Short Term Goals vs Long Term Goals

Today’s Workout: 4.04 miles @ 41:35
30-Day Ab Challenge: 25 sit-ups,15 crunches, 10 leg raises, 15 second plank

Wow! What a great workout I had today! It wasn’t my fastest time, but I felt full of energy and I felt great!

This past week, as I’ve been completing my mileage, I’ve been thinking about short term goals vs long term goals. As runners, I think we often get caught up in the numbers: we want to break a pr, complete a half-marathon, a marathon, an ultra (the list goes on and on). But while we’re trying to attain those goals, it’s important for us to set some others in the meantime to help us get to that “big picture” goal that we’ve been looking for. Whether it’s run for 5 minutes straight in your second week of training towards completing your first 5-k or for two hours straight while training for your first full, we all have those short-term goals that will help us complete our long-term goals. Here are a few of mine:

Short Term Goals
• Be able to complete this beast of a hill without walking before the end of the month (I’ve named him Grendall, from Beowulf)

• Be able to do a 2-minute plank by the end of June/beginning of July
• Be able to bench press twice my weight in a week (haha just kidding on that one!)
• Complete the Twin Reservoir Half-Marathon at the end of July (this will be my halfway mark for marathon training! Woot, woot!)

Long Term Goals
• Be able to finish a full marathon by the end of September/beginning of October (that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll run it then, but I want to be capable of it at that point.

That’s it for my short term and long term goals this month. They might not seem like a lot, but each one (minus the bench pressing, haha) is totally attainable! The point is to create attainable goals to make you continue to feel positive about your running and/or workout experience, vs negative about it. I’ll be reporting back in at the end of the month as to whether I’ve reached my goals!

What are your short term goals?
And what are your long term goals?

P.S. Today is the last day to enter the My Soxy Feet contest, so if you haven’t gotten your entry in, hurry up!

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Wicked Random Wednesday 6.4.14

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Yesterday’s Workout: 3.07 miles @ 30:23

Happy National Running Day! It’s ironic, even though I am a runner, National Running Day tends to be my day off…but today, I made sure that I got up early enough to get my 4-mile run in (confession: I’m actually writing this post on Tuesday night. Now that I’ve totally committed to it online, I have to do it). I’ve actually been getting up early for my runs every morning (even on the weekends!) and am really enjoying it!

And now, here is this week’s dose of Wicked Random Wednesday 6.4.14:

1. My ladies over at SwirlGear provided me with the graphic shown above, and asked me to share why I run. My answer: I run for my health and well-being, for myself, my me-time and my sanity. I run because it brings me peace.

2. Someone in my house got a new pair of sneakers, and it wasn’t me! And he LOVES them! I’ve had to yell at him because he’s been wearing them everywhere, not just for running. I think we’re gonna have to buy him another pair so he can wear one pair for running and one pair for everything else. They are the Nike FS Lites; these shoes are minimalist and have a flexible, mesh backing that don’t bother his Achilles’ tendons too much.

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3. My sister challenged me to do a 30-day ab challenge with her for the month of June, to help get my fit and fab self get even fitter for her wedding (my words, not hers). Here’s the schedule for the challenge:

Anyone care to join me?

4. Running With SD Mom shared my contest on her blog. Thanks, Smitha! If you haven’t entered my contest yet, be sure to enter, time is running out. And be sure to check out Smitha’s cool blog for a round-up of other awesome contests taking place this week (post goes live at 3:00 a.m. Eastern time/12:00 a.m. Pacific time on Wednesday).

5. I can never resist posting puppy pics. JP and I gave the dogs a bath last night, and they were wet and wild afterwards! But they soon wore themselves out, and ended up snoring and looking like this:

Why do you run? And did you go out and complete your run for National Running Day? If so, how many miles?

Have you ever won something in a contest? If so, what was it?

How Running Has Helped Me Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle

Here I am in June last year – a lean, mean running machine!
Update: My cold is now pretty much all gone, so I’m finally going to be able to go running outside today!

Since I haven’t been running consistently lately, it’s been pretty hard for me to maintain my same weight. When I’m running consistently, I’m usually able to eat pretty much whatever I want without having to worry about gaining weight. When I’m not running and I gain a little weight, do I worry and think it’s a big deal? No, because I always know that it will come off again as soon as I’m running. But with my sister’s wedding in exactly two months, and a bridesmaid’s dress that is now too small, I’m actually getting little worried. But I have eight weeks to lose weight – if I lose 2 lbs a week, I’ll have lost 16 lbs (trust me, I don’t plan on losing that much weight, it’s way too much!). My main priority is to be in the same physical shape and have the same muscle mass that I was at last year, when I was running/cross-training five days a week. Here are a few ways how my active lifestyle helped me stay healthy all-around:

• when I’m active, I’m always concerned with staying hydrated; I usually drink about 12 large glasses of water a day

• I don’t over-eat, because I’m always concerned with how it will affect me while I’m running. I usually try and eat a full about meal four hours before I go running, and will have a banana or an orange as a snack 30 minutes to an hour before I run.

• When I have a solid running/exercise schedule, my sleep schedule improves a lot.

• I make healthier decisions in general, because I think about how the food I eat will affect my running (ie, I won’t eat a doughnut on a day I’m going running because I know if I do I’ll be tasting it throughout my entire run; or I won’t drink wine because I know it will dehydrate me).

• I make sure I get a good mix of foods, including lean meats that are high in protein and plenty of carbs. I don’t ever look at carbs as being something bad! And I make sure I eat plenty of fruits and veggies high in potassium and other vitamins and minerals.

Your turn: How does running/exercising help you make healthier decisions and maintain that lifestyle?

Enjoying the Liebster Love

I got a great end of the week surprise today when I found out that AnnMarie from The Fit Foodie Mama nominated me for my third Liebster Award. If you are not familiar with this award, here’s how it works:

The Liebster Award is an online award given by bloggers to bloggers who generally have a following of 200 readers or less. The rules are:

1.) You must link back to the person who nominated you
2.) You must answer the 10 Liebster questions given to you by the nominee before you.
3.) You must pick 10 bloggers to be nominated for the award (with a small following)
4.) You must create 10 questions for your nominees
5.) You must go to their blogs and notify the nominees

I’ve also seen the number 11 thrown around too but I’m feeling lazy tonight so I’m going with the number 10. 🙂

First, my answers to AnnMarie’s questions:

Questions:

1. Where is your favorite place to travel and why?
I absolutely love South Carolina. I actually just got back from vacationing there! Go here to learn more about my vacation. There are many reasons why I love it there so much: a) it’s always warm there…at least compared to New England, b) there are so many different things the state has to offer, Charleston’s urban beauty, Kiawah island’s coastal sanctuary, or Aiken’s horse country; and c) the food! Going there always makes me happy. I’m fact, I have to go back there for work in June, and I’m pretty sure I’ll still be smiling the entire time!

Enjoying life in the low country.

2. What is the last good book you read?
Umm hmm…I’m a magazine editor, so between reading and editing stuff for work, writing, blogging, and running, I don’t get to read for pleasure nearly as much as I’d like to. I think the last book that had the biggest impact on me was The Hunger Games. I read all three books over the course of three days while vacationing in New Hampshire a few years ago, before the movies ever came out. I also love Jodi Picoult’s novels.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?
When I was four, I wanted to be a ballerina. But ever since I was 9 years old, I wanted to be a writer. Well, my dream turned into a reality!

4. What is your favorite way to be active?
That’s a no brainer! Running.

5. What is your go-to breakfast?
Overnight oats. They help lower my cholesterol and since I make them the night before, they’re ready to go first thing in the morning.

6. If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Probably Swedish Fish. Plus they make great fuel for running!

7. What are your hobbies outside of work/blogging?
Running, horseback riding, tennis, playtime with the Basset hounds, and spending time with family.

There’s no such thing as too many Basset baby pics!

8. Would you ever be able to go a day without your phone?
Never! I run this blog off of it!

9. Do you prefer to exercise in the morning or at night?
Early evening is best for me, except for when I’m doing really high mileage.

10. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
I love the camaraderie and sense of community I get from blogging to a like-minded audience. It gives me a better faith in mankind, even on the worst days. Even if I go to the grocery store and someone is rude to me (people can be brutal!), I usually come home an check my blog and find kind words from others – it’s a redeeming quality for the human race.

OK, now here’s my 10 nominees:

Sara @ RunninginPinkProject

Tantra @ Pretty Little Runner

Esther @ Chocolate Runner Girl

Nicola @ Running on Clean

Amy at Will Run for Ice Cream

Darlene @ My First 5k

Amanda @ Brown Eyed Twenty Something

Heather @ Shorty Runs

Kristen @ Faith and Margaritas

Niki @ Overwhelmed Heart

Amanda @ Running By Day

And my questions for you:

1. What is your preferred sport, and why do you love it so much?

2. Tell me about your worst running/fitness related injury.

3. What type of running/workout shoes do you wear? Would you ever try something else?

4. How long have you been pursuing a healthy lifestyle for?

5. Currently, what are your short term goals vs long term goals?

6. Favorite running/workout gear (not including sneakers)?

7. Finish this sentence: when I’m not running/working out, I’m…

8. What was the last great book you read?

9. What’s your favorite healthy food/meal?

10. And your favorite non-healthy food?

I can’t wait to learn more about all of you! Congrats!