October Goals w/September Review

Let’s recap my September goals and see how I did with them…

• run at least 130 miles (B goal of at least 120)…I love marathon training!!! – SUCCESS!  My total miles for September were 131!  Just barely squeaked it in there!

• new weight loss goal of 145 and/or 23% body fat – GETTING THERE!  Mostly I just maintained in the low 150’s for September which is just fine.  I need practice with maintaining so that it doesn’t scare me as much.

• work toward getting in the habit of actually doing strength training 2-3 times for week…at the VERY LEAST do abs/core and hammy/glutes workouts – FAIL!  I did ONE at home session of abs/core and that was IT!  Ugh!

• continue with the treadmill runs “as needed” – SUCCESS, I guess…the temps are starting to feel more fall-ish, so I don’t really feel as inclined to hit the tready up for miles.  In fact, I didn’t run on the tready at all this month!

• do at least 2 night runs – HALF SUCCESS, I did 1 evening run on a day that I switch one of my days off with another girl at work and it was so awesome.  And I’ve done a few runs where I was up and running looooooong before the sun came up…that counts as night running, right?  I love watching the sun set or rise during my runs.

• do speed work once a week (alternate between a tempo run one week and sprints the next) – SUCCESS!  I continue to love speed work.  I’ve started doing actual, structured tempo runs and progression runs, plus the occasional sprints.  I love it all!

• continue limiting “treat” foods and tracking every single thing I eat/drink – SUCCESS!  I’m still being very diligent with this, even when I’m over my caloric “sweet spot” because I’m now eating paleo.  Though I did have some processed carbs here and there…but it was all tracked!

• continue to hit 15K+ steps a day (when possible) – I’m going to call this a HALF SUCCESS because on some days where it was totally possible for me to get my 15K steps in, I just simply did not.  I rested instead.  But most of the days I didn’t hit 15K was because of my work schedule and therefore unavoidable and I did my best.

And now, moving on to what I want to do with the month of October!

• run at least 140 miles (B goal of at least 125)…this is getting serious folks!!!

• achieve my weight loss goal of 145 and/or 23% body fat

• get down to a 29 inch waist

• work toward getting in the habit of actually doing strength training 1-2 times per week…at the VERY LEAST do abs/core and hammy/glutes workouts (these will be at home or in the apt complex fitness room as I suspended my gym membership for now)

• continue with the paleo lifestyle

• PR in the 5K (again!)

• do speed work once a week (tempo, progression, sprints, steady pace)

• focus on building speed during my long runs with fast finishes

• continue to track every single thing I eat/drink

• do my best hit 12.5K+ steps a day (I changed my step goal because 15K was just too hard to even get close to on days I wasn’t able to do a structured workout, so I lowered it)

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Traveling: I made it down to San Antonio for another 5K.  This one was the Loteria Run and I went dressed as a mermaid…but I was wearing scaled leggings instead of a full-fledged tail like I was initially intending to do, but I wanted to try for a podium finish or, at the very least, a PR by getting a sub-27:00 finish time (race recap coming soon!).  But that was all the traveling I did.  Nothing fancy or super exciting.

Running: my favorite run this month is more like runS.  It was really hard for me to choose just one favorite.  So, have about I talk about my favorite WEEK of running?  It was week #9 of marathon training.  I only ran 3 times between that Tuesday to the following Monday, but they were all high quality runs.  The first was a deliberate 5 mile tempo run with some progressive miles for the tempo portion.  Then there was the 8 mile steady pace run where I kept all my miles within a 7 second spread.  Then, finally, there was my long run that week where I did 16 miles total and did half of them at HMGP or FASTER!  BOOM!  My longest distance for this month was 18 miles.  I’m pretty proud of myself this month because on the 2 days I had a 5K AND a long run scheduled, I was able to get up stupid early (4am!!!) and get to the race site and run for 2+ hours before the race started, then run a decent race and then go home and finish up whatever miles I needed to hit my long run distance!   

Reading: The Paleo Manifesto by John Durant.  I’m always reading the blogs I subscribe to, of course.

Watching: Counting On…I just can’t get enough of the Duggar family.  I don’t know what it is about them.  I can tell you I probably should have gone to college to be an anthropologist because I LOOOOOOOOVE seeing how different cultures and people from different places live their lives and interact with each other and others from outside their groups.

Eating: PALEO!!!  During the second week of September, I decided I wanted to give paleo a try.  One of my coworkers has been doing it for a little while now and has seen amazing results.  I want that too!  Mostly, I want to be healthier and that means making sure my body gets what it needs and is working more efficiently and that all starts with what we put in our bodies.  I’ve eaten similar to paleo before and have loved it, but there were always some processed carbs involved…pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, waffles, sandwiches, etc. 

Planning: to see how far I can go with the paleo lifestyle.  I’m really hoping to continue it at least an 80:20 ratio…80% paleo:20% eating sensibly.

Wearing: running skirts and running shorty shorts!  I used to be so self-conscious about my big (at the time) thighs and plus because they were bigger they would chafe horribly if I wore anything other than running capris when I went for my runs.  Now, my thighs are much slimmer and don’t chafe hardly at all anymore because I’ve got that thigh gap thing going on!  So now I can totally wear things short enough to show off my thighs and the muscles you can now see since I no longer have a thick layer of body fat obscuring them!  I just can’t believe I’m now “that chick” that runs in a sports bra and shorty shorts!  It’s crazy!

Working on: getting faster!  I mean, come on, I have a pretty serious time goal for the South Padre Island marathon (and for the Austin in February too!).  I really want to finish under 4:20:00, and if I’m being 100% honest, I want it closer to 4:10:00.  If I can get that fast now, then next year it will be that much easier to BQ because I’ll only have to shave another 25-30 minutes off my time instead of 35-40.

Loving: the time I get to spend with friends.  Seriously, I used to never hang out with my friends, but now I make a point to try and make plans at least twice a month with friends.  And my new adult coloring books full of cats that my Oregon bestie, Patricia, bought for me!  She’s awesome!

Listening to: “Gold” by Kiiara, “Cold Water” by Major Lazer, “Black Honey” by Thrice, “Monster at the End” by Antrax, “This Girl” by Kungs, “Be as You Are” by Mike Posner, “Girls Like” by Tinie Tempah, and “House Work” by Jax Home

Looking forward to: continuing to improve my paces and going longer at the faster paces.

Things I did well: speed work and hitting desired paces during runs.

Things I can improve: motivating myself to do my strength training.  Also I recently received some workout DVDs from the Real Appeal healthy lifestyle program and I did do one of them…once.  I need to incorporate possibly a once weekly (or once every other week) workout DVD session…probably on Saturdays as that is usually my day for cross training (if I actually do it…ugh).  I could, you know, get my abs/core and legs strength training done, then pop in a workout DVD…and then finish up with a walk!