Welcome to our latest edition of How I Work it Out, where we ask an active woman to share a week in her life and how she fits in her workouts. (Here are all the past posts.)

This month, we are heading to Europe (oh, don’t we wish!) to peer into the workout-life of Emily M., 36, who lives in Mons, Belgium, as her husband is stationed there with the U.S. Air Force. She’s a mom of two boys, ages 5 and 7. Emily has a goal to run a marathon “everywhere we are stationed” so she’s training for the Bruges Marathon under the guidance of Coach Amy Skorich. We caught up with Emily in her second month of marathon training.

Today is the last Monday of summer vacation and the start to Week 6 of marathon training! To kick off the week, our family headed to Efteling, a Dutch amusement park. Before hitting the road for the 2-hour drive, I got out for a 4-mile run with an audiobook. I woke up at 5:45am, ate some toast, and did my foam rolling and mobility exercises. I got out the door at 6:35am to run through our quiet Belgian village where the corn stalks were taller than I am. Post-run my boys were already dressed and waiting for their fun adventure day. I quickly got ready, we drove 2 hours, then spent 8.5 hours walking, exploring, and riding rides!

Ever have a day where your watch matches the way you feel? Today was one of those days, and a day where I needed to get my run in early because it was a longer speed day that I did not want to run purely on the track with my kids and Day 1 of 90+ degree temps in our area. I was tired from yesterday’s adventure and getting out of bed was rough! My goal was to be running by 5:30am, but it was difficult to get out of bed and due to the early run, I drove 15 minutes to the base we are stationed at. Upon arrival my watch wouldn’t sync with my training plan. After turning my watch on and off four times, it finally synced and I started my run at 5:53am. Today was a Speed Chip Down workout: 2mi warm up; 2X2000m@HMP with 2min recovery jog; 2x1220m@10K pace with 1 min jog recovery; 4X1000m repetitions with 1 min recovery jog;  2mi cooldown for a total of 9.25mi. Even though I was tired and the start was delayed, I loved this workout and the mix of distance and paces for the speedwork. Once I was in the thick of the workout I really enjoyed it.

My training plan also called for a strength-training session that the personal trainer I work with sent me, but strength training did not happen: Mom-life and hiding from the heat took over the day.

Rest day and Day 2 of 90+ degree temps. My boys and I went with friends to a park that has shaded trails. Before it got too hot, the boys played at the playground and my sons played miniature golf for the first time in their lives. After 18 sweaty holes of mini-golf, we headed out to hike on the tree-covered trails and walked/hiked about 3km at little-boy pace with many water stops.

Day 3 of 90 degree temps with no air conditioning and sleep was near impossible! After a night of very interrupted and uncomfortable sleep, I literally peeled my sweaty self out of bed to tackle today’s 7-mile run. Usually in Europe we get some reprieve overnight in temps, but at 6am it was 77 degrees so I slogged out the 7 miles listening to Nobody Asked Us with Des & Kara. I needed some entertainment that I knew an audiobook wouldn’t be able to provide. Throughout the miles, I kept reminding myself that consistency is key and to not worry about pace. My oldest son was sad we did not go to the track together, but I needed to get the miles in before it was sunny and hot.

It’s long run day—18 miles on the schedule with some speedwork in the middle. The schedule called for a 3×3 workout: 3mi warm up; 3mi@MP with 1mi recovery jog; 3mi@Steady State pace with 1 mi recovery jog;  3mi @HMP with 1mi recovery jog; and 3 mi cooldown. It’s a Belgian Holiday and should be a day I could get my run done later in the day along the canal due to my husband being home, but because of the warm temperature getting out earlier is imperative! The goal was to be out the door at 5am, but again due to the warm sleeping conditions, waking up early was difficult and I was an hour behind schedule. I headed out with my hydration vest, handheld bottle of electrolytes, fuel, and headphones;I started with my audiobook for 3 warm up miles, then started the hard part of the workout 3 miles at marathon pace. Before starting those 3 miles I forgot to switch to music, and I struggled to maintain the prescribed pace. During the recovery jog I switched to music. The 3 miles at steady state was tough but the music definitely helped. During the recovery miles I stopped at my car to refill my hydration bottles. The last 3mi at HMP were a doozy—the heat and humidity were hitting, it was getting sunny, and my body was just tired. The focus of those 3 miles was perceived rate of exertion and surviving them. The cooldown miles were slow but successful.

A much-needed rest day and a huge change in weather! It cooled off, and we headed to the beach. It was windy and cloudy, but a perfect Saturday to rest and have recovery movement of walking through the sand, and exploring a new city.

Sunday Strides to end Week 6 of marathon training: 60 degrees has never felt so good and refreshing! Our city is always quiet on Sunday mornings and this run was the best way to end the week and reflect on tomorrow when I will be sending my boys to kindergarten and second grade. I listened to our favorite playlist and while I am sad summer is over, I am looking forward to less calendar/scheduling Tetris to make marathon training work.