Alrighty, I’m back. This week begins a new month with new goals. Since the last I posted, there’s a couple of things that have happened that I’ll recap in posts coming this week. Among these recaps – I raced Ironman 70.3 Victoria! Talk about a wild experience! I thought I was going to die, I thought I was amazing, and I thought I could do anything, all in the same race. We’ll talk about it soon 🙂
Today, I’d like to briefly talk about some of the goals that I have for the month of July. Some of them require a titch more planning than other goals, but regardless, they all need mentioning. I think that goals are more likely to be achieved when you have just a few things to focus on, as opposed to just listing everything you want at once. So for the month of July, I’ll be focusing on 5 major goals.
1) Start building running mileage – including starting weekend long runs. Since the Ironman race, I’ve been keeping my swimming up, I’ve run a couple of times, and I’ll begin commuting to work via biking again this week. However, Seattle full marathon training starts the first weekend of August, so I need to spend this month starting to build my mileage. My goal is 3 4-6 mile runs during the week and starting to incorporate a long run or 8+ miles on the weekend. This should build my base enough to feel super confident getting into marathon training. I’ll be trying to get at least a few hill training sessions this month and a couple of speed workouts on the track now that school is out. Preferably, I’d like one of each per week. We’ll see how that goes.
2) Keep up strength training 2-4 times per week. I allowed myself a couple of strict recovery days following the Ironman race and then jumped into the 21 day fix workouts. It has been amazing. My running has been stronger, my swimming times are going down, and I feel awesome. Once the 21 days are over, I’d like to start lifting somewhat heavy again. Getting into those deadlifts, heavy squats, etc. Strength training always seems to fly out the window when I start a training regimen, and in order to reach my goals for the marathon, I need to get up that strength training. It’ll also help keep my weight loss going.
3) Start becoming a bit more creative with my new eating lifestyle. I’ve adopted a vegetarian (for personal reasons) and gluten free (for allergy reasons) lifestyle. In conjunction with the 21 day fix program, Super Husband and I have totally turned our eating habit around. It’s been amazing. We’ve been cutting the majority of the processed food out of our lives, taking notice of all products with hidden sugar, and trying to be more conscious of the food that we put into our bodies. I’ll do a review of this lifestyle change in a couple of days, but it’s been superb. The goal this month is to be more creative with some of my recipes. We’ve been eating the same type of things for the last week-ish, so it’s time to mix it up.
4) Mix up my outdoor activities! It’s that time of the year that happy hours should be replaced with outdoor picnic, outdoor movies, and outdoor activities. I would love to get on at least 1 hike this month, get on a stand up paddle board once or twice, and definitely take a kayaking trip around Lake Washington. I have a good feeling this goal will be achieved a few times over 🙂
5) Read 2 books. This goals is more mental health related than physical, but it’s all related. Given that it’s summer and the weather is so amazing right now, I need to make more of an effort to get out of the house, unplug, and read a good book. I have so many lined up, just waiting to be cracked open. I think 2 books is a pretty good goal for this month, but hopefully I can blow this one out of the water!
Ok, July! Lets do it! See you in a couple of days!