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.
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Monthly Check-In: March 2016
A Look Back at November 2015 Goals
June Runfessions
Some Practical Alternative Uses for Running Gear
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.