We made it through the first (and longest, in my opinion) month of 2017! It’s the month that most of us start off with great ambitions to work towards our goals and may or may not fall off track somewhere along the way. Reviewing the month is a great way to see progress and make adjustment moving forward. This week’s Tuesday’s on the Run topic is “Give your month a letter grade”. I’ll do that at the end after I review what went well in January and what needs improvement.
Goals and Intentions
At the end of 2016 I talked about taking a laid-back approach to training, without focusing on times or races. My intention was to carry that more relaxed mindset into the new year. However, I also set some practical goals to stay on track and hopefully prevent injury this year. These were the 5 smaller goals I set a few weeks ago:
- Short but consistent yoga practices
- Foot strength and balance
- Mobility work/foam rolling
- Longer spinning workouts
- More planks and push-ups
Progress in January 2017
So how have I been doing with all of this so far? I think I have done ok with my training approach. I haven’t caved and signed up for any races, despite Rob beginning his marathon training 2 weeks ago. I’ve been relatively flexible with moving around runs and training based on how I feel. Trust me though, I have been tempted to sign up for races, do harder workouts, and build my mileage even more.
As for the smaller goals, I have had 2 full weeks since I started focusing on these and I said I would start with 1 at a time. The first was yoga, and I would say that has gone really well. I have enjoyed using jasyoga almost daily, either post-run or on its own.
Even though that was my initial focus, I have also tried incorporating more mobility work, foot strength, push-ups, and planks. All of these are not happening as consistently, but more than they were before.
Total mileage for January: 70 miles
January 2017 Report Card
I know if I were reading this monthly summary on someone else’s blog I would probably give them an A. I guess I am just harder on myself, but I feel like I need to go with a B+. There was a solid effort, but I just don’t feel like it was a perfect month. Maybe it’s just my current mood, or the weather, or the lack of real measurable outcomes like race times. It was a busy and stressful month outside of running with work picking up quite a bit, so maybe I feel like my training was pushed aside a bit. Not that there is anything I can do about that, being that I still made the time to consistently get in my workouts. I am sure this is also due to the ambivalence of wanting to do more but knowing I need to keep taking it slow and steady. So maybe it’s my mind and attitude that I really need to focus on!
[Tweet “January 2017 report card gets a B+. How did you do this month? @milebymilerun #tuesdaysontherun #runchat #goals”]
What grade would you give yourself for January?
Are you harder on yourself than you would be on others?
I’m linking up with Patty, Erika, and Marcia for Tuesdays on the Run!
I am so glad we are getting to February! January didn’t feel that long for me though, in some ways it went really fast. I am just counting the moments until the sun is up earlier – the dark mornings are making it really hard for me to get up and run lol
I cannot wait unit the sun rises earlier! Hopefully just a few more weeks!
I thought you did a great job of so much of your goals! I on the other hand..
You had quite a month, with alot of other things to focus on!
I always say we are our own biggest critique. I’m not sure how I would rate January. I did do a few longer runs to start building up more endurance for marathon training. So far so good. Maybe a B+
Glad you had a pretty good month! I agree that we are our own worst critics.
” lack of real measurable outcomes” I can totally relate to feeling like I’m in limbo because of a total lack of racing. I don’t even want to grade myself for January. It ended up being a total blah month for me fitness wise, but Adam and I keep chipping away at things we need to do for the house so I give us an A for that! haha
The house stuff is so much work so its awesome that you made so much progress with that!
Considering that you were injured for the latter half of 2016, I think you had a great month! You’re taking it slow and you’re doing a lot of recovery work!
My January was an A, fitness-wise. I surprised myself with my miles and my lifting! But off the road? Ugh. I struggled mentally. Glad I had running!
I also feel like January was a tough month off the road. Glad you had a good month of running despite having other things going on!
Your month sounds great to me- but I get being critical of ourselves! Kill it in February!
Thanks! Hopefully backing off now will lead to better results in the next few months.
I totally get the “wanting to do more but knowing you should keep it slow and steady”. It’s difficult to do sometimes but it’ll be worth it. Nice month!
I do hope its worth it! I feel like Ive been taking it easy for so long!
I’m always harder on myself. I think it’s natural for people. Even when things happen to throw me off my routine, I still get mad at myself. Shouldn’t I be able to do it all?
Yep, I always feel like I should be able to do it all!
You’re probably just being hard on yourself because it’s January and January SUCKS HAIRY SASQUATCH BALLS. February isn’t that much better but at least it’s short.
You are probably right! Hopefully February flies by.
Oh gosh I’m way harder on myself than others. I think the grading scale has to be various parts and can’t be one overall grade. My goal was 200 miles in January. Effort was good, legs felt great, strength training started, so overall good month but I missed my goal. To me that’s a lower grade lol.
You make a good point that there should be different grades for different parts of the month. It sounds to me like you had a really solid month!
I definitely know what you mean about being too hard on yourself. Is that a requirement for runners? LOL! You did a great job and made the most of what you could do….it’s tough when you’re juggling work and home life on top of running.
Thanks! I do think that so many of us are way too hard on ourselves.
Great work on your goals! I am soooo much harder on myself than I would be on my coaching clients. I honestly can’t give myself grades on things like running, because I was so tied up with grades until I finished my master’s degree.
It was definitely weird to try to give myself a grade! Its much easier to describe the pros and cons of the month.
I think we are guilty of wanting to do more than what we sometimes have the time to do. My month seemed kind of lax, but I also was pretty strict about it being an “off-season” month. There’s nothing to gain by not allowing yourself to properly recover. My injuries seem to be very quite at the moment, and that would not have happened had I not taken things easy.
You are right that there is nothing to gain by not allowing ourselves time to recover. I keep telling myself that but its still hard to take it easy!
It sounds like you did great with your goals! I think it’s normal to always want to do more…I feel like I need more hours in the day
I was just thinking about how we need more hours in the day! There’s just not enough time for everything!
Can I do a 2-parter? If so then I’d grade myself an A on the running and well a C on the blogging goals. Ahhhh when one excels another lacks right? #Balance
Isn’t that always how it goes? It’s so hard to focus on everything at once!
I’m way harder on myself than others… but with that being said, I think you did great on your goals! are you going to be setting any “mini-goals” for February?!
I think I am going to continue with the ones I started in January- I feel like I need some more time to work on them!
I took all of 2016 off from following a training plan. It was my year of carefree running. It was exactly what I needed. Now I’m ready to follow a plan again and smash my goals. This month is was back on a training plan and I’m loving it!
I love following a training plan so its definitely hard not to! But I think in the end it will be what I need. Can’t wait to see all the great things you accomplish this year!