Tag Archives: goals

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I’m Bad at Doing Things: “Progress” on my 30-Before-30 Goals

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Tomorrow (today, by the time most of you read this) is  my birthday.  Last year, when I turned 28, I made a list of 30 things I wanted to accomplish before I turn 30. As Iooked over that list again today, I realized that I haven’t accomplished many of them — and there are some that I don’t care that much about anymore. Funny how much difference a year makes.
pic9(By the time I finished this post, I was feeling unaccomplished, so I put in this picture to remind myself that sometimes I do meet goals.)

Here’s a check-in on my 30 Before 30 goals:

  1. Learn to can and freeze fruits and veggies. Nope, haven’t done that. And we didn’t even plant a garden this year, so I won’t be learning this summer, either.
  2. Attempt to get published in an education journal.  I haven’t submitted any articles yet, but I have worked on some this summer. So that’s progress.
  3. Run a 3-hour marathon. Ha. Hahahahaha. I think it’s safe to say that this is not going to happen in the next year. Three hours is 13 minutes faster than my PR, and while I’d still like to keep that goal on the (nearly impossible) horizon, it’s a horizon that’s MUCH more than a year away.
  4. Visit the ocean at least twice. We went to Myrtle Beach this May, so one visit down, (at least) one to go.
    photo 3 (2)
  5. Save money and get better at sticking to a budget. Well, we were  doing better on this one until everything we own decided to start breaking. There’s definitely still room for improvement here.
  6. PR in the half-marathon. I guess that would require me to run a half marathon, wouldn’t it? I haven’t run one in the past year, and I don’t really care if I run one in the coming year, either, since I’m seriously considering a venture into the ultra world. We shall see.
  7. Put in a beautiful backyard.We’re working on it. We didn’t make as much progress this summer as we’d hoped to, since we were never home, but we got the tree trimmed, we’re getting a shed delivered next week, and we plan to get in sod and sprinklers this fall.

    Since there's no real yard yet, I drew you a picture. It's okay to be amazed by my Paint skills.
    Since there’s no real yard yet, I drew you a picture. It’s okay to be amazed by my Paint skills.
  8. Visit my grandparents more. Fail. I saw them at Thanksgiving and Christmas and once this summer. I’m bad at familying.
  9. Make more local friends. Also bad at friending.
  10. And continue growing the friendships that I have. See above.
  11. Hang out with our neighbors. Bad at neighboring, too.
  12. Volunteer.  I took a baby step in this direction, giving the local Hospice my information… but they never contacted me and I never pursued it. Add “volunteering” to the list of things I’m bad at.
  13. Run the stairs at Red Rocks. Hey hey, I accomplished one! This was when I ran with Amy, and neither of us took pictures, but I promise it happened.
  14. Go white-water rafting. Still haven’t. Still want to.
  15. Get a new computer. Two goals done! I finally had to break down and buy one, because I couldn’t get anything accomplished on my old laptop.
  16. Go on a girls’ trip. Half-successful. Three of us went wine tasting in Palisade last spring, but we were missing our fourth wheel Lindsey, so it wasn’t complete. With everyone having babies and such, I’m not sure that it’ll happen this year, either.
    photo (2)
  17. Go to California. Not done yet. Maybe next spring or summer. If not, I’m okay with it…. as long as I get to see Lindsey somehow.
  18. Buy a china cabinet. Still something I want to do, but I doubt it will happen in the next 12 months (See #5).
  19. Run a race with my brother.Guess what? I haven’t done this one either. I’m the worst.
  20. Get a massage. Nope. But my awesome mother-in-law bought me a spa day for my birthday. The salon recently lost their massage therapist, but they might have another one hired by the end of the month, when our appointment is. So maaaybe I can cross this one off, too.
  21. Restain our deck. DONE! Boom. No picture to prove it, because who wants to look at a deck picture, but it’s done.
  22.  Eat at Fruition. This is another one that I haven’t accomplished and don’t really care if I do. I think I was getting desperate to get to 30.
  23. Find or invent a tofu recipe that my husband will eat. I’m not sure which is more far-fetched: this goal or the 3-hour marathon.
  24. Visit the wildlife sanctuary in Hudson. Steeee-rike. .
  25. Hike into the Roubideau Canyon with my family. No, and I still REALLY want to. Dad and I were just reminiscing about the first time we did this hike, when I was just a little kid.
  26. Take our nieces on a mini-vacation. People are over-scheduled these days. Also, excuses are easy.
  27. Go rock climbing either outdoors or on a wall. Can someone please teach me to rock climb? Pretty please?
  28. Go for a trail run. DONE. Several times, in fact. And I plan to do more and more and more.

    I even ran a trail RACE! At NIGHT! Photo credit: Chris Boyack of Colorado Photo Company
    I even ran a trail RACE! At NIGHT! Photo credit: Chris Boyack of Colorado Photo Company
  29. Stand up on waterskis. At least I tried this one. Waterskiing is hard, apparently.
  30. Go to Pawnee Buttes. The Buttes are still about and hour and a half away. I still haven’t gone. I fail. Again.

So, that’s embarrassing. I have a LOT to do this year!

Are you ever bad at accomplishing goals you set for yourself? 

Can you help me do any of these things? Please?

Training, Uncategorized

The Training Begins: Goals for This Training Cycle

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Hi friends! We’re back from vacation (recap coming soon, I promise) and settling into the summer routine (it’s an awesome routine, for now, since it’s 9:45 a.m. and I’m chilling at home with some coffee). Did you enjoy the three guest posts while I was gone? Thanks again to Logan, Tina, and Rachel for filling in with your awesomeness!

Vacation was a blast and provided some needed rest for my body (I ran almost every day, but only 5-7 miles. Also, humidity is evil). Now I’ve got 15 weeks until the Colorado Fall Classic Marathon, so it’s time to kick my training into high gear. Though I’d been building mileage and incorporating some marathon-specific workouts for a few weeks pre-vacation, today was the first on-the-schedule run, so it feels like the “official” start of training.

Now that it’s official, I want to lay out my goals and plans for this training cycle. I’m really mostly writing this post for accountability for myself, so if you don’t really care, I won’t be offended… come back later this week for lots of beach and flower pictures like this:

photo 3 (2) photo 2 (8)

Here are my goals:

  • Train on downhills and trails. This race is all downhill. Check out this elevation chart (from the race’s website):
    If I don’t specifically train downhill, my quads are going to burn out way too fast, and I will gimp my way to the finish instead of finishing strong. I’d really like to run the Slacker Half Marathon this month to gauge how the steady downhill will feel and give me an idea of a suitable marathon goal time, but I’m not sure if it’s going to work out. It’s on our anniversary, and also I’m broke because we just took an awesome vacation.
    I also need to run some trails. The marathon is not a trail race, but I have this crazy relay coming up in July, so I need to get my trail skills at least kind of up to par. (Colorado friends: Who wants to run some trails with me? Or some long downhills?)
  • Strength train, stretch, and foam roll. I enjoyed the Nike Training Club program I did last month, and it was really convenient to do my strength workouts at home during those last few busy busy weeks of school. But I’m ready to get back into the gym (believe it or not). My goal for each week is to do two full-body, in-the-gym strength workouts and three core, stretching, and foam rolling workouts at home. Next week, the 8 a.m. summer course I’m teaching at the local community college begins, which means I probably won’t have time to do the core and stretching stuff right after runs on those days. That’s not ideal, but I figure that doing it later is better than not doing it at all.
  • Figure out nutrition and hydration for during the race. As this will be my seventh marathon, you might think I had the nutrition and hydration thing figured out. I do not, and it’s definitely affected my performances. Since this race is in September, too, it might still be toasty out, which will also affect my hydration and electrolyte needs.
  • Recover smart. If you read Tina’s guest post last week, you know why this is so important. But I’m really bad about proper post-workout nutrition. And stretching. And foam rolling. But if I want to get faster and stay healthy, I’ve got to recover properly, so that’s a major goal this time.
  • Eat smart in general. I’m going to start using my LoseIt app again to make sure I’m eating enough calories and the right macronutrient ratios (carb needs increase as mileage increases). It’s also important that those calories are coming from high-quality sources — whole grains, veggies and fruits, nuts, and lean proteins, not sugary desserts, cheesy appetizers, and wine (all of which I indulged in on vacation).
    Yep, that's a wine slushy beside me... I'm pretty sure it was equal parts wine and sugar... obviously a nutritionally sound snack choice.
    Yep, that’s a wine slushy beside me… I’m pretty sure it was equal parts wine and sugar… obviously a nutritionally sound snack choice.

    So those are my goals and priorities this training cycle. Keep me accountable, friends, okay?

What’s your favorite indulgence?

Any tips for downhill running? 

Anything important in your life that I missed while I was gone? I’ve tried to read up on the blogs I missed, but there are just too many posts!

Training, Uncategorized

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Target Practice

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Hi, friends! How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was filled with family and food — as it should be. I hope yours was, too. We got to my parents’ on Wednesday afternoon and came home Saturday. While we were there, I got in a few good runs with some nice scenery,
photo (23)

a nice gym workout with my mom, and some quality time with the extended family (unpictured, because I was busy enjoying the QT).

On the way home Saturday, we stopped a few times and got the vast majority of our Christmas shopping done. (No pictures of that, either, as the recipients of those gifts read this blog). Winning.

Today, we did the usual boring Sunday stuff but also got our Christmas tree up, and J did the outside lights while I ran 8 miles. Also winning.

Today is December 1, which means it’s time to see how I did on my November Target Practice goals.

Target Practice

I tag along with Fit.Fun.Femme. for these posts.  I think I’m going to make Target Practice a monthly post, because my goals don’t change much from week to week.

These were my goals for November:

Life: Hang out with some friends. Call the ones who live too far away to hang out with. I went to a party a couple of weeks ago. And I haven’t called anyone, but I have exchanged some texts. Grade: C-. 

Blog: Post a minimum of three times a week, and regularly update Twitter and Instagram. Well. That was ambitious for a month as busy as November. Nope, didn’t happen… unless your definition of “regularly” is everyone else’s definition of “occasionally.” Grade: D.

Health: Finish the Whole30. Figure out what’s been bothering my guts for so long. I got half of this one. I finished the Whole30, but my insides are still messy. I’m not sure what to do next. Grade: B. Because it’s really not my fault that my experiment didn’t work. 

Fitness: While my mileage is decreased, I want to gain some more strength. That probably means actually going to the weight room instead of to the dumbbells in my basement. Hey hey, I actually succeeded at one of my goals! I’ve hit the gym — the grown-up weights section — three times a week for the past few weeks. Score. Grade: A.

And now, for December goals:

Life: Enjoy all the holidays have to offer, rather than letting them stress me out. We all know that there’s a lot of stress that comes in December — a ton of events to attend — some of which we’d maybe rather not –, the end of the semester at work, shopping, blah blah blah. But there’s also a lot of fun stuff  — the events we want to attend, the time with friends and family, shopping on the Internet from the comfort of my couch — and I want to focus on the happy instead of the stressful.

Blog: I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself here (see goal above). I’ll be satisfied with twice a week, but I want to take more pictures and be more active on social media when possible — without letting my online life take precedence over my in-person life.

Health: Indulge mindfully. Because there are some flipping delicious things that only come around once a year, I will eat those flipping delicious things. But I don’t need to eat ALL the things. For the most part, I want to stay Whole30 compliant even though the “official” program is over, and indulge in the treats that are truly worth it.

Fitness: Work out every day in December. That will help balance both the stress and the indulgences. I’d like to do a December run streak, but if anything feels twingy, I’ll cross train instead. No need to create an injury just because I want to go streaking.


Not that kind of streaking. 

Those are my goals. If you see me slacking, yell at me, okay?

 

Tell me about your Thanksgiving!

What’s your favorite December event/tradition, or what are you looking forward to most this year?

 

Training, Uncategorized

Time to Taper: Target Practice

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Hi! Do you like the alliteration in my title there? I’m clearly on my way to being the next great American writer. Or not.

Target Practice

Anyway, I feel like the only posts I’ve done lately are Target Practice posts. (I stole Target Practice, my weekly goal-setting posts, from Fit. Fun. Femme.) At least I’m being consistent with something blog-wise. This was another busy work-week, as it was Homecoming week (file that under “Things That Were More Fun As a Kid), but I guess that’s kind of a blessing: It kept Taper Madness at bay.

Let’s check in on last week’s goals, shall we?

Life: Have a better attitude. Um. About that. There was some major grumpiness  happening. The extra activities this week were not exactly well-organized, and I was not exactly nice about it. I give myself an F.

I'm a jerk I'm sorry :( | sad panda

Health: Get some good, solid rest this week. I did a decent job most nights of getting to bed fairly early. And I slept in this morning. (I’m 95 years old and waking up at 6:30 a.m. = “sleeping in”). A few nights were later than necessary, though. Grade: B.

Fitness: Run the easy miles easy, get my two days of strength work back in there, and do my usual 4-5 days of core work.  Here’s how the workout week went:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: AM: 40 minutes strength; PM: 5.1 miles of fartleks
Wednesday: 5 miles easy
Thursday: Tempo intervals — 3 x 1200m w/ 400m rest; 7 miles total; core work
Friday: 4.6 miles easy; 20 minutes body-weight strength work plus core work
Saturday: Spent the morning freezing at our home cross-country meet (I was the bib-tag remover. Though there were some near misses, no one barfed on me. I call that a win.) Then the sun came out, so I went home and ran 6 miles easy, then did 8-minute abs:

(If you’re one of the five people in the world who have yet to do this ab workout, go do it. It’s a decent workout, but I really love it because it’s so entertaining. That man with his capri pants and habit of calling everyone “gang” cracks me up.)

Sunday: 12-mile fast-finish long run. And that’s the last time I’ll run double-digits until the race!

Grade: A

And now for this week’s targets:

Life: Enjoy the less-stressful week. And don’t be a grump. And don’t check Sunday’s forecast 47,000 times. It looks good right now:

Health: The word of the week is “rest.” I want to be in my bed by 9:15 every night, and I want to wake up at the latest possible moment.

Fitness: Remind myself that the work is done, and pushing hard this week will hinder more than help. I’ve got one hard-ish workout on the schedule; the rest are easy. So my goal is to run them easy, as well as use some of the extra time to stretch and foam roll.

I hope you all have a good week! Also, blog-friends, I just want you to know that although I haven’t been commenting much, I have been reading your blogs. It’s just usually on my phone while I’m making copies or heating up my lunch. Or brushing my teeth. Someday, I will have a life again.

What do you do to keep taper madness away?

Ever puked or been puked on at a race?

How do you keep from being a grouch when things get stressful?

Training, Uncategorized

Week in Review

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Like that post title? It makes me feel like I’m a news site. Breaking News: I’m not. Anyway, Sunday night is a good time to look back on the week and check in on the goals I set on Target Practice Monday. 

Life: I made two specific goals for work this week: figure out what to use to host my school newspaper, and go back over my curriculum (which I’d worked on this summer) to make sure I had all the standards covered. I got both of those done, plus some other school-related work. Check!

Health: My goal wasn’t very specific; it was just to clean up my diet again after a sugar-heavy weekend. I’ll call this a success, too.

Fitness: Goal #1 was to follow my training schedule. Here’s what my training looked like:

Monday: 10-mile progression run
Tuesday: Easy 8.7
Wednesday: Easy 8.1
Thursday: 14 x 400-meter repeats. With warm-up and cool down: 9.1 miles
Friday: Easy 7.2
Saturday: 18.1 miles
Weekly total: 61. Boom.

Goal #2 was to strength train three times. I made it twice. Near miss.
And goal #3 was to stretch and foam roll twice. I did that once and yoga once…we’ll call it 2/3 successful.

Check back tomorrow night for next week’s Target Practice post!

Here are some other highlights of the week:

  • Thursday was my birthday.  I went to work. But Wednesday, we went to Fort Collins, and that was fun. I had a gyno appointment in the morning (happy birthday to me!), but then we went to Verizon to get our phones upgraded. I’m now the proud owner of an iPhone. I’m so trendy. It only takes me five years to get the cool technology. But I’m loving the iPhone. Be prepared to see lots of iPhone pictures here.
  • Yesterday’s long run was super humid. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not usually humid here in Colorado, so that was weird. Turns out, that humidity was a precursor to this:
    Photo: Switched from a tornado warning to flash flood warning. I can see why.
    That’s our backyard. It’s under water. We had some wicked thunderstorms, a tornado warning (first time I’d heard the tornado sirens for anything but a test. Not cool.), and a flash flood warning. Craziness. We had a frantic little adventure when we discovered that the rain was pouring in next to the window air conditioner in the bedroom. It was a bit of a mess, and J ended up just taking the thing down. But at least we didn’t get tornadoed!
  • Tonight, the hubs and I went for a nice little bike ride to try to get the most out of our last summer Sunday. It was glorious.

    (See, iPhone photos are happening already.)

This week should be a pretty fun one before the school year starts. I’ll go in to work a couple of times, but it’s also county fair time. Our nieces are in one county and our students are in another, so we’ll be bouncing back and forth trying to catch as many of them in action as possible. And then, we’re officially back to work on Friday. Adios, summer!

What was the best part of your weekend?

What are you most looking forward to this week?