Welcome to our June edition of How I Work it Out, where we ask a woman to share a week in her life and how she fits in her workouts. (Here’s Sarah from May.)

This month we are getting a look at a week in the life of Sarah Jensen, 40, of Birmingham, Alabama, a married mother of a 4-year-old son (and two dogs). 

Sarah works from home and is training for the Chicago Marathon in early October, with the Peachtree 10K in Atlanta on July 4 as “a big checkpoint along the way.” Sarah’s husband’s work schedule is often 12+ hour days, so she solo-parents much of the time, figuring out how to fit it all in. Sarah admits she’s lucky: “I have help (I can hire babysitters, and my remote work schedule gives me some flexibility)—but let’s be real: Most days it’s still a juggle.”

Sarah also told us: “This week wasn’t about perfect splits or nailing every plan. It was about staying curious, practicing temporary discomfort, and building psychological endurance—the mental grit that helps me stick with the hard parts, even when I really want to back off.

“I miss my 5:30 a.m. workouts from my pre-kid days, but I’m also incredibly grateful for motherhood after a long journey with infertility. What you might pick up on in these notes: the mental gymnastics it takes to carve out time for my workouts, the babysitter texts, the calendar reshuffling… or the days I finally give up on the plan and head out for a run in peak-heat at 5 PM, often with a sidekick.”

Plan: Rest + mobility

Reality: Woke up and hit my mat by 6:40 a.m. for some Yin Yoga on Peloton. It was a gorgeous morning—70 degrees, with a breeze—so I took it outside and hoped the neighbors wouldn’t wander out mid-pigeon pose.

Halfway through, my son, Michael, woke up scared because he couldn’t find me. He joined me on the mat for a bit, gave me some classic kid commentary (“Mama, next time do yoga inside so I can find you. Also, you have boogers.”), and kept it real.

Later that night, I fit in 10 minutes of hip + core PT during bath time.

Takeaway: Restorative movement counts, even with a kid climbing on your mat.

Plan: Run Straights + Curves (4 miles) + strength

Actual: 3.33 miles /10:56 avg pace

Straights: 7:51-8:40 | Recovery: 11:30-13:30 at 5:24 AM

Reality: 

Matt’s ‘late’ day = my one consistent early run day. Set my alarm for 4:45 a.m., dragged myself out 5 minutes late to meet Anna at 5:20. (Shout out to friends who will set early alarms with you!) No track nearby, so we hit the roads in 98% humidity. Anna peeled off after a mile, and I realized I’d forgotten my headphones. I played mental games: “Don’t look at your watch until that mailbox. Now that light pole.”

Had to cut the run short so Matt could leave by 6 am. Strength work at home after the run—the AMR J&A circuit from Many Happy Miles. Dragged myself through the third round only because Michael was still asleep. Those jump squats were brutiful.

Takeaway: The mental wins matter just as much as the miles.

Plan: 5 miles at recovery pace (12:30)

Actual: 3.91 miles /13:14 avg pace at 5:24 PM

Reality: Debated all day: take time off work to run early or brave the heat? Went with heat + my pint-sized run coach. Planned for 5 miles, got 4. Michael got braver on his bike going down a hill, so I got impromptu hill repeats chasing him.

Finished the last quarter mile in the Target parking garage, pushing him in a shopping cart. If you saw us… no you didn’t.

Takeaway: Some days you improvise. And every bit counts.

Plan: Strength

Reality: I squeezed in 20 minutes of 2010s Pilates (Peloton, Aditi Shah) during my lunch break—quick, fun, and just what I needed.

What really made the day? A text from my AMR accountability buddy, Emily M., all the way from Belgium. We met through AMR’s Better Together training program when she was stationed in Alabama, and it means so much to keep cheering each other on across the miles.

Takeaway: Small pockets of movement add up.

Plan: 4 miles easy (11:30-12:30) + 6 strides

Actual: 4.47 miles / 11:57 avg pace at 4:19 PM

Planned to get up early to work so I could run while I had childcare. But even though I wore my best workout shirt that reads as professional on Zoom calls all day just in case I got a break, it didn’t happen. Then pivoted to try a stroller run at 3 PM—and it started pouring rain. At 4 PM, I was mid power-struggle to get Michael in the stroller, and Matt surprised me and came home! Got a full run without the stroller + strides. Slogged it out in 98% humidity, smelled some blooming honeysuckle and magnolias, and got it done.

Takeaway: The win was showing up, not how it looked.

Plan: 11 miles (11:30-12:30)

Actual: 11 miles / 12:46 avg pace at 5:36 AM

Reality: Long run day! 5:36 AM start, 11 miles with the Birmingham Track Club’s Moderate Distance/Pace group that I coordinate. Got to run with a friend for the first time since her major surgery! I didn’t give myself enough recovery time between my late afternoon run on Friday and my early morning run, so I opted to do more of a recovery pace + run/walk intervals. The humidity was 97% (because Alabama), but running with friends made it fly by—well, as much as 11 humid miles can.

Matt had to be at the hospital all day, so shout-out to our babysitter who is willing to come over to our house crazy early for me to be able to still go run.

Takeaway: Community makes hard miles doable.

Plan: 3 miles recovery (12:30)

Actual: 3.36 miles / 11:40 avg pace @ 5:49 PM

Reality: Evening stroller recovery run. I finally used a feature on my Garmin watch that I always thought was unnecessary—the ability to load music onto it. I’d never bothered because I always run with my phone and stream my music, podcasts, or audiobooks from there. But this was the first time I had to bribe Michael into the stroller with a show on my phone. That’s when it hit me: I could connect his headphones to my phone and my headphones to my watch. Huge win! 

Takeaway: Small tech wins = big difference for stroller runs.

Final Reflections

This week reminded me that training isn’t just about paces or perfect plans—it’s about practice:

Practice sticking with discomfort
Practice being flexible when life throws curveballs
Practice showing up, in all conditions

I’m proud of every mile—and every adjustment. Hope to see some of y’all in Chicago!