Welcome to December, the last month of 2016. How did that happen? I feel like I was just setting my initial goals for the year. A few months ago I reassessed my goals to account for a long injury that derailed some of my plans. So today I will look back on my November running and how I did with my new goals this month.
I would say this month was pretty similar to October in terms of mileage. However, I didn’t really increase this month, but instead just focused on staying consistent. I had an off week, plus a week of not feeling well. I also hit a personal best for practicing yoga consistently! (8 days in a row.) Overall I was happy with my progress this month.
My 5 Goals for the end of 2016
1) Practice Pilates once a week: I have continued to keep up with this!
2) Update the blog: Done!
3) Engage in exercises that feel good, mentally and physically: I think I did really well with this in November. I didn’t run if I didn’t want to run, and took a few extra days off when things didn’t feel right.
4) Eat different vegetables: I may have hit a plateau with this one. After experimenting with Run Fast, Eat Slow recipes I am back to eating the same stuff each week.
5) Take time to turn off my brain: I have been so tired in the evenings that I have been closing my laptop at 7:30 or so and pretty much relaxing until going to bed (which has been at an embarrassingly early hour.)
Now I just want to finish off the year strong. I may not have achieved many of my initial goals, but it was still a successful year. Now that I am back to running, I hope to just enjoy it with absolutely no pressure for racing.
You may also like:
Monthly Check-In: March 2016
A Look Back at November 2015 Goals
June Runfessions
Some Practical Alternative Uses for Running Gear
Weekly Recap and Arkansas Weekend
Philadelphia Marathon Training Week 2
Recent Running Favorites
Weekly Recap 4/19-4/25
How did you do with your goals in November?
Do you have any final goals you are trying to achieve before the end of the year?
i still want to check out the run fast eat slow book, not that I feel like cooking or baking very much at all! I am going through phases with starting to bake/cook a little more and then reverting back to not and just eating out/cooking the same things I always do which require minimal work.
For the past few months I feel like I have been keeping the cooking and baking to a minimum. I get what I can done over the weekend because I will know I’ll regret it if I don’t!
I’ve just been running for the sake of running, and not really doing enough of the other stuff. WHOOPS. Oh well. Im getting it in while I can!
I think you should enjoy running now and you will have plenty of time to do other stuff once you stop running!
8 days in a row of yoga -my body would love that! Now to find a way to fit it in 🙂 Great month of workouts for you
All that yoga definitely felt good but it is really hard to find time for it every day!
I had two races in early November and then took the rest of the month off!!!!
I’ll be back to my “goals” this month. I start back at the gym today!
Its nice to take a break after racing. Hope you had a good start back at the gym!
I have some easy December goals…mainly because I’m still recovering from my recent marathon. I have nothing on my immediate racing calendar, so I’m taking things low & slow 😉
This is a great time of year to take things slow and just enjoy running!
No such thing as going to bed too early. My favorite thing! I really want to organize my garage before the end of the year!
Thats a good goal! And thank you for saying that there is no such thing as going to bed too early. So many people think I am strange when I can barely keep my eyes open at 9.
I’m working on the brain thing too. That will probably be a top goal for 2017!
Its the hardest goal of all! And will probably be something we always need to work on.
Whenever I even *think* about signing up for a race, I automatically feel pressure. It is indeed pressure I put upon myself. Then I worry I will get injured for the race- BEFORE I EVEN SIGN UP. The other night I had a nightmare about a race that I was thinking about running. Luckily, I do enjoy just running to run, and am fine with not racing much. I do just love a neighborhood run!
I think all of these injuries have made me paranoid to a fault. Its good that you can just enjoy running every day! Thats working well for me too right now but I am still worrying about every little twinge.
I didn’t set many goals this year, but PT was great, and I’m going to maintain all these exercises to keep getting better. My goal for next year is to settle on a good balance to keep getting better. I still won’t race much, because my body isn’t built for race after race.
Its good that you found what works for you! You had a great year with getting stronger and coming back from injury.
I don’t typically set big year long goals. And i sign up for races as I get near them. It was never a goal to run a 50k this year, it just kinda happened lol. But overall this has been a great running year.
It really sounds like running has been great for you this year! I don’t think I will be setting any big goals for next year. It never seems to work out when I do!
8 days in a row of yoga? Nice job! I need to get back in the habit… sigh…
It was good while it lasted but the past 2 weeks its just been harder to find the time. I definitely go through phases with practicing yoga!
You made a lot of progress this past month and you are going to finish off the year so strong! My big goal of the year is culminating this weekend, and I sort of like ending the year off strong. But then after that my goal is to recover well and enjoy the holidays!
A big race is a great way to end the year! After this weekend you can completely relax!
good job on your goals!
I miss yoga! but I suck at doing it alone!
Thanks! I definitely prefer yoga in a studio, but its just too hard to get there. I have found some online videos that I like so that seems to be working out well for me.