Monday Mindset

Is it Monday?  It feels like it should be the day after the day after the day after Friday, but not Saturday or Sunday.

That's because I've been working since last Monday, but without a weekend. 

Remember when I said that I was going to get more work/life balance this year?  Well don't worry - I plan on working will work 4 day weeks for the next month to make this up to myself.

Despite the workload, I've managed to start the new year right by sticking to my running schedule for the month.  It was a balmy -2C in Whitehorse yesterday and I took advantage of a break in my day to head out for a run.  It took me some time to find a road with cleared sidewalks, so I was slow at the start and finish as I ran through deeper snow on the snowmobile trails that run along side the main roads here in the winter, but I was able to get out for 7K.  I wish I'd taken a photo of the snow covered hills around town - it's beautiful here.

This morning the wind was a little more wicked, and I was not sure if I would have a break while the sun was up (10am - 4:30pm), so I went to the Canada Games Centre for 5K on the treadmill and a good stretch.

This week I want to keep checking those runs off of my schedule and focus on getting to bed at a decent hour.  My sleep schedule is still out of whack from the holidays, but I'm getting back on track.  :)

Food Journal - Week One

In university I took a course called, "Right to Food."  For one assignment we had to write down everything we ate for 3 days and calculate all of the nutrients, calories, and costs for each item.  It took me forever to get 3 consecutive days that I wasn't completely embarassed to hand in.  Cookies for breakfast?  Beer for lunch?  3 cans of coke in a day?  It really made me think about what I was putting in my body, and what I was getting from it, and I made changes.  I cut out pop completely, and it wasn't long after that that I became a vegetarian. 

Over the years, some bad habits have crept back in, and it's never more apparent than over the holidays and other busy, stressful times.  So with a stressful, busy week of work coming right after the holidays, I welcomed Amanda's suggestion to do a month long food journal in January.

A look back at this week has drawn no surprises when it comes to food.  I know that my holiday eating habits went from bad to worse, and this week I was just making my way through the leftovers.  I also recorded my daily exercise (30 minutes+, 6 days out of 7), my hours spent working, and my wake up and bed times along with some notes on how I felt at different times throughout the day. 

One thing that did surprise me is that I went to bed feeling hungry a couple of nights.  I think that knowing that I was writing everything down (and appalled at what I saw on the page for the rest of the day) kept me from snacking on more sweets in the evening.  So rather than not going for a bowl of ice cream while watching tv, I just didn't have anything, and then felt hungry.  This week I'm going to try some post-dinner fruit to quash the sweet craving and stop the hunger.

Once I got rid of the leftovers in the kitchen, I headed out of town for work, so my food options have been different than normal and my sleep patterns have been wonky.  I stay away until Wednesday of next week, so the sleeping thing has to get under control - soon!  That is my focus for the coming week.

2012 Race Plan

After they ran out of Gu and water last year at the BMO Vancouver Marathon, and the gong show at bag drop off the year before, I swore I would not run another one of these events.

Well, never say never.

Back in December I was being inundated with emails from about the new course, and....

....I signed up!  I know having something to train for keeps me motivated, and this race is good timing for me to work back up from practically no running through the fall, and will give me the base to make a fall marathon possible.  Who knows, maybe third times a charm?!

I'm still looking for other races to put in my 2012 schedule, and still deciding if this will be another marathon year (Victoria?/Seattle?/Toronto?/Mississauga?), but so far I'm planning to run:

March 18 - The River Spring Run Off - 10K

May 6 - BMO Vancouver 1/2 Marathon

June 3 (?) - Prince George Family Y 1/2 Marathon

Other than that, I don't have anything planned for sure.  If I'm going to run a fall marathon, I'll decide in May.  For now, I'll just see how it goes and enjoy building my base back up.  With 4 cannotwaittogetoutthedoor runs in 4 days, it's going pretty well so far.

Monday Mindset

I'm starting this week feeling motivated and ready to go!

I couldn't wait to get out for my run this morning, and it's great to have that feeling back.  In an attempt to keep myself from getting burnt out and unmotivated again, I'm trying to vary my running routes as much as possible, rather than waiting til I get bored to switch things up.  I ran an out and back route and on the way out I felt like I could go forever.  I'm also trying to prevent injury by not letting myself get too carried away, so I let myself run an extra .5K out and turned my 5K run into 6K.  Nothing extreme, but it felt good to do just that little bit extra.

It was 4*C today and a nice treat to run without the bulky mittens and multiple layers and just go out in a long sleeve and run, carefully avoiding the ice that's still on the roads, of course.

I made a month long plan last week, taking into account when I'm travelling, when my workload will be heaviest, and where I want to be by the end of the month so that I can start 1/2 training in February (more on that soon).  I got an unplanned run in yesterday, so I'm already ahead of the game!

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.