like to do.
Be it training, chilling, or some sort of entertainment. You need to keep some time free from your otherwise busy excel sheet week.
WEEKEND:
Spending time with my kids – in wintertime we do skiing, skating, swimming, wall climbing, or any other kid friendly activity.
On a sunny day we do cycling – running together.
My children often escort me by bike during my runnings. I truly enjoy these trips.
Tip: if you go cycling/running, you should definitely think about some motivation for the kids. I usually take some fruit gummy bears with me, and I give them one/kilometer.
I don’t think this is completely unhealthy, and they are for sure motivated by it. Besides, they are my true little water suppliers, and are happily and proudly assisting me with it.
Long distance running: I normally put this on a Sunday, because it takes 2-3 hours approximately, depending on the distance.
Tip: if I don’t have a lot of time, I can spare time if I start my session immediately as I step out of my door.
A door to door running session is gross and net time at once. We may save up to 1 hour by using this time as well.
In the summer I use the same time for my cycling – running training. While spending time at lake Balaton beach with the kids, I usually go for a 30-40 minutes swim session.
Tip: use both weekend days for training, and you will have less headache finding time during the weekdays. Also it will leave you more time for regeneration.
I do not state this shema should work for anyone, but if you found only one useful tip for your daily routine, it was worthy to put it in writing.
One thing I would like to emphasize: everyone has the right to have “me-time” on a regular basis.
It is up to your organizational skills and assertiveness (in a positive way) to make it for real!
