January Goals

As I mentioned in my 2011 in Review post, I'm going to make monthly goals this year rather than year long ones because I think it will work better for me.  It certainly has in the past, and my year long goals of 2011 did not go so well, and I don't know why I ever changed! 

Running and Fitness:

By the end of January, I will have built up my "long" run distance to 10K safely, and without risking injury, by focussing soley on distance and not on time and speed this month.

By running 4 times/week, and keeping my weekday runs at 5K, I will build on my weekend runs to reach 10K.  If I join Christine/Dream Big Runner's challenge, and I complete every planned training run, I will just make 100K for January.

I would love to add cross training and yoga to this, but if I accomplish this one goal, I will be happy for this month.  If I get a little cross training (hello, snowshoes) and yoga in there too, then that will just be icing on the cake!

Nutrition:

Keep a food journal this month.  Write down EVERYTHING.  Keep aiming for 7 fruits and veggies/day, even after HBBC is done.

Work/Life Balance:

While tracking food, I might as well track my hours worked.  When on site, take lieu time within ONE week.  Maintain 9-5 work hours with a flexible lunch time reserved for running.

Mind:

Finish my current book and read at least one of my Christmas books this month.

Earth:

Walk for small mid-week grocery items at least once/week.

The first 10 days of this month are going to be exceptionally busy for me at work, but I've done my best to prepare ahead workwise, and plan my running, meals and snacks in advance.  On the bright side, the busy-ness includes another trip to Whitehorse, and 9 hours on planes leaves a lot of time for reading!

2011 In Review

I haven't done a monthly review of my goals for this year since, um, March.  Oops!  Clearly, setting these year long goals isn't working for me and I'm going to make some changes for 2012.  Still, it's worth looking back to see how I did.

Running and Exercise:

Finish the Vancouver Marathon faster than I finished the Victoria Marathon. Well, I finished the Vancouver Marathon, but significantly slower than the Victoria Marathon.  Given my injury in February, I'm still disappointed with my time, and will eventually get redemption, but I am happy that I stuck with my training and completed my second marathon in 2011.

Run my third marathon in the fall.  Nope.  I needed a break, and I took one.

Run at least 1100 miles in 2011.  Nope.  I was on track until August, and then stopped training and even stopped running altogether for a little while.

Cross train at least 30 minutes once per week.  Nope.  I have done more corss training this year than in the past, and kept up my fitness with some cross training when I wasn't running.  Still lots of room for improvement!

Do at least 30 minutes of yoga once per week.  Nope.  I probably did yoga every other week.  I can do better.

Diet and Nutrition:

Eat fruit every day.  Almost.  I really don't love fruit, but I made sure I always had it in the house and usually either started my day with a banana, or finished it with an orange. 

Try at least 2 new recipes every month.  I wish I'd kept tracking this.  Going back to eating meat probably meant that I actually accomplished this! 

Eat at least 3 meals a day.  90% success.  Other than a short phase where I was calling a mini bag of popcorn "lunch", I did way better with this.  I think starting a food journal in January will keep me on track and be proof to myself that I'm eating better.

Don't drink coffee after noon. (I used to be good at this, but it's sneaking back in to my day!)  Done!  I have only rarely had an afternoon cup of coffee, and only occasionally a post-lunch cup of (caffeinated) tea.

Mind:

Read two books every month.  This year I know I read 8 books, and there are probably 1 or 2 more that I'm forgetting.  Poop.

Apply for school by March 1st.  No.  But I decided not to go back to school for what I thought I was going to go back to school for and have taken steps to figure out what is next for me.

Etudie le francais pour 90 minutes par semaine.  Merde.

The Earth:

Find a fulfilling, ongoing volunteer project (a few hours a month would be manageable).  I have volunteered at a few events in town, but have not commited to anything long term.  This is one that I want to have accomplished by the end of January, and I know where I want to volunteer, so it's just a matter of going in.

Continue to eat as locally and sustainably as possible (cut out prawns!)  Well, I started eating meat, but most of my meat comes closer to home than soy beans!  Still room for improvement here, but I am fairly conscious of this with most of my meals.

Start a small veggie garden in the spring.  Nope.  I didn't even grow tomatoes this year.  :(

In 2012, I'll be setting my goals month by month and even week by week.  This works better for me and it's what got me to my first marathon.  Going month to month, I keep my goals relevant to how I'm feeling and how I have been doing in the previous month.  Stay tuned for January's goals!

Making Time

Holy smokes!  It's been nearly a month since my last post.  I knew I hadn't been blogging much, but didn't realize it had been that long.  This month, I made a new rule for myself.  If I don't have time to run, I shouldn't have time to blog. If I didn't have time to run in the day, then in the evening, I should be doing something more productive than whining about not having time to run online.  The fact that I haven't posted since December 5th doesn't mean that I didn't run at all since then, but I definitlely haven't found as much time as I would have liked to get out the door.

Of course, it's not really having time, it's making time.  It's making the right choices in how I use my time.  This week, with Christmas over, and me off of work, there's nothing but time and no excuses!  It was easy to get out there today, even if the ice made it a little tricky to stay upright!  I admit, I have been making too many excuses lately, and though I have my motivation back, I've still been having trouble getting out the door because of the weather, work, Christmas shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, etc.  None of these are good excuses/reasons not to run, I've just been putting all of that other stuff ahead of running, and then run out of time during the daylight, and then waste time on the couch in the evening.  (I have been sticking to daylight running because it has been very icy for the past 2 weeks).

I'm not making year long goals for 2012 (post coming soon!), but I am making a resolution:

Not enough time is not an excuse.

Though the days are shorter, and the weather colder, I am lucky enough to have a flexible work schedule and can (almost) always schedule my work around my running.  Some low days before Christmas and my jeans fitting more tightly tell me that it's time to make running a priority once again.

Techy Tuesday

Yes, it's time for another installment of Techy Tuesday! 

I am not the most technilogically literate person out there.  I've even been known to say that technology makes us less productive rather than more productive (and that could be a whole other post!) But that's not to say that I don't use technology, and sometimes even enjoy it! 

One example that I enjoy are iPhone apps.  Yes, there are a lot of time wasters out there, but there are also some great apps to help with your workouts. (Quick disclaimer:  Nobody asked me to review these apps, I'm just sharing my personal favourites and opinions).

I have:

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This app creates a training plan for you depending on your goal race distance, the intensity level you want for your training, number of miles you want to run in a week, etc.  Admittedly, I haven't used it to actually train for a race, but I do like playing with the numbers to get a plan for a random week of running.

Yesterday I used:



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I have the free version of Ab Workouts, and it doesn't really offer anything creative, but if you're having one of those days where you just want to get a quick workout in without anything too crazy, or you just need someone to count your sit ups for you, this is a good app.









Last week, while travelling, I put one of my favourite yoga apps to use.



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I really like this one because it has a TON of poses and modifications.  You can create and save your own routines, or pay a bit more to get routines through the app.  It's so handy to have yoga in app form when you can't make it to a class or carry your DVDs with you.  I use this mostly while travelling, but sometimes at home when I want to switch things up.







Last but not least, is my favourite workout app I've come across yet:



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The Nike Training Club app gives tons of options, different types of workouts, and everything from beginner to advanced, 15 minutes to 60 minutes, with equipment and without.  I especially like the Ab Burner and Back Burner workouts, but love to try different ones all the time.  I also love that rewards come in the form of new workouts.  There's also video demonstrations of each move, as well as descriptions, and the option to set your workout to music on your iPhone/iPod.  I have never been a big fan of strenth-building, but this app gets me debating whether I want to run, or strength train, or just do both!  I love the quick workouts that I can do when I'm away for work without any weights or equipment, and the longer, cardio workouts when it's too cold or too snowy to run outside or get down my driveway to drive to the gym.  The best part?  Unlike a lot of other apps that give you a free partial version but require payment for the full, this app comes free with all the options you could possibly want (and you hardly notice that it's just one big advertisement!)

What's your favourite workout app?

Monday Mindset

I'm starting this week feeling:  schlumpy.


I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm a bit sleepy.

I'm not running as much as I would like, and I've been feeling a bit chubby.

I'm motivated to work out (and have been getting my 30 minutes a day), but am still feeling lazy when it comes to running.

And after being away from my office last week, I'm behind on work, which makes me feel disorganized and grumpy.

On the bright side, as I said, I have been working out or at least stretching/walking/strengthening every day since the start of the 30 for 60 Challenge, and I have been getting my 7 fruits and veggies every day of HBBC, except one.  For both challenges, I've had 2 off days, but I haven't let that get me totally off my game plan, and for that, I am thankful.  This is progress for me, because in the past, one off day has thrown me off my entire week, or plan, or, as we'll see when I do my year in review wrap up of my goals, an off day can set me off.  Completely.  So my 30 for 60 challenge has become 30 for 59.  I did not waste that entire day.  I was on my feet for most of it, doing a good, pre-holiday clean of the house, errands, and even some Christmas decorating, though I worked up a bit of a sweat vacuuming (our furnace either heats to 25C or not at all at the moment), I didn't work out, per se.  This week, I would like to get 4 cardio workouts in, whether they be running, elliptical, bike, or some other aerobic exercise.  It's time to step it up!

Carnivore Conflict

I started my vegetarian diet just to see how long I could go without eating meat.  It turns out the answer was 9 years.

9 years ago, while eating some Thanksgiving leftovers, I decided to challenge myself to see if I could go for a month as a vegetarian.  After a month, I just kept going.  At first, I would occasionally have intense cravings for hamburgers, which I quickly figured out was my body's way of telling me I needed more iron or protein, but soon, I found it pretty easy to stick to my veggie diet.  After the original motivation of the "challenge," I was turned off at the thought of eating flesh, and had fun learning new vegetarian recipes. 

While living in Asia, I adopted a flexitarian diet.  I avoided meat as much as possible, but if it was served to me, I ate it.  My friends in China did not understand why anyone would give up meat because to their families, it was a luxury.  I put cultural sensitivity ahead of my own beliefs, and ate what was put in front of me.  During this time, I also started giving more thought to the local food movement, and it was of some comfort that the meat I was eating was predominantly bought at local markets from local farmers.  (I tried to put China's track record on animal rights out of my head).

Aside from a brief stint trying to be vegan when I returned to Canada (I couldn't do it), I started a pescatarian diet about 3 years ago, because living in a small, northern town, there weren't many veggie options and I like variety and simplicity in my diet.  I was also able to get a fair amount of local fish, and started thinking more about where my food was coming from.

Last year, we got chickens.  With a coop in the back yard, I knew exactly what they were being fed, how much space they have to run around, and was able to stand by for moral support while they were being killed.  (Moral support going equally to the BF doing the killing and to the chicken in the cone).

There are a lot of protein sources available to vegetarians and vegans.  Lentils, beans and nuts work great without even touching soy, but I found that more and more I was picking up convenient, processed, simulated meat and I wasn't entirely comfortable with that.  Another advantage of living in a northern community, is people like to hunt.  It's easy to get some meat comes from an animal that lived a happy free life without hormones or antibiotics being pumped into it, eating it's natural diet that doesn't make it sick, and that didn't travel hundreds of miles to get to my plate.

Over the past few months, I've slowly eased my way back into a diet that includes meat.  I no longer can say that I'm vege/pescitarian.  But I'm not totally comfortable eating all kinds of meat, either.  I admit that I've recently had a McD's quarter pounder (just to remember what it tasted like), and tried a few of the BF's favourite dishes at a couple of restaurants, but I don't want to eat ALL meat, all the time.

Do you think about where your food comes from?  What about your meat?  Do you think about how much meat you eat?

21 Things

Tall Mom tagged me last week to share 21 things about myself.  I'm going to try to keep them original and new!  Here it goes:

1.  I love the book Charlotte's Web, but none of the movie versions.  I read it over and over as a kid and have been on the look out for a new (used) copy to re-read and replace my old one that is now missing pages.

2.  I recently started eating meat after 9 years of being vegetarian  (post coming soon).

3.  I have a B.Sc in Biology from McMaster University, but don't use it.  I also have a Grad. Dip. in Teaching and Learning from Christchurch College.

4.  I wish I liked to cook, but I really don't.  Fake it til you make it?  I do like looking at cookbooks, but almost always just choose the recipes that go with the pictures.

5.  I have been lucky enough to do a fair amount of travelling and have taken a lot of pictures but don't think I'm a particularly good photographer.  Sometimes I luck out and get a good one.  This is one of my favourites:

6.  I like math and numbers.  When I need to add figures, I prefer to use a pencil and paper over a calculator.

7.  I like to do crosswords.  The Toronto Star crossword is the perfect difficulty level for me when I lived in Ontario - tough enough that I don't finish it every day, but easy enough that I can often finish it and feel good.  I haven't found a good one in the papers in BC.

8.  December 21st is my favourite day of the year (it just gets brighter from there!)

9.  I am a rule-follower.  I am a horrible liar and I hate getting "in trouble."  I even feel a twinge of anxiety if I jaywalk!

10.  When I travel, I am frequently "randomly selected" for an extra search.  At one point it had happened on 5 flights in a row, and once for an extra search as I boarded the plane when I was moving to New Zealand for a year.  They went through each of my CDs one by one and made me turn my laptop on.  I connected through LA, and it was not long after 9/11 so it all made sense, and I'm happy to take extra safety precautions, I just wonder, why me?!

11.  I have suffered from insomnia in the past.  Lately, I've been playing Boggle on my iPhone to help me clear my head and fall to sleep.  3 games usually does it!

12.  I have been to all of the provinces and 2 of Canada's 3 territories.  I am currently on a personal mission to get to Iqaluit, Nunavut for a work trip.

13.  I have never smoked.  EVER.

14.  I almost never wear jewellery, but I love to look at it and will often buy a necklace or a bracelet while travelling as a souvenir because it is easy to pack. 

15.  Growing up I always wanted to go to Australia.  Whenever someone would ask, if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go, that was my answer, without really knowing why.  Now that I've been, my new answer is Peru.  I don't know why!  If I could go back to somewhere I have already been it would be Laos or India or France.

16.  I escaped deportation/jail in China because my boss' father knew the police chief and bribed him with cartons of cigarettes.  (There was a misunderstanding about my passport and visa).

17.  I don't like making phone calls to non-friends or calling anyone for the first time.  I hate calling to make appointments or inquiries or orders for pizza.  I will put these calls off for as long as I possibly can, and will get out of them if I can.

18.  I love ice cream.  LOVE.

19.  I am currently shopping for a new car!  I have been driving my current car since I was 17 (I'm 32).

20.  Je voudrais être bilingue.  My favourite french word is "pamplemousse"

21.  I am known for being extremely well-organized at work.  I am a planner, and like to have things ready to go well in advance of a presentation, workshop, or meeting, however, I never feel like I am organized enough and always feel that I have to rush at the last minute to complete the final detail.

I will tag the last people to comment around here:

Amanda @ Run to the Finish

Stefano The Black Knight

Laura - Live Well, Laugh Often, Run Much

Abbi @ Higher Miles

Christine @ Dream BIG Runner