Countdown Challenge

I have not been setting monthly goals for the past few months.  I only had one long term goal, and that was to finish my marathon.  Now that that's done, it seems I'm a bit of a useless lump without goals to keep me motivated, and I'm not the only one!

Aneta at Confessions of a Rambunctious Runner and I decided to team up to challenge each other for November.  Aneta suggested we come up with 10 things we can work on in our work outs, with a twist.  For number 1 on the list, we have to do it once, for number 2, we do it twice, for number 3 we do it thrice (?), and so on.

I thought the idea sounded like fun and was excited to make my list, but coming up with a realistic one turned out to be a bit of a challenge in itself.  10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=55 workouts!  There are just not that many days in November!  Not being big on strength training, (as in, I never do strength training), I decided I could start with 5-10 minute sessions for this month after my shorter runs.  The same could go for ab workouts.  These are things I know I should be doing, but never seem to have make time for.

Here's what I settled on:

10 - 5K runs
9 - Strength Training (5-10 minutes)
8 - Ab Workouts (5 - 10 minutes)
7 - Yoga Classes/DVDs (or other exercise videos)
6 - Nights in bed before 10:30
5 - 10K + runs
4 - 5 mile runs
3 - Hikes
2 - Aquafit Classes
1 - Personal Training session

Ok, I know going to bed before 10:30 isn't exactly a workout, but as it is getting colder, I'm finding going to my cold bed when I'm nice and toasty under a blanket on the couch is getting harder and harder.  This means I stay on the couch until I fall asleep, wake up and brush my teeth, go to bed and can't sleep and then have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, so I feel lazy all day, which means I don't want to workout.  It's a bit of a problem.

You might notice that while this list of ten addresses running and working out, it doesn't address the bad food habits I've been picking up (again) since my marathon.  So Aneta and I decided to make another list of 10 to address food.  Same rules apply - I can have 10 of number 10 on the list, but only 1 of number one on the list.  This was perhaps an even tougher list to make.  I know that I would like to never stop for fast food, but given the travelling I do for work, but I've made my list and I'm going to do my best to stick to it.

If you'd like to join in on this challenge, let Aneta or I know and we'll add you to our little tracking device we have on Google Documents.  I'll let you know how it goes at the end of the month!