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Posts Tagged ‘resolutions’

2014 by the Numbers

Posted in Biking, Miles Log, Running, tagged , , , , , , , on January 2, 2015| 9 Comments »

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve gotten 2015 off to a running start (ha ha)! I got out on New Year’s Day for a speed workout — 8 x 800m at 10K pace (in the 7:30s). Training for my next full marathon is going well. There are just over eight weeks left until the Phoenix Marathon on Feb. 28. Two months seems like a long time away and a short time away all at once.

I have set some loose goals for 2015 — more “things to work towards” rather than resolutions. For January I intend to work on meal planning, both to save money and to work on maintaining good nutrition leading up to the marathon. My exercise-related goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon with time to spare, so I actually meet the cutoff for registration for the 2016 race.

Looking back on 2014 makes me grateful for what a fantastic year it was. I didn’t realize it at the time but I nearly sampled the whole running menu! In addition to the running relay at Ragnar Napa Valley, I did eight races at almost every distance: one 1-miler, two 5Ks, one 8K, one 10K, two half marathons and one full marathon. (Ultra in 2015??) The really surprising thing is that I got on the podium in my age group in 4 of those 8 races (the mile, 5K, 10K and 13.1). To go from not being a runner at age 39 to getting on the podium at age 43 makes me appreciate all of the wonderful, positive changes that running has brought into my life in the last four years.

My favorite race of the year turned out to be the inaugural REVEL Canyon City Half Marathon in September. Just a gorgeous course and a really positive experience for me to end the year on.

Some more number crunching (perhaps only interesting to me but I like to document it):

Miles run in 2014: 1,084.39

Miles biked in 2014: 1,644.78

Miles of swimming in 2014: 2 (can I even call myself a triathlete anymore?!)

Miles walked on warm-ups or cool-downs: 75.84

If you add up all the running, biking, swimming and walking, I covered the driving distance from Los Angeles to New York City — over 2,800 miles! And what helped me get through a lot of those miles? Reading!

Number of books read: 76

Number of those books that were audiobooks listened to while exercising or cleaning house: 39 (over 50%)

One of the best changes I made in my training over the past year was to add in 40-60 minutes of strength training each week (for a total of 33.94 hours for the year, to be exact). Not only did that change my body shape, more importantly it gave me some core strength to draw on when I get tired toward the end of a race and I’m tempted to let my running form fall apart and my pace drop. Strength training offers a lot of returns on a small investment of time.

What about you? What strikes you when you look back on your year? What’s one change you were glad you made in 2014?

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Resolution Rededication

Posted in Inspiration, No Excuses, tagged , , on January 31, 2013| 6 Comments »

For many years, my New Year’s resolution was to exercise at least four days a week (now it’s six). I kept track on a paper calendar (you remember paper calendars from the BG and BBB days — Before Google and Before BlackBerry?) I’d cross off each day that I exercised for at least 20 minutes, although the goal was 30 or more. If I only exercised three days one week, that was okay, because I could shoot for five the next. There was no throwing up of hands, oh well, I didn’t make it four days this week, I couldn’t keep my New Year’s resolution again this year. I was kind to myself (and as a certified perfectionist, I’m not often kind to myself. Like right now I’m berating myself: why do you use so many parentheticals in your writing? (That is not a good thing)).

Anyway, if you are struggling to keep up with your New Year’s resolutions, or have already thrown in the towel, I want you to be kind to yourself and rededicate yourself to your resolutions. Do you want to know my trick for doing that? It’s super easy and effective.

Talk to yourself like you would talk to a good friend.

Would you say to a good friend, “I can’t believe you didn’t exercise today!” or “You’re only down two pounds instead of four. You might as well give up because you’re never going to meet your goal.” Of course not! But for some reason, we are harder on ourselves than we are on our friends. Why?? We deserve to be treated with the same kindness.

For example, if you were training for a race and you missed a week of training for whatever reason, you might beat yourself up mentally over it. You might even be worried you could not meet the race distance and should give up on the race. If a friend missed a week of training, you would not say a single negative thing. You would give her a supportive pep talk. “I know it’s hard when you get off track for a week, but you can do it! Don’t give up now! I am proud of you!” You’d help her figure out how to adjust her workouts to resume her training plan.

Don’t give in to your own stinkin’ thinkin’ (that’s a Crazy Sexy Cancermovie reference) (and there’s another parenthetical, but I choose to forgive myself for that). Treat yourself with kindness. Treat yourself as you would treat others.

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Friday Follow-up

Posted in Family life, Gear, Marathon, Running, Women, tagged , , , , on January 18, 2013| 2 Comments »

Play along with me and let me believe that you actually were wondering about the answers to the following questions and that you appreciate this Friday Follow-up.

1. Hey Angela, how did you do on those Before the End of the Year Resolutions? Did you clean out the linen cabinets like you said you would? Why yes I did, thank you for asking!

Dear IRS, This photo constitutes evidence of my sizable charitable donation. Too bad I didn't get it in before the end of the 2012 tax year.

Dear IRS: This photo constitutes evidence of my sizable charitable donation.

Mike and I took a few hours to conquer the cabinets together. We did do it before the end of the year, however we were not quite organized enough to then get the bags donated to charity before the end of the year. I think my 2012 tax return wept a little at that mistake.

Tip: When you organize your linens (once every billion years like I do), organize the bed linen sets by putting the folded top sheet and fitted sheet inside the matching pillowcase. That way it’s super easy to grab a new set of sheets when it’s time to change the bed linens (once every quarter-billion years like I do).

2. How are the posterior shin splints on the left leg and the strained adductor magnus on the right upper back thigh butt crease thingamabob? Much better, thanks! The shin splints are history and the adductor magnus has gone from screaming at me to whimpering occasionally. I credit the improvement to stretching the calf muscles, running in moderation, and massaging the sore spots.

3. So if you’re not injured anymore, are you training for the Mountains to Beach Marathon yet? I got an email from the M2B people the other day that said “19 days until marathon training begins” and my heart leapt into my throat! I knew it was coming of course, but my training plan does not officially start until February 3. It’s a 16-week plan from Run Less, Run Faster and right now it’s week 19. It’s been hard to know what to do in this down time. I’ve focused on healing from the injuries and easing back into speed work and long runs and I will be ready to start the plan when the time comes.

4. So here’s what I really want to know but am too embarrassed to ask…. Do you actually like the Instead Softcup feminine protection product or did you just say that because the company sponsored your first marathon? After several cycles I can say I still like it! I love it! I simply love the ability to, um, “fix it and forget it” (as the crockpot recipe people would say) — I love that the product can be worn for 12 hours at a time. I’m not going back to any other method.

5. Speaking of products, how do you like that Costco women’s running jacket you bought the other day? Another winner! The “mittens” are the best. I’ve worn the jacket for two cold weather runs and it’s great to be able to tuck my hands inside the covers until they start to roast, and then let them out when I want them to cool off. The thumb-holes are a good compromise too. The only thing that confused me on the jacket for a minute is that it has two zippers, one that zips the jacket up, and one that lets you leave the top of the jacket zipped up while you unzip the bottom of the jacket. I am assuming this feature is there to allow you to put your fuel belt on underneath the jacket and still access it. Or maybe people get hot on their bellies? Not me! Take a look at these photos of my cold rash from recent runs. Perhaps I need to add yet another layer to my top and bottom?

That's mah belleh! Still working on that six pack....

That’s mah belleh! Still working on that six pack….

Is it wrong to post this next one?

Do not adjust your screen. That is not a ham hock. That is a cold rash on what my kids and I call my buttoxes.

Do not adjust your screen. That is not a ham hock. That is a cold rash on what my kids and I call my hip and “buttoxes.”

The cold rash went away in about 15 minutes. In the meantime we enjoyed playing that game where you try to decide what the shape looks like. I think it looks like a bat spread its wings and flew into me at full speed.

Do you ever get a cold rash? Have I answered all your burning questions? Ask away in the comments.

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Before the End of the Year Resolutions

Posted in Family life, Inspiration, tagged , , , on December 28, 2012| 2 Comments »

I have no beef with New Year’s resolutions, but I find I get a lot more traction out of “before the end of the year” resolutions. For the past two years I have resolved to declutter my house before the end of the year. Yes, the very fact that I’ve made that same resolution two years in a row reveals that I was not exactly successful in accomplishing my goal. However, I cut myself a lot of slack on that. When we moved from Michigan to California, we went from a home with a 1,700 square foot basement to a home without any basement at all. (What’s up with that, homebuilders? You think basements are only for cold country? Basements are for JUNK STORAGE, obvs). So, here we are without even a crawl space. Zip, zero, zilch space to put all that “stuff” that for some reason we thought it was important to hang on to for 13+ years.

I have made a lot of progress over the last few years since we moved into our home and there are only five spaces remaining to declutter:

1. The linen cabinets in the upstairs hallway. We have way too many hand-me-down, mismatched sets of bed linens. Time to purge those and get organized so I can tell what goes with the master king bed, the queen beds, and the full bed.

2. The extra cabinet in my 8-year-old’s room. It’s filled with photo albums and scrapbooks and miscellaneous papers that need sorting. There’s no reason for all that stuff to be in my daughter’s room.

3. The laundry room cabinets. Those are the cabinet versions of “junk drawers.”

4. The garage. We have made tons of progress on the garage. The proof is in the fact that we can now park two cars in our three car garage instead of only one. It’s sad how happy that makes me.

5. The master bedroom closet. That closet has been clean in the past, down to the shirts being organized by sleeve-length and color. Right now I would settle for “no crayons dumped on the floor by the toddler.”

Am I going to get to all that in the three days remaining before the New Year? Heck no! I’ll be satisfied to do one of those. (The linen cabinets are calling my name: “Purge me, Angela. Use your extra energy in the off-season to make me pretty. Go crazy and make labels! You know you want to.”)

The thing about resolutions is they’re not absolutes. They’re goals to work toward. They’re not all or nothing. The key word is progress. If you can say you’ve made progress each year, moving forward toward your goals, I’d call that a huge success.

When I peeked back into the archives of my journal for 2012, I found this entry on January 4th:

I don’t have resolutions or goals. The two words that sum up my hopes for 2012 are “progress” and “prompt.” Make progress bit by bit on keeping the house clean, staying fit, making friends (for me and the girls), going down the “to do” list. Prompt means not procrastinating on big tasks or small. Laundry, dishes, paying bills, doing things on the “to do” list that are bothering me.

I confess that by the end of the year I’d forgotten about the words of intent I’d chosen for the year — “progress” and “prompt” — but I can say that I lived by them for the year. I made progress keeping the house clean. There are still many times when it looks like a tornado hit the downstairs (“tornado” being “three girls I am desperately trying to teach to clean up after themselves”) but with my decluttering efforts we are never far away from being tidy.

I definitely made progress on “staying fit.” In 2012 I ran my first 8K, half marathon and full marathon. That’s epic progress!

Making friends for me and the girls? In addition to my high school friends who remain close, and the lovely book club ladies, I made a new friend in my half marathon coach Stephanie. I’m a die-hard introvert, so for me to have someone I can reach out to for companionship on a long run is wonderful!

I made lots of effort for the girls to have playdates here at the house and local parks. We do not live in a traditional neighborhood with sidewalks, culs-de-sac (yes, that is one of the grammatically correct ways to say the plural of cul-de-sac, which is French for “bottom of the bag” or “bottom of the sack”) and a school within walking distance. We have to go the extra mile (literally) to get the girls together with friends.

As for the last goal of paring down the “to do” list? Progress on that front too. Sure there are big things remaining (“power wash the deck and stain it” is not likely to happen anytime soon) but when it comes to things that I can realistically accomplish in the next day, I am pretty darn good about knocking items off the list faster than I can add them. I couldn’t say that when I had young babies, but with my youngest turning age four last July, I’m gaining traction. It feels good.

What about you? Do you have any resolutions, goals, or words of intention for 2013? How did you do in 2012?

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