Friday, September 2, 2016

September Goals & August Review

Let’s recap my August goals and see how I did with them…
 
run at least 120 miles (B goal of at least 110) – SUCCESS!  I ran a total of 122.5 miles this month!
continue working toward body fat % goal & staying at/below my goal weight – SUCCESS!  I am still well below my goal weight of 160 and I am slowly inching closer and closer to that 25% body fat goal that I want to smash!
start lifting heavier weights at the gym – SUCCESS…the times I did go to the gym, I did up the weight
continue to strength train at least twice a week, preferably three times – MOSTLY A FAIL…I think I did decently at first and then the wheels just fell off and so did the axels, I think.  Must be better about this.
continue to hit the treadmill “as needed,” for tempo runs, and maybe do a workout or two from the book – SUCCESS: I’m actually not hating the treadmill so I kinda probably maybe run on the treadmill more than I should.
do at least 2 runs at night – SUCCESS!  Not only did I do multiple night time runs around where I live, but I also ran a night time trail half marathon!
continue to limit “treat” foods and track everything I put in my body – SUCCESS!  Even though I had about a handful of splurge meals, they were all planned, so I think I did well as I really only ate a couple “treat” foods that weren’t planned ahead of time, but I had the calories that day to cover eating them.
continue to hit 15K+ steps a day – MOSTLY SUCCESS!  There were a few days I wasn’t able to do this for various reasons…recovery from a very technical trail run, working overtime and just plain not having the time/opportunity to get my steps in like I like to.  But I did the best I could with the time/opportunity that I did have.  And did do my best to at least hit 10K on the days I wasn't able to get the full 15K.
 
And now, moving on to what I want to do with the month of September!
 
• run at least 130 miles (B goal of at least 120)…I love marathon training!!!
• new weight loss goal of 145 and/or 23% body fat
• work toward getting in the habit of actually doing strength training 2-3 times for week…at the VERY LEAST do abs/core and calf/quad/hammy/glutes (um...so "leg day"...haha) workouts
• continue with the treadmill & night runs “as needed”
• do speed work once a week (alternate between a tempo run one week and sprints the next)
• continue limiting “treat” foods and tracking every single thing I eat/drink
• continue to hit 15K+ steps a day (when possible)
 
*****************************************************************
 
Traveling: this month there was a bunch of driving all over Texas.  Or, at least all over south and southeast Texas, anyway.  All for running!  at the beginning of the month, I drove to near Galveston for my very first NIGHT TIME trail half marathon!  I cannot tell you how much fun that was!  It was so challenging, but I loved it…even in the moments that I wished it would hurry up and be done, I loved it.  Then, just before mid-month, I hit up San Antonio twice.  Once for packet pickup and dinner with my SA friend, Jennifer, at her favorite food truck, The Fridge.  Mmm-mmm-mmm!  Then I went back to SA the very next morning for my second half of August, the Dragon’s Den Half.  And there was brunch at Folc post-race!
Running: my absolute favorite run from the month of August, hands down, was the Night Moves Trail Half Marathon.  It was just such a unique (for me) experience.  I’ve run trails before (which are definitely my favorite kind of place to run), but I’ve never run a trail at night.  Well, I “sort of” did back in March when I ran the Illuminations Half, but that was on a resort with a  golf course so those were all manicured trails and paths and graveled maintenance roads.  So I don’t know that it really counts.  It definitely wasn’t a technical trail run.  This race was also my proudest running moment for the month.  I did it!  I ran a super challenging night time trail run.  And I finished in decent placements (read my recap if you’re interested in the details).  My least favorite run this month was probably the 5 mile tready run I did on the 9th because I just was not feeling it.  I did it but it was mostly just a going through the motions activity.  My 2nd proudest running moment this month was when I did an “official” tempo run and smashed it!  My longest run this month was a 14 miler! 
 
Reading: just blogs really.  But, we got access to the internet back at work, so now I can actually view the pictures in the emails from my blog subscriptions and wow it adds so much to their writings!
 
Watching: Inkie Quill.  ALL OF THE INKIE QUILL.  I am serious.  I love Adele.  She’s Australian and is brilliant.  In case you don’t know (which you probably don’t, and that's okay), she does scrapbooking videos.  I’ve also branched out and started watching other people’s scrapbook and general crafting videos.
 
Eating: I am LOVING my protein waffles.  I have to say my favorite was the choco-choco chip protein waffles!  But, next time I make them I think I will do half the choco chips to keep the calorie count lower.  Second favorite waffles were the pumpkin protein waffles…tasted just like pumpkin bread.  Since I decided I wanted to cut another 10-ish pounds and came up with the new weight goal of 145, I decided that I needed to eat a lot of fish because fish is super healthy, high in healthy fats, and low in calories…oh and very versatile!  I really love the Nature Valley almond butter biscuit sandwiches.  And sweet potato fries.  Oh yea!
 
Planning: meals and running.  I bought a 13.7L stove top cooking caldera (I swear that’s what it says on the label that it’s called) and I want to use it to cook large quantities of food on meal prep days.  I have a few recipes I want to try in the coming weeks/months.  And, as my next marathon gets closer and closer, I get more and more excited and I, of course, run more and more miles!  So, there’s at least some basic planning of how I will run.  You know, 1 long run a week, 1 sprint or tempo run workout per week, and then 1-2 easy runs of varying distances (at least 1 is usually on the tready for convenience purposes).
 
Wearing: INKnBURN, of course!!!  Plus I have been loving printed leggings.  I have bought so many off the Wish app for bargain prices.  I got some Harry Potter newspaper print ones, some PacMan ones, ones with a bunch of sketched cats on them, and so many more.  I also bought some SMALL sized leggings at JC Penney’s.  I’m ecstatic that I now fit in a small!  I love them.  I also love The Fitness Tee Co tank tops.  They’re so comfy and fun!  And, as always, dresses if I’m not at work or working out. 
 
Working on: hitting my new weight loss goal of 145 (which is pretty much tied to my body fat % goal of 23-25%).
 
Loving: all the compliments.  Wow, people are so awesome!  Everyone has been super nice and complimenting me on how great I’m doing with losing weight, getting in shape and being healthier.  Everyone is asking me what I’m doing differently.  Also, I love, love, love my new Garmin 920xt.  Seriously, Jillian (that’s what I named it…yes, after Jillian Michaels), is the bomb.  It’s way prettier and has a much slimmer profile than the 310 has.  It’s more colorful.  It was a little more difficult to get the settings the way I like them, but I did eventually figure it all out and get it how I like it.
 
Listening to: "Satellite" by Fenix, "Into You" by Ariana Grande, "Sleeping Dogs" by Zakk Wylde, "Never Be Like You" by Flume, "Stranded" by Gojira, "Need You" by Dillon Francis, "Rise" by Katy Perry, and "Lovesick" by Jacob Whitesides.
 
Looking forward to: running all my September 5Ks that I like to run like the Bun Run, the Superhero 5K (which I still need to register for...I'm such a broke slacker!), the Fight Like a Girl 5K, and the Loteria Run 5K.  I just love all the running.  I would like to hit 26 minutes or faster on a 5K by the end of this year and September is as good a time as any to try for that!  Oh and I’m looking forward to ramping up my monthly mileage to around 130!  I love marathon training!  RUN ALL THE MILES!!!
 
Things I did well: running.  I still cannot seem to get enough running done.  I want to run every day.  I run every chance I get.  Before work outside, before work on the tready if I wait until too late in the AM before heading out the door, after work for a few miles.  I just can’t stop!  My eating was ON POINT!  I had a few splurge meals, but they were all planned and well chosen and well planned around with my food for the rest of the day on each day I had a splurge meal.  Also, I was pretty good 90%-ish of the time hitting my 15K step goal each day.  The days I suffered with my steps were days I had worked overtime the night before, but that is to be expected.
 
Things I can improve: making sure I get my minimum 2 strength training workouts a week done.  I didn’t do very well with this AT ALL this month.  So disappointed.  Strength training really is very important and I need to not skip it.  At the VERY LEAST I need to do my abs/core workouts…and legs really need regular working out as well.  The other stuff isn’t super centric to running, but I like to have muscles.  I have a bunch of resistance bands, and those are easy to tuck into my work bag so I can do upper body resistance stuff in any down time I have at work.  So I need to do that.

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