Holy hole in a donut hole, batman, this last month went QUICK.  Let’s get to it.

1. Let’s try again to get to the low 170s.  Right now, 176-178 is the norm.  I’m hoping that it’s more like 172-174 at the end of the month.  I will do this by pre-tracking and logging DQ score all this month.  1500 on lighter training days, 2000 on heavier days, about 1700-1800 average.

Ugh… yeah, no.  I have high hopes for August.  I may need some more heavy handed goals on the QUALITY of food during peak training rather than the quantity.

2. I’ve made a training program through Kerrville.  Give it a second look for sanity to make sure it’s not too ambitious and incorporates in enough recovery, and vet it through the triathlete’s training bible and make sure it has the right dose of speed and force workouts later in the game.  Then, pen it in, strap in, and get ready for some weeks of swim/bike/run/weights (yes, these come back this month!).

Check, check, check.  Now it’s time to turn those boxes green (workout completed as scheduled) and build that fitness and speed.

3. Couples, the goal is to #1 keep my head positive and in the game the entire time #2 get up Carnage without clipping out and walking (should be no problem after last weekend) and #3 run the whole 5k, even that dumb long hill on the back end.  This will probably result in an auto PR, but that is not the primary goal this time, mostly to redeem a really mentally bad race from last year.

Total check – PR, rocked the hill, rocked my headspace, and this was the first race where I felt I was starting to make a real “comeback”, not limping along on minimal training.

4. Be social!  I am intentionally easing up on July’s training a bit so we can do that.  We’re planning on going out, to like, a bar, with friends, twice.  One game night (at least, maybe two).  However, don’t be so social that it gets stressful and we want everyone to go away.  Strike the balance.

Check to all this!  Finally hit that “I’m ready to hole up and not party for a while” just this week, so it’s good timing.

5. Minimize spending as much as possible.  I’m finally able to start putting money into savings again, let’s continue that trend.

It was a financially brutal month until things just turned around YESTERDAY and things weren’t as bad as expected.  Still doing well with the “not spending a lot of money on crap” thing though.

6. Buy cabinet and finish workout room.  This month, it’s gotta be the kitchen.  Clean out the pantry, the fridge, and go through the drawers and do one more pass to see what should go away (we did some for the garage sale, but it was very quick).

Nope.  This one-room-a-month thing is great until race season hits.  The last thing I want to be doing after a long day of weekend training is cleaning shit out.  However, this is a good next goal, so I’ll carry it over until it gets done.

7. I have been eating a lot more desert than I should, I think it’s part of what held back my weight loss this month.  So, starting July 8th, I will be doing ONE, 100-200-ish serving of sweets PER WEEK outside of these things: running/bike fuel, arctic zero, frozen greek yogurt + fruit in food processor, muscle milk + fruit.  Also, perhaps try one of those sunbutter+protein powder cookie recipes floating around the internet.  The idea is to not cut out desert, but move it to healthy, contributing to my DQ score things that taste good too.

I did BETTER at this but I still am having trouble cutting out the bites and “Zliten brought me a few M and Ms” or “I found this random pastry in the fridge and had a few bites” or “someone ordered a cobbler and got lots of spoons to share”.  These things add up.

8.  Back to batch cooking (easy stuff for July 8th week since I’ll be getting a late start, then July 15th on).  Out 3 times a week, max (and 1-2 is preferred).

Check and check.  Been a little less than creative on food lately, but it’s been all good.

9.  Having a sewing project evening/day.  On the docket: mend the stuff that has holes (also iron on the patches for my poor holey pants), make one size small guys shirt into a girl shirt (shorten the waist and the sleeves), make one of the dresses I bought into a skirt, and start the second set of pillowcases.  Not all of this needs to get done, but I need to at least do *something*.

Ugh… no, not at all.  The day I had to do nothing all day at home, I just played video games, which was awesome, but I did not sew.  Maybe next month.

10. Back to body maintenance, since I’ve been really bad about it this week.  At least 3 times a week: foam roll, shockies, stretch my whole body, stretches for my knee.  At least 2x day – ice my knee/butt (until my butt pain goes away).  Heat on knee before morning workouts if needed.

I have been much better about this, and oddly enough, my body is feeling better!  I need to remember HOW much better when I forget to take the 15-20 mins to get a good stretch in and 5-10 mins to get a good foam rolling.  (Full disclosure – I have been icing twice a day, and foam rolling/stretching/leg stretches 2-3x per week.  I have not heated before workouts or used shockies regularly because I haven’t needed to with the other stuff)

11.  Yet again, finish book.  Start next one.

So close!  I’m pretty far through my book but I haven’t had a chance to completely finish it.

12. Change up my shoes at least a few times a week.  The sandals I’ve been wearing constantly for the last two months are starting to have an odor.

Check.  Now that my knee is feeling better, I’ve explored wearing a few different shoes.  I keep looking at my higher heeled wedges and chickening out though. 

13. Quarterly beauty maintenance – pluck brows, do nails, do toenails a different color than turquoise.

Mostly check.  Didn’t polish my nails, but they don’t look unkempt.  Toes are purple and done, and brows are no longer caterpillars.

Let’s move onto August!  Basically, this is the month of hunkering down and going to work.  Race this weekend and then FOUR WEEKS until the next one (so a nice long training block), no trips planned, no real plans, just time to settle in and get ‘er done.

1. Jack’s Generic Triathlon – August 4th.  This one, I really want to push into the pain zone.  I want to break 18mph on an Olympic.  I want to break an hour on the run.  I want to sub-3.  I know I have this in my legs (as long as the right legs show up) if my brain will just shut up and let go.  Yeah, it’s going to be hot as balls and I’ll have to triathlon my ass off to get there, but I really want to push myself.

2. All boxes green, or good reasons why.  I’ve got a great training plan with some pretty epic weeks with some more feats of strength to tackle this month.  This being said, monitor the body for utter and complete burnout and stay attentive as August will be three weeks of peak training unlike what I’ve done yet this year.

3. Obviously, I need to eat.  I need to eat more, and I need to eat clean.   The goal this month is a) 100% bite tracking – two m and ms get tracked as 2 m and ms, and count for -2 DQ as a sweet, and b) adhering to the 90/10 rule.  I should have less than 10% of my calories or DQ score as negative foods (booze, sweets, white bread, etc).  This will be calculated by week, so if I want to save it all up and fuck up on Saturday, I have to be an angel all week (my guess is that the total negative per week can be 17-20).

4.  Let’s see if this can nip that no-progress-0n-the-scale thing in the bud.  If I truly keep my food choices good, my calories will naturally be lower with more filling-ness, satiety, nutrients, etc.  Since 176-178 is still the norm, let’s keep 172-174 as my goal for end of August.

5.  Minimize spending as much as possible.  We still have some loose ends to tie up with all the crap that went sideways in July, and I haven’t really missed buying somewhat useless crap that I don’t really need.  I do have 75$ in amazon gift cards I saved from my birthday and Christmas to buy myself something over the summer, buy something for myself this month instead of letting them collect dust.

6. Now that we’ve got into our goal marathon in Dec by the skin of our teeth (thank you kind race director), we need to book that trip and get that all arranged.  I’m sooooo excited for this one and so is Zliten.

7.  Figure out general plan for next year.  How long is offseason, what is our first race of 2014, what are our goals in 2014, etc.

8.  Buy cabinet.  Finish workout room.  Clean out and organize kitchen.  This one is not going to go away until we do it.

9.  Do some sewing OR gaming OR necklace making.  Up to me, but something hobby-ish or craft-ish must happen this month.  Gold star for 2 things.  Super gold star for all 3.

10. Finish book.  Start next one.  Gold star for finishing the next one.

11.  This is the maintenance shout out.  Continue stretching, icing, foam rolling.  Continue batch cooking.  Don’t wear the same shoes every day even if they are the most comfy.

12.  Work stuff: log at least 5 hours of my game per week, and at least 2 hours of forum reading per week.  Now that (knock on wood) things seem to be settling into the normal crazy instead of crazy crazy, I want to try to get back into this habit.

13.  Have one desert that is something that is my choice, that I pick out, and I pick when I want to eat it, not just because someone else ordered it or is offering me bites.

Let’s see how many of these I can hit!  Wish me luck!  What’s your goal for August?