Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Countdown to the End of the Year

A few weeks ago I wrote about some off season goals that I had for myself. They were: strength training, flexibility and nutrition. There are 8 weeks left in 2009. It's time to put some numbers and details to my goals and see what I can get accomplished before December 31st.

Strength Training
I'm already lifting 2 days a week and have been incorporating more leg exercises. The goal is to continue to hit the gym twice a week and to get the legs nice and strong. I won't bore you with what weights I'm lifting now and how much more I want to lift. Since push ups seem to be a good benchmark for fitness, I will say that my goal is to be able to do three sets of 15 push ups. Right now I can do 12 for the first set, 8 the second and 5 the third. Obviously I have some work to do.

Flexibility
I've been faithfully stretching, but I missed yoga last week and am going to miss it again this week. I need to come up with an alternative for when I can't get to the gym at class time. Maybe a yoga DVD for home? In the meantime, I am committing myself to getting to yoga 6 out of the next 8 weeks. I'm going to learn to use the yoga blocks since I'm having trouble with some of the poses. I will borrow a yoga DVD from the library and see if that is a viable alternative. I wish I could set a goal like touching my toes, but that isn't going to happen in 8 weeks. Attendance will have to count as my whole grade for now. Maybe in 8 weeks I will have improved enough to have an actual performance goal.

Nutrition
I've done nothing in this area except eat Halloween candy. Is that good? Oh, I checked out a book about nutrition for endurance athletes. I haven't read it and it's two weeks overdue. Not good. My goal for this area is to lose 5 pounds. I'm 5 pounds heavier than I was this time last year and trying to lose a few pounds will force me to work on nutrition. No, the 5 pounds I gained is not muscle. It's nice of you to say that, but trust me, it's not. Eating healthier will help me look, feel and hopefully run better. Besides, those triathlon clothes are not forgiving!

Running
When I talked about goals a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to keep running, swimming, biking, roller skiing, etc., but that I wasn't sure how I was going to fit it all in. Well, no surprise, I can't. I've decided to concentrate on running for the next 8 weeks. I'm going to run 4 days a week for a total of at least 20 miles a week. I'll still try to get on the roller skis for 20 minutes here and there to get ready for the snow, but I'm just not good enough at it for it to be a big part of my exercise plan. So, the goal is 160 miles between now and December 31.

That's it! Eight weeks to get some things done. I'll have a challenge right from the start since we are traveling to watch my husband participate in his first Ironman race this weekend. The whole family is excited to cheer for him. I can't wait to be inspired by all of the athletes and I couldn't be more proud of my athlete who has trained so hard for many months. How was he able to have a full time job that includes a lot of travel and be a great husband and father and train for Ironman? Well, first of all, he has a great wife... ha, ha, ha. Honestly, from my point of view, it looked like pure hard work and determination. I'm sure I'll see more of that this weekend!

9 comments:

Nat said...

Hey I think we're all eating Halloween candy right now - aren't we? I am anyway! :) You'll reach your goals, I know you will. Good luck to Mike this weekend!

Londell said...

Sounds like a plan that can be accomplished... if not for all those holiday's? Keep focused. I am sure you will succeed! Good luck this weekend. Hope it is somewhere warm?

AZ said...

Nice job on the weights, stretching and running. Nutrition? Oh well, 3 out of 4 isn't bad.

Good luck to your hubby, I'm jealous.

BrianFlash said...

We use the Tony Horton P90X yoga DVD, but I think you would have to buy the entire program. Rodney Yee has some good power yoga DVDs out there.

I want my yoga to include lots of core/strength training. That makes it more manly...

Velma said...

I like the plan - it seems very doable and you have clear goals.

Good luck to hubby and enjoy the sun.

Porkchopwi said...

Those sound like awful familiar goals. But it sure is hard to not take “just one more” piece of candy, isn’t it.

Best of like to Mike at IM. Have fun!

Jean said...

Go Beth! I think it is great that you put together a late season running plan like that. It is so easy to just sort of slide into winter, so it is good to set those short term goals to keep motivated.

Have fun in Florida with your family and good luck to Mike!

Mel-2nd Chances said...

ya, i'm sure the halloween candy wasn't on my goal list either. Good luck to hubby, and you're probably right about the wife part, and so right about the triathlon clothes being unforgiving! LOL

Amytrigirl (aka Amybee) said...

I hear you on the goals and finding some easier and some more challenging. We still have time, though!

Nat and I are running a couple times per week. Sometimes we have other friends runninng with us. Let me know if you want to know where/when and we could all hook up. We'd also like to do one of those interval runs with Steve Stenzel...watch for details!