Happy September! This is my favorite month. My birthday, wedding anniversary, and vacation are all in September, plus the month brings the start of my favorite season.
It's time to check on my progress on my August goals and make new goals for September.
August Goals
1. Continue following the Hansons' plan. Hansons is an intense plan with six runs a week that include three hard
workouts and high mileage. I took a leap of faith in deciding to follow
the plan because I thought it might be too tough for me. So, just
following the plan is my biggest goal for August.
Yes! I followed the plan exactly with two minor exceptions: 1. I skipped the cool-down mile after one of my speed workouts because a thunderstorm delayed my start and I had to get to work. 2. After getting some advice from a Hansons' coach, I switched to a minute-based instead of mile-based run yesterday because I needed a break. Those were pretty minor, and overall I've done great at following a very tough plan. I ran 177.75 miles in August--a new monthly mileage PR!
2. Continue strength training.
I'll continue strength training, but with six runs a week, it will have
to be shorter sessions. Some days, I may only have
time for 10 or 15 minutes. So my focus will really be what I can, when I
can.
Yes! I've done two short sessions a week with the exception of last week, where I only did one.
3. Stretch daily, do yoga, and use the foam roller.
I need to start ramping up injury prevention while following the plan. I
already stretch daily and do regular yoga sessions, but I want to try
to do it even more. One idea I have is to bring my yoga mat into my
office and do 10 minutes of stretching at lunch, in addition to the
stretching I do after I run. I'll continue to do yoga as I can. I want
to add in using my foam roller after my long runs because I haven't been
doing that.
Yes! I've been stretching twice a day--once after runs and once either at lunch or in the evenings. I've done yoga twice a week. And I've started to use the foam roller almost daily.
4. Maintain my weight loss. By the end of July I'd lost weight and was two pounds over my goal weight but switched to maintaining because I knew I need to take eat more as training ramped up. I wanted to make sure those extra calories are fuel for my
workouts, not candy and chips and crap that isn't good fuel.
Yes! I wrote a post about it a few weeks ago, but I've had no problem maintaining my weight--I even lost a little more--while eating a ton. Once I realized I could eat pretty much anything and not gain weight, I did start to eat more candy and chips, but I quickly scolded myself and stopped. It's not that candy and chips are completely off-limits and I'll never have them again, but my belly can only hold so much food and I want to make sure I'm filling myself up on high-quality carbs, veggies, and fruits first.
September Goals
My September goals are the same as August, with one exception and one addition.
1. Continue following the Hansons' plan, but modify while on vacation. I talked to a Hansons' coach about how to modify and have a good plan and will try to stick to as best I can. But, since we'll be staying most of the trip in a small town in Idaho by Yellowstone National Park, I have no idea where I'll be able to run (is it all mountains?) or what the situation is like, so I may need to modify even more. My race is October 17, so once I get through September I'll have only one week of training then will start the taper. Yes!
I'll keep goals 2, 3, and 4 for September.
2. Continue strength training.
3. Stretch daily, do yoga, and use the foam roller.
4. Maintain my weight loss.
5. Get more sleep. It used to be that 7 hours of sleep was all that I needed. The past week of training has made me realize that's not enough. Because I exercise in the morning, I usually go to bed at 9 p.m., which is embarrassing enough. I want to start going to bed at 8:30 and possibly even earlier. In addition, I successfully took a nap in my office by rolling my yoga mat under my desk so people walking past my door couldn't see. It worked well, so I may also start adding little naps during my lunch hour.
How did you do on your goals last month?Labels: goals, monthly mileage, PR
