This Week's Weekly Chase Recap and Goals

Its Monday!!!  Time to recap Last weeks goals and report on how effective my goal setting and game plan were and then make adjustments for this week and set new mini goals.  Let it be said:  I LOVE MONDAYS!  Like most people, I used to be less enthusiastic about them.  It's generally a very busy day at work for me and there is always a lot of juggling work and home life at the start of every week.  With the start of this goal setting group, I have found myself inspired on Mondays and I'm loving the accountability from my fellow chasers.  It makes setting goals AND accomplishing them so much easier. 

Here were my goals from last week:  REMINDER:  I FAILED THE WEEK BEFORE IN COMMITTING TO THESE GOALS SO THESE GOALS WERE THE SAME TWO WEEKS IN A ROW!  

Goal 1:  Read and post more consistently. This week I did manage to work a ton and still read most of the blogs I read on a weekly basis as well as comment on them.  I also found a couple of blogs I really enjoyed that I had never read before and was very inspired by them.  I think I nailed it.  I felt more supported and more supportive because of it.  So on the blogger front, I feel like I am moving in the right direction.  I am happy to report that today has been the busiest day ever on Mom Running on Empty! 

Goal 2:  Increase training to 4 days a week.  I must admit that I am super proud of myself on this front.  I almost bailed on my Friday night workout.  I had a 2 hour commute each way to work on Friday and had a pretty stressful and busy day.  I wasn't completely into the idea of running, and I hate to run alone when it's dark.  I know there are well lit streets and I could choose a boring loop rather than my preferred trails and winding back roads but to be honest, I get bored easily and knew I would check out on this run.  So here's what I did.  I called the Hubs when I was about 20 minutes from home and told him I NEEDED him to run with me.  He was hungry and tired and had already run 4 miles earlier in the day but I asked and he did it for me!  So I did all 3 of my training runs and hit the gym twice as well. 

If you've read my previous post, then you already know I was super anxious about my long run yesterday and I found a way to dig deep and toss the fear aside.  I rocked my run, I felt amazing and I didn't spend a single minute living in the area of self doubt. I'm not sure if the planets aligned, or  it was the universe's way of paying me back for my stressful Friday or if I was just in the place I needed to be, living in the moment.  In fact, I don't care how it happened, I just want it to happen again soon!!!!  That said, I need to set some goals for the coming week in order to achieve that feeling again.  Here goes:

GOAL 1:  #PLANKADAY CHALLENGE:  I have been taking a very lack luster approach to this and I don't like it.  So here it is.  I will do a plank a day.  I could use some core strengthening and the over all consensus is that this is the best core strengthening exercise for a runner.  I AM A RUNNER... therefore, I will do a plank a day!  Ask me how I'm doing.  Hold me accountable!  I'll thank you later :)

GOAL 2:  FIND A SPIN CLASS I CAN COMMIT TO.  I've budgeted for this class and have repeatedly expressed my desire to get there.  That's been the long and the short of it.  I have not got my self to the gym in town that offers spin classes and I've made a ton of excuses.  I don't like to get up very early but I will do it for myself.  When I trained for all of my previous races, I actively attended spin classes and it had an enormous effect on my endurance and on my results.  I loved it!!  Now it's time to rekindle the romance with the spin bike and create a life long love affair. 

GOAL 3:  BUY A YOGA VIDEO I CAN DO AT HOME.  As many runners have, I have forgotten to stretch or forgotten to prioritize stretching and caused myself unnecessary aches and pains as a result.  I don't want to recreate that feeling of self inflicted frustration ever again.  With my mileage increasing and the lack of a structured stretching process, I fear I am on that path and I will not continue to follow it to disaster. 

There you have it!  Last week my list of goals was entirely comprised of things I had not done well the week before.  This week my list is all about procrastination and lack of self accountability.  I am more determined than ever to cross these three things off my list of  'someday' to do list and add them to my I'm going to do this NOW list. 

On another note, while writing this post, I was very saddened to hear of the passing of the author and motivationalist, Stephen Covey.  His quotes, his books and his philosophies have impacted me greatly over my 34 years.  I have relied on his Franklin Covey planner for 15 years to help organize my work and home life.  For those of you familiar with his work, you will understand when I say that he taught me to balance things by Sharpening My Saw.  To his family, friends and the millions of others who were inspired by him, I send you my condolences.  I am glad to have had the opportunity to be introduced to his life works and if you haven't yet read his works I would strongly encourage you to do so :)