May Goals

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How is it May already? This is a tough one for me to write this month. I'm feeling a little at a loss in many aspects and it's been tough to really pinpoint more than one goal. So lets rewind a little bit and recap April first.

APRIL:
1. Finish the Las Vegas Mustang 50th Half with no pain and injury-free! 
Well I was mostly pain free. I did feel pain, but since we walked the majority of the last half of the race and chose to have fun instead of really race, it didn't so much matter. I hope for a little bit more of a serious output at BMO, but will just have to see how things go.

2. Read 3 books.
I read only 2 and that's all I really have to say about that right now... fail.

3. Continue to work on balance between Strength Training & Running.
I went to bootcamp on and off this month and though it was a positive experience and a GREAT deal I found on Groupon, the wheels definitely fell off the wagon after our vacation.

4. Learn how to garden.

By summer, we should have Broccoli, Peas, Beans, & Lettuce!

This has actually been a moderately successful experience. We started with the lawn, which was way more involved than I ever imagined. At our last house the lawn was a patch of grass about the size of a coffee table, so with almost an acre, things have definitely changed. We had someone come and rip up the moss with a special tool who works in our neighborhood and then we had to rake it all up and remove it. Then I seeded, fertilized, and cut the remaining grass. That was about 3 weeks ago, it's finally starting to grow back, but with lots of weeds, so I will have to work on that! Next, I planted my vegetable garden, some strawberries, rhubarb, and a bed with gladiolis for some cut flowers in the summer!
I had managed to plant some tulip bulbs back in the fall and some other things, so I was pleased to see those! I've still got some work to do with the grapes I think and a few other flower beds/cleanup.

MAY:
1. Try to pace Brandi (and myself) to a sub 2:27 BMO Half Marathon
This is a random goal that I wasn't anticipating, so I really hope my foot behaves and it works out. Normally, it wouldn't be an issue at all (with a PR of 2:08 and a relatively consistent sub 2:20), but the way things have been going I am mildly concerned. Either way, it's always fun to run with a friend so I'm so happy we get to do another race together!

2. Just enjoy the rest of my May races.
I will have 2 other races in May and my goal for now is to just enjoy and have fun and of course finish uninjured. It looks like my June race schedule might change so I'm just trying to focus on May for now and be happy with that, more on that next week.

3. Finish my surgical chapter and start my practicum.
This is obviously something I haven't talked about much, but I am so close (sort of) to finishing school and doing my practicum which will hopefully get me a job. I just have this one GIANT chapter to get through. It's supposed to take 2 months and I'm hoping to complete it in 1 month.

That's all for now folks. My usual goals will continue including drinking more water, reading, trying to consistently run, and gardening, amongst other things.

What are your goals this month?

Strength Training

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First off, I'm sorry for the silence over the last few days, I've just been busy with life.

In other news, I started a new strength training program last week as per my February goals, and so far, it is going great. Essentially, I'm doing P90x, I'm just not doing the FULL program. I need it to compliment running and not take away from it. When I did CrossFit last year, my biggest complaint was that I was so wrecked, tired, and sore all of the time, there was no time or energy left for running.

So here's what I've managed since last Thursday:

Chest & Back
Ab Ripper
Plyometrics
Yoga X
Arms & Shoulders
Legs & Back

I like all of the workouts, though they are a bit long when you add a run in too. Unfortunately, I went a little too far with Ab Ripper and was way too sore by Sunday for my long run. I think I may have pulled my hip flexor.

I looked up all sorts of interesting stretches for your hips on Saturday night, hoping that I would feel better Sunday morning.

Since then, I've been a bit more careful to only push myself just enough, but not to the point where my form falls apart. Another complaint I had with CrossFit was that though there was support and a lot of instruction on form sometimes the spirit of competition takes over and that's when my form fell apart. Though, I still think CrossFit is a great workout and honestly if I could afford it, I'd probably still be doing it, it's not very convenient, and it's probably better that I focus on my running.

Anyways, I'm already feeling stronger and the scale is moving very slowly as well. Though, weight loss isn't the goal, I wouldn't mind losing a few pounds. I'm roughly 10 pounds away from my goal weight which I got down to last June and then gained most of it back after the marathon...


Have you done p90x? What did you think? How do you balance strength training with running?

January Goals Recap & February Goals

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As per this post, I'm updating my goals for February and recapping how January went...


January Recap:

Post about goals for January...
Yay done!

Run at least 4x week, preferably 5x.
I've been sticking to the 4 but so far not 5x per week.

Discover what I'd like to be different about marathon training this time around.
I fixed some of the chafing issues I've had and bought a REAL sports bra (see this post).  I also worked on some pacing problems and after only a month of training, I'm right back at my race pace as per my half marathon last weekend!

Get up earlier.
I have to admit this, so far, is a total disaster. I've been reading endless tips from friends and other blogs on how to accomplish this and I haven't really improved. So, I'm taking drastic action. See below.


February:

Get up earlier. 
I'm continuing this one. Get ready... I will be getting up at 6:00AM every single day in February, ugh I'm going to regret this one tomorrow... But I need to do something to kickstart my body into getting used to it.

Strength Training.
You may remember me doing CrossFit last Spring/Summer and though I really loved it and it worked, I felt sore almost all the time and it really interfered with my running. This time around, I wanted to find something I can do at home, so yesterday I started P90x. I will not be doing it every day but preferably 4x per week to compliment running. More on this soon.

Read at least 3 books.
Here's what I'm reading in 2014, check it out and see what's up next!

Run 180km
This shouldn't be an issue with all the marathon training but I like the idea of setting monthly mileage goals to keep me accountable. I'll finish off January at about 130km including one entire week of being sick.

Do you have any February goals? Got any tips to help me achieve mine?