Welcome to the latest edition of How I Work it Out, where we get a glimpse of a week in the workout-life of various women. (Here are all the past posts.)

For October, we’re in Phoenix with Susi V., 53, a mom of three kids (ages 22, 20, and 17) and a scientist who does clinical research for an outpost of the National Institutes of Health. Susi was an avid runner when her kids were younger, completing a full marathon when her kids were very young as well as several half marathons. In 2019, she “ran” the Zion Half with a couple of friends. She confesses she was under-trained, and it was -11 degrees (!!!) at the start of the race. The aid stations did not have water because the water froze. Even growing up in Minnesota, that was too much for Susi. That race killed her running mojo, and she’s been trying to get it back since. She had a rebirth of sorts with the start of the pandemic and finding Many Happy Miles, but then that waned. Now, after a long time of thinking her running days were over, she’s trying again using very generous walk/run ratios and running just a few days per week. As Susi says, she’s “trying on consistency!”

I am currently furloughed, so my days are pretty open. This is a rarity for me and almost makes it more difficult to decide how and when to work out—so many choices! Today I am still having some residual back pain so I ended up taking my younger dog on a 3-mile walk. She doesn’t get enough activity when our older dog joins us as he is slowing down a lot. 

I also tried a new-to-me midday class at my gym: Simply Stretch. I’ve been trying to get into yoga and am having trouble with that. This class was like a mix of yin yoga (basically all on the ground, holding stretches for a long time) and “regular” yoga. Did some poses, held stretches. Not sure if it’s my new thing, but it was fun to try.

I was hoping to run today but the back is still not quite right. Instead, I headed to the gym and did 35 minutes on the elliptical. I had intended to either elliptical longer or add some strength training but I misjudged the time and had to go pick up the sandwiches I’d ordered for lunch. My time management is all off when my regular schedule is disrupted!

I had to work a few hours this morning. When I got home, it was beautiful out—a slight breeze and 70 degrees! We haven’t seen that in Phoenix in ages (this is what we live for!). I decided to try to see how a walk/run went in terms of my back. I did 4 min walk/1 min run intervals for 35 minutes, and it was great! I had minimal pain and got to see neighborhood Halloween decorations. The only drawback is lots of standing water due to lots of rain lately means lots of mosquitoes. Those suckers love me!! 

I have tried many different programs to return to running; I keep changing my mind about how I want to do this, which ultimately just throws up more mental roadblocks. I am trying hard to just pick one plan or method or promise to myself and maintain consistency. I know some runners who seem to be able to return from time off or an injury pretty quickly—I am definitely not that person. Even when I used to run more frequently and longer, build-ups took me forever. Years ago I switched to a run/walk method after I finally accepted that was what worked for me. So that’s the plan—walk/run for now, even if the walk intervals are long. And aim for two runs per week for now. Fingers crossed!

Today I took advantage of my free time and beautiful weather and headed to my favorite hiking area for a 2-mile hike. There is so much construction for new housing developments, I think my travel time was longer than my hiking time! But, oh well: I should have gone farther, but I hadn’t brought water, so better to stay safe. I sometimes gripe about things I don’t like in Phoenix, but one thing I really appreciate is the proximity of so many trails. From as close as 5 minutes away, I have a lot of access to trails that make the city feel distant. 

I also added a quick 15-minute strength training in my make-shift garage gym. I tend to do basically the same things every time: I use free weights and do bicep curls, tricep press, chest press, shoulder press, plus body-weight sumo squats.

Today I walked early with a friend—she had to get to work so we met at 5 am and walked for an hour. It was chilly and dark for Phoenix, and we heard several howling coyotes but no had encounters, thank goodness! I actually woke up at  3:30 am for no good reason (this seems to be my new normal) so the walk didn’t seem as early as I thought it would. It was nice to catch up (but I forgot to take a photo!).

I started this morning walking my dogs, Bella and Benji, then I got to go to my favorite cycle class. This instructor plays the soundtrack of my life! I love this class/instructor I found earlier this year. I don’t usually love gym classes because I’m not in control, but this one I hate to miss. Yet, because it’s a Saturday morning, I’ve missed a lot of them this fall because my youngest plays club soccer and his games seem to interfere. That would have been the case this morning, but we had unseasonable torrential rain. As soon as I heard his game was postponed, I registered to go to my cycle class! 

My son can get himself to games, and I could skip some, but he’s my last kid at home and will be in college next year. Although I hate missing my favorite class, I know I’ll miss watching him play soccer even more once he’s off at college.

I had planned on a run today, but true to form for me, I was kind of wiped. I decided to just walk the dogs and have a recovery day instead. I also took time to plan out next week. Now to make myself stick to it!