Happy New Year! Let's Talk Goals

Back in April, I mentioned that I’m in the habit of setting goals at the start of each year. Big goals for the year that may take me the whole year or may hinge on a certain date/event, as well as smaller goals that I can work on achieving throughout the year.  Part way through the year, I also set a few Strava related goals in an effort to add some excitement to my training. So, how did I do? Bit of a mixed result. Some I met. Some I shattered. Some I didn’t achieve. All in all, I’m OK with what I achieved. I’m pretty sure with more discipline, I could have achieved all of them but I’ll just tuck that knowledge into my pocket and bring it forward into 2014 - along with those outstanding goals.

So, the big goals for 2013:

• Run a 5:30 marathon. This is one of the goals that I shattered. Achieved May 5, 2013. You can read it about it here.
• Complete a Half Ironman.  Achieved June 2, 2013. I was MIA from the blogosphere at the time so the closest thing I have to a race report is photo album on Facebook. But it was a challenging, amazing experience and I loved it. Time: 7:17.
  
• Do the Grouse Grind in Under an Hour.  Shattered June 9, 2013.  There’s a story here. I first did the Grind in 2011 as a Team Building experience at the request of my [much younger] staff. We met after work one day and everyone scattered to complete it at their own pace. Team building! I thought I was going to die on that mountain. It took me 2 hours and 6 minutes. I came home and swore I’d never do it again. My son – 18 at the time – said “what if I want to do it”. After some back and forth where I tried to convince him he wouldn’t like it, and didn’t need my company to do it, we agreed to do it together but I suggested he wait until he was 19 so he could have a beer at the top. I hoped he’d forget. In 2012, as we approached his 19^th birthday, he reminded me of our Grind date. Stink! So up we went. He hated it. It took me an hour and 40 minutes and I swore to never do it again. Then when setting my goals for 2013, my beloved annoying as hell personal trainer suggested the Grind under an hour as a goal. I reminded him I was never doing it again, could never get under an hour, and what was the point when there was no medal. He offered to convert one of his national cycling medals if I could do it and voila, goal #3 was born. We went up together the weekend after the Half Ironman. Time? 51 minutes. I went back 6 days later, on my 43^rd birthday, and did it by myself in 48 minutes. I’m still waiting for the medal.
• Six New “Things”.  New foods and experiences, I tracked 8 this year:
• Smoked tofu - January 12 – heavenly. Try it.
• Spin class – January 16 – put on by my Tri Club and I loved it from the first class! A challenging sweat-fest that can leave you with that post-exercise endorphin boost that I’ve only ever experienced with running. I’m hooked.
• Escarole – January 18 – eat your greens people.
• Mammogram – February 27 – taking care of the girls.
• Infrared Yoga – March 29 – love it! You can read about my first experience here. At the time, I said I didn’t think I’d make it a part of regular routine but I now hold an unlimited pass and go 1-3 times a week.
• Acupuncture – July 2013 – recommended by my running coach, I used acupuncture as part of the therapy following my calf tear. I didn’t love the experience, but I do love what it does for me. I’ll make this a part of my regular complement of therapies, at least until my extended health benefits top out!
• Trail race – September 2013 – Meet Your Maker relay. Loved it and hoping to do it again next year. 
  
• Facial – September 14, 2013 – Not what I expected and very relaxing. Would definitely do it again.
• Green 90% or More. This refers to my eating habits. Green means I ate according to my eating plan and when I set the goal, the issue was that I wasn’t eating enough. I called it eating red if I missed servings. Over-eating was not an issue – not back then – I was extremely disciplined and had been for months. I didn’t achieve this goal. For the first five months, I mixed green days with under-nourished days and over-indulging days. For the second half of the year, I infrequently tracked. This is something that I need to get a handle on going forward. Both to keep my weight in check and to ensure I am adequately fueling for Challenge.

My “smaller” goals were outlined in a blog post earlier this year.

3, 6, and 7 have all been achieved. I don’t think I’ve mentioned #7 anywhere on the blog. This was a stretch goal for me. In June of this year, I ran one of the MEC Series races, competing in the 5K distance. I realized when I got there that they were only recognizing the top 3 finishers by gender, not by age group. I pushed hard anyway and came in 2^nd overall female, 5^th overall finisher. 26:01 on a slightly long course. Stunned, elated, and so overjoyed.

So as I look ahead to 2014, I’ve got my goals all lined up. Some of these will be no surprise given prior blog entries, but here they are, “officially”:

The big goals:

1. Complete a marathon for age 43. This is part of my ongoing plan to run a marathon a year following my 40^th birthday – at least for as long as my knees will permit. Whidbey Island Marathon in April is my race target. Not looking for a specific time or a PR (necessarily) because it’s a hilly course, and my goal is to stay injury free. Because 2014 is all about goal #2.
2. Complete an ironman triathlon. Here are the deets on that decision.
3. Set a new Grouse Grind PR. I think it would be cool to be able to do it in my age. And once I achieve that, I can relax and get slower every year! 
4. 6 New Things. Because the new experiences enrich your life. New people even more so! When I reflect on the people I’ve met each year in the last 2 years, I get a little excited thinking about what new people I’ll be meeting in the year ahead who are going to have an impact on my life.
5. Sub 2-hour Half Marathon. I first started blogging about that here. And then here. I’m still chasing Sub-2. My next attempt will be at the First Half Half Marathon this year.
6. Run 2014 kilometres.

The smaller/ongoing goals:

1. Swim 2000m in 50 minutes or less. I’m currently swimming 1700-1800 in an hour, including drills, kick sets and RI.
2. Bodyfat under 20%. I don’t even know what it is right now. Low 20s.
3. Waist (at the belly button) measure of less than or equal to 31”. It’s the holidays, don’t ask for a “where are you now” status.
4. Bicep measure of less than or equal to 10”. Gotta get rid of those beefy farm-arms.
5. A top 3 age-group finish. 
6. 100 km ride in under 4 hours. Based on my Half Ironman result, I'm sure I can do this but the only century I've ridden took me 4:09.

And of course, I’m aiming to set new PRs through the year as well. Starting tomorrow with the Sole Experience Generation Charity Run. I’m running the 10K distance. It will be the first 10K I’ve run in close to 4 years. I’ve gotten a lot faster and I’m expecting a PR tomorrow, and aiming for under an hour. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year! I would love to encourage you in achieving your 2014 goals! Tell me about them in the comments.

My Road to Challenge: Training Week 6 of 40

	This week	Cumulative
Total training hours	14:31	75:55
Swim	02:53 / 5.15 km	09:15 / 17. 5 km
Bike	02:18 (trainer time)	10:10 (spin class + trainer time)
Run	05:25 / 51.6 km	25:27 / 237.6 km
Strength training	02:40	15:47
Yoga	1:15	15:15

OK, so I ended week 5, reflecting on a training lesson learned: more scheduling structure so that I don’t end up with an unbalanced training load, spending the second half of the week doing triples and quads. And despite that awareness, I did it again! Today marks the 4^th consecutive day of triples and I’m tired. And my workouts showed it. A slow 6K run this morning. A weight workout with my trainer where I repeatedly whined “I don’t like that”. Then a slow 1700m swim that had me questioning whether the pool was 25m. So it’s good to be learning these lessons now, early in my Challenge training, when I’m really just ramping things up.

Perhaps also adding to my fatigue is the return to eating like a scale obsessed food Nazi. I was still carrying those extra pounds I talked about in November. And then making merry with crackers, chocolate, wine, and Bailey’s*… well, I crept up a little higher on the scale. *Bailey’s… I need to stop here for a minute.

Bailey’s is a seasonal treat. We buy some at Christmas and enjoy it in our coffee. This year, I discovered two new varieties at the liquor store: Caramel & Biscotti. Which to buy, which to buy… I went with the Caramel. It was fabulous in coffee. What to my wondering eyes but a week later, the bottle was empty! How did that happen? We hadn’t even made it to Christmas yet. So I did what any spirit-loving-holiday-treat-indulging in-denial-and-staying-off-the-scale-to-avoid-a-wakeup-call woman would do: I bought the Biscotti flavour. That one’s not as good in coffee as the Caramel. Unfortunately for my waistline, it is incredible on its own over ice. And that bottle is gone too. If you’re concerned about putting on weight over the holidays, drinking two bottles of deliciousness where the first 3 ingredients are: cream, sugar, alcohol… probably not a sound strategy. Boxing Day, I returned to my nutritionist’s eating plan from last year – the one that took me to goal and beyond. I’m happy to say I’ve already peeled off the holiday weight and am now working on those 6 lbs I’d put on in the fall. Hopefully that won’t take too long because I need to start figuring out how to optimally fuel my training. And that can’t happen while I’m trying to budge the number on the scale.

Week 6 marks my highest volume week – more swimming, spinning, running and strength training – and that achieved with Christmas smack in the middle of it. Between Christmas prep, a loved one in hospital, and holiday entertaining, I’m grateful to have gotten everything in, even if I didn’t balance it through the week as I’d hoped.

Monday Rest Day!	Hatha Yoga Class
Tuesday Christmas Eve	6 km run
Wednesday Christmas Day	10.5 km run
Thursday	9.1 km run 55 minute spin on the trainer 45 minute weight workout at home + 15 minute TRX Core workout
Friday	1750m swim 19.6 km run in… in a downpour… with company! J 53 minute spin on the trainer
Saturday	1700m swim 30 minute spin on the trainer 40 minute weight workout at home
Sunday	6.3 km run 1 hour weight workout with my trainer 1700m swim

On to week 7… and 2014!

My Road to Challenge: Training Week 5 of 40

	This week	Cumulative
Total training hours	10:05	61:24
Swim	01:40 / 3.2 km	06:22 / 12.35 km
Bike	02:06 (spin class + trainer time)	07:52 (spin class + trainer time)
Run	03:56 / 35.7 km	20:02 / 186 km
Strength training	02:22	13:07
Yoga	None!	14:00

Week 5 ended up being a bit of a fall back week for me. I missed one run - because I just didn’t make it a priority to fit it in. If I’m being perfectly honest, it was also because it was some speedwork and I’ve not had much success with that lately. I kept putting it off, putting it off, putting it off through the week and then the next thing you know, we had a big dump of snow and so I was faced with doing it in the snow on Friday or the slush on Saturday or Sunday or – God Forbid – the treadmill. I opted to just let it go. The other reason my training time dipped is because I didn’t make it in to yoga at all. Not so much due to my scheduling challenges but because the holiday scheduling at my yoga studio resulted in a lot of cancellations – and it seemed that all the classes I attend regularly were off the roster. L

I’m not feeling so bad about it. One missed run in the big picture isn’t going to change my Challenge experience. And the lower overall volume this week has taught me a couple of things:

1. I need to add a bit more structure to my scheduling. What I mean by that is making certain days always “the days” for those activities. I haven’t. Instead I have let my schedule be pretty fluid, and considered days that I’m not working as good opportunities to catch up / load up on workouts. The problem with that is I end up doing triples & quads at the end of the week, which leaves me exhausted and dreading my workouts. So some smart scheduling is on my list of things to tackle heading into 2014.
2. Yoga. My body needs it. My back has been finicky for the last few days and then after this morning’s class, I felt so much better. My back was happier. My cranky left shoulder was a little happier, my hips were happier, my hamstrings looser. I’ve thought of my yoga workouts as bonuses vs integral to my training.  Might be time to rethink that.

And something weird happened this week: I started to enjoy the swim. I know. It’s crazy. I can’t explain it.

Here’s week 5:

Monday Rest Day!	Not. A. Damn. Thing.
Tuesday	5.2 km run 45 minute weight workout at home
Wednesday	Tri-Club Spin Class
Thursday	5.2 km run
Friday	8.3 km run in the fresh snow 1 hour weight workout with my trainer
Saturday	1600m swim
Sunday	15 minute warm-up spin on the trainer 37 minute weight workout at home 1600m swim 17 km run in the slush & rain with a post-run latte with hubby as my reward! 51 minute spin on the trainer

My Road to Challenge: Training Week 4 of 40

	This week	Cumulative
Total training hours	13:42	51:19
Swim	01:44 / 3.15 km	04:42 / 9.15 km
Bike	01:57 (spin class + trainer time)	05:46 (spin class + trainer time)
Run	04:31 / 40.6 km	16:06 / 150.3 km
Strength training	02:30	10:45
Yoga	03:00	14:00

Fear not, tiny little blog following. The absence of a training week 4 post, at the end of training week 4 is not reflecting that I’ve stopped training. Au contraire, training week 4 was my biggest week yet. It’s just that training plus work plus Christmas preparations and socials have kept me from blathering on about it… Until now!

I did tap out of the Daily Challenge for December. My knees & shoulders couldn’t take the Crossfit Style Burpees – and since I do a lot of other stuff and don’t want to jeapordize my tri-disciplines by blowing out my knees/shoulder with this little challenge, I bailed.  But that aside, without further ado, here’s week 4:

Monday	8.6 km run (hill repeats in the snow)
Tuesday Rest Day!	8 minutes of planking After work Christmas Cheer!
Wednesday	15 minute warm-up spin on trainer 45 minute weight workout at home 8 minutes of planking Tri-Club Spin Class
Thursday	8.3 km run Yoga Double Header:            Hatha/Core Flow Class            Hatha Class
Friday	4.5 km run 1 hour weight workout with my trainer
Saturday	5.2 km run 1600m swim 45 minute weight workout at home 42 minute spin on the trainer
Sunday	1550m swim 14.1 km run Yin/Deep Stretch Yoga Class

My yoga studio has added a new class late morning on Sundays and so I timed my Sunday long run to end at the studio in time to take the Yin/Deep Stretch class. When the instructor asked if we wanted to focus on anything in particular, I was quick to suggest hips. It was a fabulous way to end a long run and something I intend to make a habit.

My Road to Challenge: Training Week 3 of 40

	This week	Cumulative
Total training hours*	12:24	37:37
Swim	1:35 / 3 km	02:58 / 6 km
Bike	01:34 (spinning on the trainer)	03:49 (spin class + trainer time)
Run	04:00 / 38.5 km	11:35 / 109.7 km
Strength training	02:15	08:15
Yoga	03:00	11:00

* Not including Daily Challenge reps

Week 3 is in the books. And this week brought some challenges: being on-call, angry knees, and a sudden cold snap. 

Being on-call was not a surprise – I knew I would be on-call this week. And I will be on-call again in the lead up to Challenge. It does make some things more difficult though: long runs/rides require repeats of a short route so I’m close to home if I get a call that requires that. Swims require a volunteer to stand poolside with my phone, ready to flag me down if it rings. Yoga classes require the understanding of my fellow yogis should my phone ring. That last  one is something I haven’t been willing to risk until this week and I’m so glad I did! I managed three classes including one, with my favourite instructor, where I was the only attendee and got a personal session focused on opening up the hips (my choice). All three classes were uninterrupted. I had asked a colleague to cover my Friday night call so that I could attend a Christmas party and as a result had a reprieve from the pager until 8 am Saturday. It seemed foolish to not take advantage of this with my training schedule. Saturday morning, I crawled out of my warm bed at 4:45, bundled up for the freezing cold and drove out to the pool. Parked and did a 13 km out-and-back, then followed it with 1500m in the pool. All timed so that by 8 am, I was out of the water, phone in hand. And this morning, I paid my daughter $5 to sit poolside with my phone. “I’ll be in the supportive mom chairs.” she said as she headed over with her book. She’s so funny. She makes me smile. We followed the swim with a family breakfast at one of our favourite restaurants. Instead of an on-call swim being a drag, it became a bit of a gift.

Creativity and flexibility helped me navigate on-call challenges, and this same mindset helped me with my physical challenge as well: my angry, painful knees. Now, my knees have long been an issue. And I manage them as best I can: I wear patellar straps when I run, I Tylenol on long-runs, I strengthen my quads, and when I do hill repeats, I walk the downhill… Well my knees have been grumpier than usual since the last half marathon. And they’ve just been getting angrier. My run mileage isn’t excessive so have to wonder, what’s going on here? I was doing the burpees for the Daily Challenges, missed a day, and then had 200 to do to make-up. That didn’t help. The day after that, I could only manage 50. Barely. I hated my Tabata work-out with bench jumps, skipping, jump squats. Every time I landed I cringed. My reps within the 20-second “on” periods were lower than ever. This wasn’t working. Flexibility & creativity though, right? I e-mailed my amazing personal trainer, whined about my knees, and asked if we could drop the Tabata workouts and just stick to weight workouts – and with no cardio in the circuit since my tri-training would give me plenty of that. He agreed to come up with a new plan & some fresh workouts – ‘cause he’s awesome like that (don’t tell him I said that). For the Daily Challenge, initially I decided to drop it but today I decided, I could still do the #300aDAY, I’d just make it all planking… 5 minutes of planking. My core can certainly use it! 

Unfortunately, when it comes to dealing with the cold snap, I really just need to suck it up, get out there, and do it. I hate being cold. Hate it. Hate it. And people from Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, etc. can talk about how much colder it is there than here… well that’s nice. But I live here. Because I don’t like to be cold. And while it may be colder there than here, it’s still cold here, and I hate being cold! Friday morning’s forecast was -5, feels like -12. Great. I did a short run before my workout with my trainer. It took me 10 minutes to warm-up and by the time my body was warm, my gloved fingers were frozen. My chest hurt. I could hear this weird noise …was I... wheezing?  Why couldn’t I get my breathing right? Did I mention that I hate being cold? Saturday morning, when I got up for my early run before being back on-call, it was -7, feels like -15. Thermal tights. Sport tank. Thermal jersey. Medium weight jacket. Double gloves. Fingers were fine, torso was fine, legs were cold, face was cold, breathing difficult and chest hurting from the cold air intake. Ugh. On the upside, a 13 km run in those temps immediately before a swim makes the Maple Ridge pool water feel much less Arctic! 

Later that day, I bought a mask to wear over my face to warm my breath and stop the windburn so I don’t end up with the rosy-cheeked look of an alcoholic by Spring. I wore the mask today on my run. It was much warmer (-2, feels like -5) and although I found it annoying to wear, it definitely eliminated the breathing issues and chest pain.

Here's week 3:

Monday	5.4 km run
Tuesday	Weight workout at home 34 minute spin on the trainer Daily Challenge reps: 200 burpees, 6:40 plank
Wednesday	8.3 km run Tabata workout at home Daily Challenge reps: 50 burpees, 4:15 plank
Thursday Rest Day!	Yoga Double Header:            Hatha/Core Flow Class            Hatha Class
Friday	4.1 km run 1 hour weight workout with my trainer
Saturday	13.1 km run – Brrrr 1500m swim Hatha Yoga Class
Sunday	1500m swim 7.7 km run 1 hour spin on the trainer 5 minute plank (2 x 2:30)

On to week 4: half a week of horror (including snow) and then we return to warmer temps and some rain. Give me warmer days and rain over sub-zero temps any day!