Awwwww yeah!!

It’s that time, the sexiest time of the year. You guessed it, it’s time for …

Reasonable Goal Setting!

I was all messed up last year. A lesson I am trying to integrate is that I’m fragile when my schedule gets mucked up. A race I wanted to do was cancelled and it threw off the whole second half of my year.

I changed my focus from triathlon to running and then to strength training. That has been going very well. I’ve been lifting consistently for more than six months and I can now bring in all the groceries in one load (not from a Costco trip, let’s not get crazy here).

I want to keep up with strength training but I am going to have to drop back a bit in order to fit triathlon back into the schedule.

“But Rachel, in your last post you were all about how you were just going to run this year?”

Yeah, that’s true. I was not planning on it, I was not excited for it. Then the beginning of February rolled around and the Tour of Sufferlandria happened. Last year I was super sick and couldn’t ride. I was back this year and had a good old time. As has happened in years past, the ToS got me good and pumped for the year to come. I remembered that I really do like training.

So, about those reasonable goals…

1 – Consistency. The biggest marginal gain comes from simply doing work, any work, consistently. The most up-to-the-minute-according-to-science-HIIT/sweet spot/endurance-session means jack squat if you’re not getting in regular work outs. Before anyone worries about whether beet juice will make them 1% faster, they need to do the work to get the 90% that comes from lacing up your shoes and hitting the road.

2 – Race. I respond to external motivators, like deadlines. What is race day but a deadline? I love racing. Race day is super fun! It’s exciting, it’s special, there are often bagels, there is always camaraderie.

3 – Be fitter at the end of the year than at the beginning. How shall we measure this? Let’s pick some metrics (I love metrics!).

• Speed – Easy peasy.  I did a 5k on New Year’s Day.  I’ll go back to the same race in 2018 and compare results.
• Speed II (I miss Keanu!) – Break 30 minutes for a 5k. I did 30:01 at Monte Rio last year.
• Strength – More weight! I have a weight training log. I just need to be lifting heavier weights at the end of the year than the beginning.
• Strength II – More Push ups. I’m at 3 right now.
• Strength III – Pull up progress.  I don’t need to do a pull up, but I do plan to make progress towards pullups.

I could write more, but I’m being general and reasonable so I can come back to this when I’m off kilter and stabilize my brains.

Onward!

-FH