A few loose goals for 2018

I didn’t put much thought into setting goals for the year. I tend to make big lists of stuff I want to accomplish and then get down on myself when I can’t do it all. When your list is 75 items long of course you can’t do it all, but I still beat myself up.

Year after year, and even week after week, I’ve had the same goals: Run 100 miles per month, swim twice per week, etc. Then something comes up and I feel bad about not meeting my goal. So I need to think of a way to reframe my goals. I have enjoyed reading other blogs for goal ideas, which has given me something to think about.

Here’s what I wrote as my goals in my application for my TBD Racing team:

Work through my health issues and re-start a training schedule that gets me back to racing. Run some cool places, maybe another marathon. Work on whole-body health, incorporating things like yoga and pre-hab. Keep a healthy work-life-training-family-friends-other balance. Have fun.

Maybe I just need to break that down:

Work through my health issues and re-start a training schedule that gets me back to racing. This includes things like maintaining my thyroid health, being diligent about eliminating foods that cause me issues, rehabilitating my knee, easing gently back into running, and working through the anxiety that has made me uncomfortable in the pool.

Run some cool places, maybe another marathon. After I work though my knee issue and ease gently back into running, this could be anything. I have one vacation scheduled and another one on my mind. I have family all over the place; maybe I could make a few visits and run while I’m there. Or maybe it’s just finding a running path or park I haven’t explored yet. I’m not sure about another marathon this year, but maybe a half? I’ve never actually RACED a half. Maybe this is the year.

Work on whole-body health, incorporating things like yoga and pre-hab. My orthopedist commented on how tight my hamstrings and IT band were, and I sit at a desk all day. Stretching, yoga, and pre-hab will keep me running and moving longer and I need to treat them as such, not as a boring (and neglected) chore.

Keep a healthy work-life-training-family-friends-other balance. I tend to work, train, cook dinner, spend a few minutes with my pack, go to bed, and repeat. I really don’t have any real-life training partners or running buddies. Maybe 2018 is the year I find some.

Have fun. Oh, man. This one is tough. Define fun? For me, training and racing is fun, but it might be torture for others. I know I miss racing and I want to do at least one multisport race this year. My friend is bugging me to do an indoor triathlon next month, and I’ve never done a duathlon. It could be fun!

I also want to do things like take off work on a beautiful spring day to run or ride. I was good about using up almost all my vacation time this year and I want to do it again this year. That also sounds like fun.

Some other oddball training goals I can think of:

Continue to mix up weight training and do more than one actual, hanging pullup.

Actually use my Y membership, even if I don’t go to the pool.

Increase my FTP on Trainer Road.

Learn how to flip turn! (Another one that has eluded me for years! But I’m making an exception and including it again. True story, I got an A- in my high school swim class because I never caught on to flip turns. Lol!)

And some other oddball non-training goals:

Celebrate others’ journeys instead of comparing them to my own. It’s absolutely true that comparison is the thief of joy and I need to be careful, in this digital oversharing age, not to resent others’ experiences. I have my own experiences, goals, life, challenges, etc. It’s OK to be in a different place.

I have pretty good eating habits, but they could use a bit of refinement. Drink water all day. Hard stop at noon for coffee drinking. Keep eating a salad for lunch most days. Only allow one serving of potatoes per day; I usually have them for breakfast but damn if potato chips aren’t so delicious and tempting. Try some new recipes. Use my crock pot.

I also want to work on making my house more homey. We’ve accumulated a lot of crap that we need to go through, we have a lot of space that isn’t being used efficiently, and we have a long list of home repairs and updates. I think it will be good for my mental health, which will tangentially help with my training, so I’m including it here.

Wow, that’s a lot. Maybe I do have goals for 2018, after all. Haha. I'll try to remember to visit this post at the end of each month or so just to check in.

I hope all of you are off to a good start with your goals!