Yes, I have a plan.

Yeah, so don’t mind my random train of thought in this post… 🙂

Hey, guess what? I’ve actually been running since I last posted–and it feels great! Okay, so running around a track at the gym (6 laps = 1 mile) isn’t the best, but I’ve been doing it. I’ve even managed to go to yoga a couple times. Score! And I’m waking up at 5:15-5:25 every morning to get some sort of exercise in. Crazy,  I know. I’m finding out, though, that I’m a morning person–at least Monday through Thursday. When Friday hits, I’m just dead tired from the week. My job is super high stress (as it always has been), which doesn’t help. I did change positions/responsibilities, which helps a little.

Anyway . . . Right now, I’m at this weird place where I’m loving running/exercising for fun. I know that my motivation will wane soon, however,  so I’ll be signing up for a 5k, which will take place in March. I’m helping my friend train for her first 5k (so exciting, by the way), so that is the perfect slump-buster for me. I’m also signing up for the Disneyland 10k on Tuesday (cross your fingers that I get in). And I’m hoping to run my first half marathon of the year in June. I’m taking my training slower this time around so I don’t get injured–I don’t need to recover from an injury as I’m working my way up to a marathon. I need to start half-marathon training soon if I’m going to be in really good shape by June 21. By half-marathon training, I mean working my way up to that distance agai n. . . because, remember, I’m back at square one. First stop is that 5k, and then I hope to run a few more races here and there in preparation for my half. 

I’m going to be using Jenny Hadfield’s half-marathon run-walk plan to reduce my chance of injury. We’ll see how it goes. Oh, and check out her site for more great training plans!

Well, I hope ya’ll have a great week. Happy running/yoga-ing/cycling/whatever! 🙂

 

 

Hello, 2014!

Pretty much every health and fitness blog does a year-end recap, and I’m just going to follow along. 🙂 Let’s see how I did with my goals for last year:

  1. Eat more vegetables. I ate a lot of vegetables in 2013, but I don’t know whether it was significantly more than in years past . . .
  2. Cross train more. I did a lot of yoga in 2013, and I just love it! It’s definitely my cross training workout of choice. I’ll take fun strength training over lifting weights any day. Haha. I also tried other classes at my gym. Yoga’s the one that stuck, but I hope to try others in 2014.
  3. Run 3 half marathons. Well, I ran two: the Thanksgiving Point Half and the Hobbler Half. I didn’t run any others because of my plantar fasciitis. Bummer.
  4. Improve my 5k time. I finally ran a sub-30-minute 5k! Next stop, 27 minutes.
  5. Run a few 10ks. I ran one–and it was hard . . .
  6. Grow the blog. Kind of let this one go. I just need to work on it more. Right now it’s more of a hobby and a “when I feel like it venture.” I want to be better in 2014.
  7. Go on a kick-awesome trip. We went to Boston in May. It was so much fun, and I really want to move there. It was my dream trip–so much so that I cried when we left Massachusetts and cried again when we landed in Utah . . .  I LOVED that trip with all my heart.
  8. Get ahead at my job. Yeah, like this would actually happen . . .
  9. Cook more. We kind of did the opposite and ate out way more. Go us.
  10. Have fun! Though the year had its highs and lows, I had a ton of fun in 2013. Let’s see what happens in 2014.

I’ve been thinking about goals I want to set for 2014, and some are pretty big. Here goes:

  1. Get into shape. I need to lose a few pounds and tone up, so this is the obvious first goal.
  2. Run a marathon. My goal is to run a marathon in October . . . and not collapse. I’d also like to run a few more races.
  3. Do a handstand. I’m hoping that as I continue to practice yoga, I’ll be able to do this. We’ll see!
  4. Go on a kick-awesome trip. This will be on my goal list every year.  I have a few lined up.
  5. Do a runDisney race. I’m going to try my darndest to get into a Disney race–and hopefully run it with my sister.
  6. Try not to let the stress of my job get to me. After a year full of migraines and tension headaches–and breakdowns and so on–this would be great. Maybe I’ll try more meditation.
  7. Move across the country. The Engineer is almost done with grad school, so this in inevitable, but the goal with moving comes with streamlining my house, organizing a move, and trying to successfully make the transition to living in a new place.
  8. Spend less. When I’ve been stressed, depressed, frustrated, etc., I tend to go shopping . . . not a great idea. So I need to stop spending and only buy what I need or budget for.
  9. Cultivate a new talent. Self-explanatory–now to think of the talent . . .
  10. Have fun! And be happier.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Consistency

You know, someday I’ll write on here more consistently, but I didn’t think you all would want a bunch of posts on how lazy I am or how I’ve only worked out about a dozen times in the past I don’t know how many months. Work got in the way. Life got in the way . . . etc. I could come up with a ton of excuses, but I’m pretty sure you don’t want to hear me whining either. Consistency is my problem when it comes to fitness (and blogging!). I get really excited about something, do it all the time, get burned out, and then stop–especially when, by the time I’m burned out, I’m in great shape. I need to find that switch within myself to just be consistent. It ALWAYS sucks to have to keep starting over, but here I am. I really don’t want to be in the group of New Year’s “resolutioners,” but here I am. Although I do prefer goals over resolutions. Resolutions come with a pretty high bar to reach and an even greater letdown, but goals help you improve over time. That’s what I want to do–set a goal THEN just keep going and achieving more. I’m not going to take the idea of an ultra, triathlon, and so on off the table, but, again, I could’ve been so much closer had I been more consistent in the latter half of this year. And that’s my fault, so I’m going to pick myself up, dust myself (and my running shoes, yoga mat, swimsuit) off, and get after it. I have my eye on some races for 2014, and I’m just going to do them. First step: 5k to shake off the rust. Second step: 10k because they are so fun! Third step: 2 half marathons. Fourth step: marathon. Gasp. I said it. Marathon. Let’s see if I can get there by October.

Bring it on.