Category Archives: Set Goals

Bike, Run, Set Goals, Swim, Triathlon, Working Out

Half-Way To Finish

Week 3 of my 6 week challenge has been the toughest so far. As I write this I think every muscle in my body is sore and achy and I’m fighting the urge to go to bed at 8:30 pm on a SATURDAY. This week I (stationary) biked on Tuesday, Wednesday was swimming, yesterday (Friday) was the Jillian workout video and today I ran 2.75 miles plus walked an extra 1.5. To reward myself for finishing week 3, I bought this Red and Grey Sweaty Band. Go Bucks!

Besides wanting to complete a triathlon in 2012, one of my other motivations when I started on this 6-week self-challenge was a recent article I read in Self magazine. The article was on Alison Sweeney who has been one of my favorite stars for a very, very long time. Alison Sweeney plays Sammy Brady on Days of Our Lives and she’s on the Biggest Loser. I’ll admit that I’m an in-the-closet Days of Our Lives Fan. I really get a kick out of watching when I’m sick or need some entertaining and slightly mindless TV. I started watching Days way back in high school when I would go to Jenny E’s house after school and we would watch while she gave me everyone’s back story. I was hooked. The nice part about Days is that I can skip for 3 months and STILL know what’s going on.

Anyway, back to the Self article on Alison Sweeney. In the article there were two quotes that jumped out at me. The first, was from Alison’s husband, Dave, when he said to her, “Why do you complain? You’re beautiful already, but if you want to do something about it [her weight], do it. You pursue your career, but you don’t attack your weight.” That really resonated with me. I spend all this time working, talking about work, thinking about work but how much time to I really spend doing anything about losing my extra pounds or planning healthy meals? So I gave my workouts an extra high priority and I schedule them on my calendar a week ahead of time and rarely move them. I might decide to bike instead of swim, but I still do a workout AND I make sure to leave work at a decent time to get to the gym before I get too hungry for dinner.

The second quote from the article was from Alison herself:

As soon as I made it about being healthy and shifted my focus away from the scale, the weight started to come off,” says Sweeney, who still doesn’t use a scale. “I keep track of my body by how my jeans fit—and how I feel.”

Ding, ding, ding! My scale was becoming my enemy. I can’t believe how much contempt I had for an inanimate object and how much power it had over me. (Ironic side note: Could this be due to the fact that I work for a weights and measures company?). I also realized I didn’t own a scale until Nick and I registered and received one for our wedding. I never had one. So three weeks ago I stopped weighing myself and concentrating instead on how I feel. That number in the morning no longer has control over me or my entire day and it’s pretty awesome.

The best part about all of it is that I noticed this week that I’m yanking up my jeans because they are falling down. I could get very used to this! It’s easy to get past the sore muscles if there’s a visible payoff. I’m half-way to the finish and I can’t wait to see how I feel at the end of only 6 weeks. At the rate I’m going, I suppose I’ll need to buy a smoking new pair of jeans; probably another pair of (smaller) IT Jeans from My True Fit.

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Bike, Run, Set Goals, Swim, Triathlon, Working Out

6 Week Challenge

I’m 2 weeks into a  6-week challenge that I set for myself. It consists of 4 workouts a week:

  • Swim – alternating weeks of long swims and sprint workouts
  • Run – slowly building on my running distance. I made it 2.25 miles yesterday with an additional 0.25 miles after walking a bit.
  • Biking – slowly building up on distance on the stationary bike at the gym. I finished 9.25 miles this past week.
  • Jillian Michaels 6 week Six-Pack – this one is the one I procrastinate the most. I sweat, a lot.
This past week was a bit crazy at work with very long days and late, long dinners out so I had to end the week with three workouts in a row. Friday – Swim, Saturday – Run and Sunday (today) – Jillian. I am sore and tired and definitely need a recovery day tomorrow.
Oh did I mention I set some rewards for completing each week’s worth of workouts? My childhood piano teacher calls this “Set Goals, Get Goals” It’s nice to be able to motivate myself to run that extra 1/4 mile with the reward I have planned! The first two week’s rewards were some new make-up. I think this week coming up will be a new Sweaty Bands since having new workout gear always motivates me to want to workout again.
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Blogging, GTD, Set Goals, Travel, Triathlon

From a Someday/Maybe to I Can Do This

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I want to accomplish in the next 5 years, 10 years and beyond. I don’t have a set bucket list, however I do have things that I would like to someday do, most of them on my GTD Someday/Maybe List.

  • Learn photography (or simply, learn how to take amazing photos)
  • Learn another language (you would think with my world travel I would already have already been inspired to do this)
  • Organize my digital photos (boring) or just hang photos on my wall
  • Visit Scotland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and all 50 states with Nick.
  • See the Northern Lights
  • Watch the The Ohio State Buckeyes win a national championship. Again. Watch them play in the Rose Bowl. Visit all Big 10 (12?) Stadiums.
  • Play Piano more
  • Eat at a Taco Truck here in town and have a burger at The Thurman Cafe
  • Ski the Rockies, the Appalachians, and the French Alps (Did the Swiss Alps already. Got engaged there and hurt my neck. Those two things were unrelated.)
  • Live in a different city. Zurich? Maybe.
  • Have kids. Or kid.
  • Become a GTD Certified Trainer
  • Attend an English Premier League game. Probably a Tottenham game.
  • Buy a house. Decorate it pretty. Have lots of people over.
  • Go to Reds games in different ballparks. Especially a Spring Training game in Goodyear, Arizona. This and the Tottenham game are for Nick. He would love them and I while I love sports, I would enjoy his enjoyment most.
  • Make a budget. Keep it for a whole year. Stop spending all of our money at Target.
  • Writing something valuable. Don’t know what that is yet. Perhaps this is just keep a journal. Or a blog. Or something to look back and reflect on.

And the list grows. So then the questions becomes, when? When do I start trying to tackle or enjoy or start these things? When I’m 100% healthy? I struggle with that one. I’m not seriously ill but it’s always something. Gallbladder. Tonsillectomy. Right now I’m in Physical Therapy and Massage Therapy for re-injuring my neck. It’s not greatly impairing me, however, it’s well, a pain in the neck. Ha. Or maybe when I have time? I’m starting to believe that if I wait for extra time, I’m never going to have it. It’s up to me to determine what I want to do with my time.

Then I read posts like these: Reclaiming Wife: Do Things That Scare the Sh*t Out Of You and read about my coworker spending the next year exploring the US by RV at his aptly named website: “Someday I’ll Do It, Why Not Today?” And I read about the couple sailing across the Pacific Rim. Now that’s dedication. I admire all of these people – I know they all had fears but that didn’t stop them.

If I think back on when I felt the happiest about my accomplishments the past few years, it was when I was physically strong such as when I was able to pull myself into the white water raft with only my arm strength in the summer of 2007. When I trained and swam in a tri relay in June 2011. When I took 3 overseas trips in a row and didn’t get sick. When I skied the Alps and somehow kept up with the Swiss skier much more advanced than me.

All of the above is pointing me to one Someday/Maybe that I’m starting to believe I can accomplish within the next year and that I didn’t list above: Completing a Full Triathlon By Myself. Most likely a Women’s Only Tri. This was something I didn’t even realize that I wanted to do until I competed in the tri relay. I’m not a runner. I hate running. Oh and I don’t own a bike nor have a place to store a bike. And yet, the more I think about it, the more my workouts are starting to center around swimming, running, and (stationary) biking, I’m starting to realize that I’m getting excited. That I Really Want To Do This. And that’s how things move from Someday/Maybe to Yes, I’m Going to Do This.

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