Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

February Goals

1 month down, 11 to go.  Really?  Already?  Sigh… time flies when you’re having fun, I suppose!

marathon04

Race Goals:

Woodlands Marathon: #1 priority is to have fun and enjoy the run.  It’s a gorgeous one loop course in a beautiful area of Texas, which appeals to my sense of run as travel lately.  Also, no matter what happens, whether I PR or walk it in, I get to go on vacation the next day.

Now, if the day is going well, #2 priority is to shave 58 seconds off my time in Florida.  I’m not greedy.  I’ll be 100% satisfied with 4:59:59 official.  I have no super secret goals.  I just want to celebrate consistency and overcoming some demons this winter with a nice long romp through the Woodlands.

The goal really and truly is: show up, and see what happens.

Training Goals:

Let’s go by week here…

Week 1:

  • Last peak week of volume – in the 40s.  Aiming for approximately the same as last week which was 47.  Run 5-6 days (5 would include a double).
  • Last long, long run of 17-20, depending on how I feel that day.  Goal is to finish this run with a faster pace than the last two weeks.
  • One run faster than easy pace.
  • Swim twice.
  • Stretch twice.
  • Cycling only to loosen up the legs.

Week 2:

  • Let’s not call it taper yet because it’s really just a small ramp down.  Run about 20% less.  Somewhere around 38 miles.  Run 5-6 days this week.
  • 16 miles max for the long run, but with the last few faster.
  • One other run faster than easy pace.
  • Swim twice.
  • Stretch twice.
  • This starts the week of don’t do anything stupid.  Don’t go to a crossfit class, don’t wear high heels, don’t decide to walk to a different town because it sounds like an adventure, don’t decide to change your diet significantly, don’t party until 6am.  Just be a conservative version of normal.
  • A little more biking if it feels good and I have time, but all easy.

Week 3:

  • Ok, for reals, taper time!  30 miles max.  Run 4-5 days this week.
  • Long run ~12 miles, either easy or the last few miles faster, depending on the feels.
  • One other run faster than easy pace.
  • In the pool as much as I can for short (under half hour) sessions.
  • Stretch/roll at least twice.
  • Minimal biking unless I’m going crazy (and if so, just EASY).

Week 4:

  • Race week!  Run a few miles each morning/noon with pickups to keep the legs loose.
  • Get in the pool for short (10-20 mins) sessions when I can.
  • Minimal cycling just to spin out the legs.
  • Stretch if I feel tight, but don’t overdo it.
  • All the sleep.
  • Short easy shakeout run Friday IF I want to.
  • Race Saturday.  Then VACATION!

tacos

Eat/Scale/Food Goals:

Dear brain,

I have tried to be gentle and forgiving because we are training for a marathon, but with these long runs and higher run volume, you just take advantage of me and steer me towards things like large orders of fries and hoagies and cupcakes and ordering 18 dollars of food when I end my long run at the pho place.  So, now, we are back to the contract.

Yes, the contract of tracking every morsel I eat and trying to stick to a certain number of calories.  It’s not going well thus far, but we’ll need to work together to find a way to thrive and also shed a little weight.  Because it’s not only me that’s had enough.  It’s the scale, my bloated belly, and my clothes that are complaining too.

So, in February, we’ll track and weigh daily and continue to try to make clean choices most of the time (but I promise we’ll make room for potato chips and fries as well, that is not a life worth living, just in smaller quantities).

I would like to rid myself of these things by the end of the month:

1. My stomach feeling gross and bloated a lot.

2. The scale widely swinging from one extreme to another and also reading anything over 180 EVER.

3. This insane craving for sweets.  I have a salt tooth, until I hit a critical mass of indulging in sweets (which happened over vacation), and then I crave those too until I abstain for a while.

Work Goals:

1. Don’t get overwhelmed.  When I get overwhelmed I shut down and don’t do anything.  When I feel like there’s too much out there floating around, sit down and make a to do list and work on getting that checked off.

2. Play my games a bit.  Let’s not reach for the stars here.  I’d like to get ONE level in each by March.

Life Stuff:

1. Over the 3 day weekend, clean out the kitchen so we can store all your shit in cupboards. Prime targets: space above the bar, the pantry, the weird cabinet on the breakfast nook side.  Storage goals: ice cream maker, jerky maker, tupperware, and all the less frequently used spices tucked away.

2. Extra credit – start the closet purge.  Go through the stuff I have stashed already and see if any of it can be donated.  Go through my clothes and see what I don’t absolutely love and stash it for a while to see if I miss it.  This is a big project, so if I don’t finish it this month, no worries.

I think that’s about it for this month’s ambitions.  It’s a short month but it’s usually the transition from the YUCK of January to the happy of March, so I expect awesome things!

What is your February goal?

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2 Comments

  1. fellow salttoother here!
    interesting about the sweets kicking in when you have had a bunch of them too.
    I WAS SWEETS ALL ALL ALL GROWING UP and perhaps thats why.

    • Quix

      Me too. I had candy, like, all the time as a kid. My parents both have major sweet teeth. When I’m less active I really don’t crave it either, but running a lot makes my body really really want the quick carb hit, I think.

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