FMM: Goals and More

I had a really good weekend.  My long run went well and I made it to yoga on Fri, Sat and Sun, so the streak continues.  I didn't do much else -- very lazy.  Some reading, some work on organizing recipes, had our neighbors over for dinner one night.  All in all, just lovely.  I know that starting at the end of August, I will have plans almost every weekend for the rest of the year, so I really want to soak up these lazy weekends while they last! 

Since it's Monday, time for some questions and answers! 

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: http://www.alltheweigh.com/ so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!


Goals and More


1. Brag about some of your daily, healthy habits.  I work out almost every single day -- every single day if you count 90 minute heated yoga as a workout.  Right now, my pattern waking up at 5 a.m. or earlier 6 days per week to do 3 days a week of running, 3 days a week of cross-training, 1 day of running after cross-training, and then yoga every day.  Since I live in Texas, I drink tons of water to stay hydrated -- I mean tons.  I've tracked water intake several times and I'm often around 300 ounces per day.  I'm also a pretty good eater -- I'm a vegetarian, and we almost never have junk food in the house, and we try not to eat out very often.  I almost never eat fast food (maybe 3-4 times per year).  I always wear my seatbelt.  I get hugs almost every day (only not if one of us is traveling), and I talk to family every day -- those habits are also supposed to promote longevity.  And with the early wake-ups, I go to bed pretty early and usually get a decent amount of sleep.  Definitely think I have a lot of good habits, and for the most part, all of those have been in place for years.  Started being a vegetarian in 01, running in 03, daily hugging in 05, cross-training in 07, clean eating in 08.


2. Do you track your daily food intake? If so, how? No.  I sometimes keep a rough tally in my head when I think I'm taking in too much or not enough.  After a day like yesterday, when I had been running for 17 miles and then went to 90 minutes of hot yoga afterward, I knew I needed about 1500 calories more than if I hadn't run, and I generally want those to be healthy calories rather than junk food.  But sometimes I eat those extra calories on days I don't work out so much and then I try to keep track in my head so I don't eat too much garbage.  If I have a night where I eat cheese fries and beer for dinner at a bar, I think I kind of mentally track that too -- I might pass on birthday cake at the office and then eat a monster salad the next night.  It's all about balance, right?


3. What do you want to change most about your daily routine?  I want to waste less time in the morning at home -- which probably means I shouldn't be writing this!  I think I'd be more efficient if I could get to work more quickly.  Now that I've added yoga into the routine, that's 10.5 hours per week in the studio, plus all the changing clothes, driving there, getting in early to get a spot, showering afterward, etc.  I think it's close to 15-20 hours per week, and I feel like I should eliminate some wasted time in my schedule to accommodate that.  I also would like to be better about packing my lunches in advance and set out my outfits for the week in advance.  I guess I kind of blew it for this week by not getting that done yesterday.  Oops!  Maybe I'll make double lunches this morning.   


4. How often do you exercise? Like I said, 6 days a week if you don't count hot yoga, 7 days a week if you do (I don't really, because my sustained heart rate isn't that high (it's not comparable to running or even to cross-training), but I certainly get sweaty!). 


5. How do you stay on track when you’re on the go?  If I'm in town, I plan ahead -- I always have water with me, and I plan my meals so I don't get stuck at a drive through.  I usually even keep a granola bar in my purse and grab an apple if I'm driving somewhere so I don't have to worry about being stuck in traffic or something.  As for staying on track while on the go out of town, I think the biggest factor is my job change -- picking a job where I don't have to travel as often.  I actually think that's critical to my health.  When traveling for work, I always follow my usual run schedule, and sometimes I'll run instead of cross-training just because it's easy to run anywhere.  I make myself get up early and get it done.  Eating the way I like on the road is harder, but usually I can make it work.  I can make decent choices at restaurants if I'm gone for a while, otherwise, sometimes I'll just eat like crap and figure I'll balance it out when I'm back home. 


6. What’s one excuse you use that prevents you from reaching your goals?  Sometimes I am tempted to sleep in and blow off a workout, but I meet friends to run, so blowing that off is never an option, and I usually cross-train with my husband or other friends, so having that accountability helps.  I think the biggest goal that I'm missing is that I'd like to cut down the amount of processed food I eat -- there are many days I grab a frozen meal to take to work for lunch, and even sometimes at home, we'll have "heat and serve" Indian food for dinner, or I'll make something like a veggie burger. 


7. What scares your most about your journey?  Getting injured.  I've had several good friends deal with major injuries (femoral stress fractures, knee surgery, etc.), but thus far, I've fallen a few times (all this year basically), and I've had some muscle pulls, but I've never been out of commission for more than a couple weeks.  Even when I just take a few weeks off post-marathon, or when we're overseas on a long vacation, I know how hard it is to come back to where I left off.  Fitness is so easily lost, and such a struggle to regain.  Second most scary (after injury) is the idea of never hitting my goals -- doing all the work, trying my best, and still not doing it.  I have one time in my head for the marathon (I'll admit, it's not my first, I've had several goals and met them, but I think this will be my last one and I'll go for it in Berlin in 2013), and one time in my head for the half, and one time in my head for the 5k -- what if I try hard and I'm just not good enough to run those times? 


8. What do you think will change most when you reach your goal? (If you have reached it, what’s different?)  My goal for the longest time was to qualify for the Boston marathon -- hitting that goal made me feel amazing.  I definitely felt more confident, more like a "real" runner, more legit.  What I think helped was that after I qualified, then of course I wanted to run Boston, and I took training very seriously and felt like I improved a lot.  But I think anytime you meet a goal, you have to have another.  I have tons of new goals that are unmet -- weight, body shape, new faster marathon times, eating habits, etc. 


9. What motivates you to reach your goals?  My brother?  Haha.  He and I have competed at running for years.  I'm proud to hold the marathon record (by less than 5 minutes), and he has the 5k record (by 1 second, but he could easily hold it by more).  And we both love beating each other, and our other brothers couldn't even hold a candle to us (though really, they're all in great shape, they're just not regularly running).  But really, I like being comfortable in my own skin -- feeling sexier and happier, feeling like I'm prepared for the worst, feeling like I'm strong and able to handle random situations.  One of the coolest things was at Mardi Gras this year.  My best friend has twins -- I held one of them on my shoulders for ages, while dancing around.  I don't think I could have done that if I didn't work out a lot.  I love being able to do something like climbing the stairs in the Duomo in Florence without feeling like I'm struggling.  I want to hike for hours on the Great Wall when we get to China this fall.  Most of all, I love my life and I want to be around to live it as long as possible! 


10. Share a few of your goals. I’m trying to get through 30 consecutive days of heated yoga right now (so far 5 for 5 days).  I'm going to try to bump my mileage up by adding 1-2 more days of running (probably after cross-training) to my schedule so I can be as strong as possible for the Beijing marathon.  My big goal for this year though is to get through it injury-free so I can do some major speed training beginning in January, and then next year in September hopefully run the marathon of my life in Berlin.  I'm definitely a long-term goals person! 

Now it’s your turn to fill out this week’s questions. Don’t forget to go back to alltheweigh.com and link up in the comments. Happy Monday, friends!