Friday, September 16, 2022

Back From Charlotte

I had a good 3-day work trip to Charlotte. My flights all went smoothly so maybe the staffing challenges are improving in the airline industry? Overall the trip went really well. I spent a lot of time meeting new sales people and meeting portfolio management/research colleagues in person that I had only met over zoom. There were hours-long chunks of time that I was walking around and talking to people. This introvert was very happy to return to my quiet hotel room at the end of the day!

I also fit in a dinner with a friend that I made when I worked in Charlotte in 2013-2014. I was hoping to see another friend but I had an awful headache so needed an early night. And then I had a quick catch up with another friend who works for the same company. It was nice to catch up with some friends during this trip! That doesn't always work out when I am traveling for work so I am glad it did this time! 

I also managed to workout both mornings! I knew it would be dark when I was working out so I opted to bring some strength training workouts with me instead of running. The gym had treadmills, but I hate running on the dreadmill so much! I brought along 2 workouts from programs I did many years ago. I have all the workouts from those programs in a binder organized by the type of workout (HIIT, full body, arms, legs, cardio) so I picked a few strength training workouts, one of which I could do in my hotel room. I have barely done any strength training this summer and that was evident when I did these workouts. I need to get back into a balance of running and strength training. I will look and feel better when I combine strength training and running!

This is the leg workout I did the first morning which had me dripping with sweat! The wall sits were the hardest part of the workout!

I definitely missed Phil and the kids during this trip, though. 3 days is kind of the max I can be away at this stage of life. I know other moms have to travel for longer stretches but I am going to try to cap my trips at 3 days and ideally only once a month although I'm traveling twice in October. Paul had his first night of soccer on Wednesday night and apparently it was a sh*t show because parent involvement was required. Phil obviously had both boys so it was hard to help with the soccer drills and manage a 21-month old... But it's the only soccer class I'll miss and going forward we can divide and conquer - I'll manage Will and Phil can help with the soccer class. 

The upcoming weekend is quiet without much scheduled which is good after a hectic week. We'll have our usual library and gymnastics combo on Saturday and then Phil and Paul will go out to Phil's mom's house. I'm sure we'll visit several parks and I'm hoping to run with my neighbor but she's on call so that might be tricky to do. I also encouraged Phil to go to the driving range or golf 9 holes on Sunday so he can get some time away to recharge his battery.  

How was your week?

11 comments:

NGS said...

Nicely done working out while away from home! I always say I'm going to make use of hotel gyms or go for a run, but I probably only do about 25% of the time. I certainly wouldn't make it both days!

There is nothing like the quiet of a hotel room after spending all day doing work things and being social. I can absolutely understand how much of a relief it feels after you've been "on" all day!

Suzanne said...

Ugh, that soccer class sounds frustrating! It will be nice when you can divide and conquer.

Glad to hear you have a nice quiet weekend ahead after a busy week! Even when travel is fairly smooth and simple, it's pretty draining. Always nice to be home and back to the routine.

Jeanie said...

I'm glad you have a quiet weekend but also pleased that you could add some pleasure to your Charlotte business trip. That's always the best and probably very good to see old friends. Have a wonderful weekend.

Grateful Kae said...

Very impressive to workout at the hotel both mornings! Way to go! Meeting up with a friend sounds so nice. It must be enjoyable to have some adult/alone time, despite travel being a drag in general. Once a month sounds like a lot of work travel, to me, because my job involves zero travel! I hope you can keep it to that or even less, since I imagine it's just generally disruptive to your normal routines. As the boys get older and have homework and more activities, I'm sure it could become more complicated, too! Oof on the parent involvement for soccer. I was NOT a fan of having to be too involved with the little kid classes. ha. Especially swimming!! I remember taking both boys to swim classes, ALONE, when Ethan was old enough to go to the tot class and I had to do the parent/baby class with Asher. Getting us all changed and out of there was a disaster. They just had these changing stalls with curtains that opened up to the waiting area!! It wasn't a real gym setting. I remember practically sweating trying to contain them while changing out of my suit and not having one of them run off or open the curtain on me! lol! It would be really hard to help out with the soccer class while having another toddler along! Good job Phil for even attempting that. ha.

coco said...

sounds like a good productive short trip. Good call to not run outside in dark, especially given recent events. I hate TM too, it's so boring!!!!
it's nice that you got to see old friends... I always try to catch up with few when I go back to DC. Although sometimes due to living in different places, I often feel that we live in different worlds. Obviously that's not the case with my BFFs, no matter where we live, we feel like never being part.

Nicole MacPherson said...

Once I was at my son's soccer practice and was asked to help with drills. I was wearing platform slides. Um, no.

Glad your trip went well!

Elisabeth said...

Way to go for fitting in a hotel room workout. I would have likely ordered room service.

I've done no strength training in...years. And it definitely shows. Ironically enough the last time I did it regularly, I screwed up my knee (for MONTHS!) by doing wall sits too long/too often. It was horrible and I've been scared of wall sits ever since.

We have a relatively low-key weekend which I need after a very hectic week. I fit in a long walk with a friend this am and am hoping to do a run before an at-home date night with my husband...we did an impromptu picnic for lunch today at a park while my hubby did a long run (we dropped him off and then drove to a park so he didn't have to run up the long hill to our house at the end of his run). I did a grocery shop run. We went to the hardware store. We finally got the electrical finished in our rebuilt entryway. Now that I write it out...I guess it has already been a busy weekend?!

Jenny said...

Well, I hope you had a relatively relaxing weekend. I'm sure it's hard on you (and Phil) to be away like that. Yes, that workout sounds hard- it's amazing how much pain you can inflict upon yourself with no equipment whatsoever.

Stephany said...

Nice job on getting two workouts done while on a work trip! I don't think I would have had the energy, especially after a few draining days of meet-and-greets.

It sounds like a busy week for you, but I'm glad everything went well and you didn't have to be away from home for TOO long!

San said...

So happy to hear you had a great trip meeting new colleagues and catching up with friends. And you even fit the workouts in. Woot!

I was away on a worktrip too last week - 5 days in Mammoth Lakes doing fieldwork. We worked long days (I did not workout except for 10 min yoga LOL) but it was a good week with good people.

Anne said...

I am so impressed with your ability to counteract your introvert tendencies and interact with so many people over only a few days. Wow. I am not surprised you needed your hotel room to decompress! And I hope your weekend was restorative.