Thursday, 23 May 2013

A commute

I'm really still getting used to working more again, having been a stay-at-home Mum last year, and then picking up increasing teaching hours since January. From the middle of April I started teaching 3 mornings a week every week, and that's been plenty, along with the kids and the housework. This week I have been teaching every day, and that has seriously messed up my usual timetable of running and cycling.

As well as having no free days this week, Pete is away on Friday and Saturday, so there's little chance for fitting much in then. So to get a bike ride in this week, I decided to cycle to work yesterday.

Looking grumpy, but actually very happy!
This required a bit of planning. I picked Wednesday because it's the day that the kids have school dinners so I don't have to spend time making packed lunches in the morning! Pete took them to school too, so I didn't have to worry about that, and I left about 20 minutes earlier than usual.

It's just under 5 miles there, and with a bit added on for fun, I cycled a comfortable 11 miles - not bad considering I didn't think I'd have time for any cycling this week.

I'd definitely do it again, perhaps once a week, but only really on a Wednesday - the other mornings are too hectic. It was great to spend the morning looking forward to the ride home, and the weather was pretty good so that was lucky.

There are drawbacks though; I had to leave home early; my pile of books were crammed into a heavy rucksack; I could only take work clothes that wouldn't crumple in my bag; I had to get changed in a small toilet; I wiped the sweat off as best I could with paper towels; I felt a bit stinky and tried not to get too close to any of my students while I was teaching; my hair was kind of a mess; before I left to go home I had to put on the damp sweaty clothes from the morning's ride...

But all of that was worth it to get a nice bike ride in unexpectedly!
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4 comments:

  1. Char24 May 2013 at 00:33

    That's great that you can incorporate your exercise into your everyday routine like that. My husband cycles to and from work (or he did before he cut his hand and he will once it's healed again) and it means that every day he'll get some exercise without having to make a special effort. But he's lucky in that he works with rats and mice and they don't care if he's a bit sweaty and smelly. It's a bit more challenging if you have to be presentable afterwards but it sounds like you managed that fine.

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  2. ajh24 May 2013 at 00:56

    It takes a lot of planning to ride to work. I have been a slacker in that dept. this spring. Good for you for doing it.

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  3. Barbara24 May 2013 at 07:37

    I'm very impressed. I've thought of doing that. It's about a 14k ride, but we don't have showers at work either which has been my big excuse.

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  4. Average Woman Runner24 May 2013 at 16:28

    Yay! That's certainly a healthy distance. Is there a way to leave books/clothes at school on Tuesday so you don't have to ride them in on Wednesday and also bring them back on Thursday?

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