My FLEXIBILITY health and fitness goal for 2009

This area is by far my worst area of fitness and therefore the area I can most improve in 2009. I am not very flexible, so I tend to neglect stretching. I prefer to hop in the shower or grab a bite to eat rather than stretch! Like my strength, I have plans to have my flexibility tested. It was supposed to be today, December 15, 2008, however illness caused me to rescedule that testing. Results will be posted as soon as I have them. I have the same plan to have is re-tested every four months as I do for my strength in 2009 to measure my progress.

Here are my goals this year:

1. By March 31st, I stretch for 5 minutes following at least half of my runs and bike rides and I practice yoga for 30 minutes at least once a week.
2. By June 30th, I stretch for 5-10 minutes following 75% of my runs and bike ride and I practice yoga for 30 minutes twice a week.
3. By December 15th, I will have improved my flexibility by 10% from my testing on December 15th, 2008 and I will be stretching for 10 minutes after every run and bike ride and practicing yoga a minimum of twice a week.

I believe these goals are realistic. I feel I’m pretty conservative on them, but also do my best to have them there so that I will actually do them. I should be able to improve my flexibility by10% in a year, perhaps more, as long as I stick with it.

Now what will my rewards be for all of these? Nest I will review these goals and set up progressive rewards.

My STRENGTH health and fitness goal for 2009

I used to be really good at doing my strength workouts, but once I got into running I wasn’t so good. It’s pretty common for runners and cyclists to neglect their strength training and focus primarily on their cardio, but I did notice when I was doing my strength training that my runs were not necessarily faster but easier? The runs were never hard, but it just didn’t seem to take as much effort to get the run done when my legs were stronger. So, here are my goals for strength:

1. By March 31st, I will be doing my strength videos a minimum of 50% of the time and doing 15 minute workouts at the gym at least once a week incorporating both lower and upper body.


2. By July 31st, I will be doing my strength videos 75% of the time and doing 20 minute workouts at the gym at least once a week (10 minutes each lower and upper body).


3. By the end of 2009, I will have improved my strength by 20%, I will be doing my strength videos daily doing 20 minute workouts at the gym twice a week (10 minutes each lower and upper body).

I have five thirty-minute “Crunch” videos that cover all aspects of the body – from abs, arms, legs, butt, and total body, and I do one each day of the week. Theoretically, I would be doing one of them each day of the week, but it doesn’t always work out, so to speak. This goal incorporates that I will workout and through that process I will be doing them on a daily regular basis.

I am also having my strength tested in the UNM Exercise Physiology Lab on December 15, 2008, with the plan to have it re-tested on April 15, August 14, and December 15 (or thereabouts) in 2009 to assess my progress and measure the improvement of 20% this year.

My BIKING health and fitness goal for 2009.

Biking is still somewhat new to me. Again, I want to be consistent, which is easy to say, but not as measurable as setting the following short, medium and long term measurable goals. These are extended to 2010 since I am not sure how I will succeed in this category.

Also, these are somewhat dependent on my husband. He is the person I will be doing this with, and he is on a cycling team; if he has an event the same day or surrounding these events, they may not be feasible.

1. By June 30th, I will have ridden 75 miles of the Santa Fe Century and 100 miles of the Albuquerque Century.
   
2. By June 2010, I can ride the Santa Fe Century and/or the Albuquerque Century to its completion (100 miles) in less than 6 hours .
3. By September 2010, I can ride the Enchanted Circle Century.

There they are...I will do it.

My RUNNING health and fitness goals for 2009

Really I want to run consistently, but that’s not really a goal and I’ve been pretty good about running on a consistent basis in the past couple of years. So here are my short, medium and long term goals.

1. On May 31, 2009 I will have run the Unser Half Marathon in April and the NM Run 4 the Zoon 10 K in May as part of my training for my second marathon.


2. On Labor Day 2009 I will have run the La Luz trail run on August 2 and the New Mexico Half Marathon on September 6th.


3. By the end of 2009, I will have run my second full 26.2 marathon (Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio November 15 or New Las Vegas Marathon December 6th), or have immediate plans to run my second marathon (Rock 'n' Roll Arizona January 17).

Of course I have to have some contingency plans here. I don’t know exactly when the Unser Half Marathon is, and I may be traveling for that and/or the NM Run 4 the Zoo this year. That’s ok. I can still run 10K on my own and very likely find a half marathon another time this spring. It is just a bit early for these smaller events here in Albuquerque or around NM.

I do need to build in some rewards. I will be developing my training plans, and as I go I will be building in the rewards based on percent of training runs completed per month.

The Pupose of this Blog

I consider myself a fairly health individual. I am of a healthy weight and am conscious of what I need to do to maintain that weight. I am conscious of what I eat and what I should be doing to maintain optimal health and prevent or reduce my risk of chronic disease. I should, since that is what I am paid to do.

I consider myself a fairly fit person. Four years ago (Oct 2004), I ran my first 5K and set a goal then to run a marathon before I was 40 year old. Including that first 5K, I have run six 5K events, three 10K events, three Half Marathon events, two La Luz Trail Runs, and ONE marathon. I completed the marathon a full 11½ months prior to my 40th birthday. You can see most of the results at Athlinks.com.

Since my marathon seven weeks ago, I have pretty much said never again. The Duke City Marathon on October 19th was my first and very likely my only marathon. I’ll stick to the half marathons, thank you very much. Until this last couple of days…

As I was setting my fitness goals for 2009, I was thinking, “maybe I should try again.” So, I am setting up not only my running goals, but the other areas I, and so many runners neglect: strength and flexibility. I am also going to join my husband this year in some cycling so I have some goals there this year.