My work is pretty much non-stop year round. Sometimes it lightens up in August and late December when many of my clients go on vacation, but often they cross off their to-do lists by sending the work my way. Still, I manage to switch gears in the summer in at least a few small ways.
- With my son out of school, I am no longer tied to his morning schedule. Although he has been driving himself to school, I like to be around to see him in the morning, even if he doesn’t really appreciate my cheerful greetings. Now that he is sleeping in, I am free to leave the house as early as I want to, although I haven’t really taken advantage of that yet.
- Since my son is out of school, he no longer has sports practice until 7:00 pm (or later). His school sports schedule fits pretty well with my work schedule, because I can leave the office at 6:30 (after the worst of traffic is over), be home before 7:00, and have dinner on the table by the time he’s showered. Now that he’s home, he likes to eat dinner earlier.
Ideally, I would put these two changes together and get in to work early and leave early, but it’s never that simple. I often need the last hour of my day to tie up loose ends, and traffic is so much worse before 6:30. Unless I can leave by 5:00 the added frustration is barely worth it.
- Summer weekends mean lacrosse tournaments. This is my son’s big year for college recruiting, so he is doing tournaments (which are basically showcases for college recruiters) almost every weekend. Literally. I think we have one weekend “off” in late July, but there is still one more tournament team he is trying out for . . . .
- Summer lacrosse tournaments means lots of down time (between games) away from home. That means less Facebook/Twitter/blogging time and more reading time. I’m probably going to go through withdrawal, but my iPhone battery just doesn’t last through a full day of Tweetdeck use. Plus, I have all those new running books to read.
- I hate running in hot weather, so I usually run less in the summer and/or do shorter runs on the treadmill. With my son’s lacrosse schedule, I think I will switch my routine from running Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday to running Monday/Wednesday/Friday. That pretty much means giving up my long runs, but my body needs a bit of a break anyway.
How does your schedule change in the summer?
Do you spend more time outside, or do you try to beat the heat in the air-conditioning?
http://mizfitonline.com/2011/06/13/zensah-racerba…
Welcome to summer! Enjoy the "break". So you're a lacrosse mom, that's great that you're able to take him to his tournaments.
I spend more time outside !
Yep, summer makes for different plans. I'm still trying to figure out what needs to change here. Have fun with lacrosse tournaments. Hope he impresses the recruiters!
The tournaments give you an opportunity to run in different cities, different elevations, different weather. Think about doing that. Enjoy the downtime a bit, but stay focused so you don't have to start completely over when you sign up for another half marathon. 🙂
I could so relate to your first bullet point! I hated when my son left the house without me saying goodbye and that I loved him. My issue was that I often was down in the basement on the computer and missed him. Mine has no job or sports this summer and is sleeping until afternoon now!
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Yeah, summer is great with lacrosse. I can remember when I was kid and love to play lacrosse with my friends.
Thanks for sharing your post.