Weekly Running Recap - 2/10 - 2/16

It's Monday, which only means one thing - time for a recap of last week's running:

Monday - 5 miles (7:57 avg pace)

Tuesday - 3 miles (8:00 avg pace) + Body Pump

Wednesday - 4.75 miles (8:25 avg pace)

Thursday - REST

Friday - 9.1 miles in the morning (8:01 avg pace) + 3 miles in the evening (no watch)

Saturday - REST

Sunday - REST

 

Total - 24.9 miles + 1 BodyPump class



 

My mileage for the week wasn't super high, but I am still really happy with the week, especially since I got in that longer 9 mile run on Friday.  And I loved that I was able to get in an outdoor fun run, instead of all treadmill miles like the past few weeks.

 

I didn't mean to take the weekend off, but it was nice to just relax.  On Saturday, I went to brunch with Catherine.  Unfortunately, it was not a bRUNch (run + brunch), but we will pick those up again once it gets warmer.

 

And I got my Garmin fixed so that when the weather does get nicer, I can use it again!  It was temporarily not functioning.  Apparently all I needed to do was a software update.

 

Actually, today isn't just any other Monday.  Today, is 2/17.  It's my cousin Erin's birthday!!  Here's some photos of us from our favorite holiday, Christmas:

 



 

To celebrate, Erin will be going to the Justin Timberlake concert (JT is to Erin as Katy Perry is to me), so I am going to meet up with her to get our nails done.

 

I have to give major props to Erin for basically being the reason I started this blog.  She has been an avid blog reader for awhile and got me started on it last spring, and by the time the summer and Chicago Marathon training rolled around, I wanted to start my own and she encouraged it!

 

I haven't really wrote about set weekly goals in awhile, but I think I'm going to start that up again today.  Here's what I want to do (running/fitness-wise) this week:

 

• Run 35-40 miles
• Do a speed workout!
• Go to Body Pump twice
• Focus on healthy eating

So nothing super crazy or new, but I do want to get a speed workout in!  On the treadmill I've been getting to good speeds (7:30 or faster) when I do my normal runs (which I guess are actually more like progression-ish run).  However, I haven't done set "speed work-outs" and that's what I want to start working in now.  I'm going to try to come up with some workouts to do that will be good for a shorter race since my next goal race is the Shamrock Shuffle 8K.  I'll definitely be posting those workouts as I come up with them!  And I'll still be on the treadmill, so I think try some hill/incline workouts that Catherine sent me.

Complete this phrase: _________ is to me as Katy Perry is to Colleen.

What are you goals for the week (fitness or not)?

December Goals

Before I get into the December goals, I want to say a few words about my run this morning.  But before I do that, I want to say a few words about how the phrase "I want to say a few words" only belongs right before a eulogy at a funeral.

I managed to wake myself up and get out the door this morning for a run and I'm glad I did because it was fairly nice out (in comparison to how it has been/how it could be).  I brought my watch with the intention of running 40 minutes and that's just what I did.  Actually I did 39:40.  I even tried to go a little farther down the block past my apartment building to get in the FULL 40 minutes, but then there was a dog in my way so I just stopped there.

Running/Fitness Goals:

Run 150 miles

Do weight training 3 times a week and planking as much as possible

Go to spinning twice a week - It's free at the gym I belong to and I might try going to some of the spin studios in the area.

Blogging Goals:

30 Posts - This is gonna be a toughy.  That's basically posting every day, but since I plan to run almost every day this month like a good like half marathoner, that shouldn't be too hard.

500 unique visitors

200 Twitter followers

150 Facebook page likes

Life Goals:

Read 2 books (see some books I want to read currently here)

Listen to as much Christmas music as possible

Go to Mass every Sunday of Advent

I'm sure I can come up with a bunch of other general life goals, but I think I'll save those for New Years.


What are your December goals?

November Goals - How Did I Do?

Remember when I made some goals back at the beginning of November?

Well, here's how I did on them:

Starbucks - I only had Starbucks a few times, and most were for good reason.  Once while I was visiting Anne in Denver and hung out in the Starbucks near her house for a few hours while she was at work.  And again when I met up with Katie from Peace, Love & Oats.  Besides that, I think I had Starbucks 2 other times - one Friday night when I went to Starbucks to hang out and read, and only once during the work week all month!  Woo for easily saving money!

Eating out for lunch during the workweek - Boom, saving even more money.  I didn't eat out at all for lunch at work except for the last workday of the month - this past Wednesday.  I couldn't help it.  I didn't grocery shop for the week since it was a short week and I just didn't have enough food to get me through all 3 days.  And in case you're wondering what I had - Sopraffina's.  People from work go there a lot but I never had, mainly because it is right across from Potbelly's and Potbelly's is always a winner.  But I'm glad i tried something new because the panini I had was really good - ham and Swiss on a pretzel bun :)

170 Twitter followers -I was at 167 followers at the end of the month, so not bad.  My ultimate goal is 200 by the end of the year, so I think I'm on track.

100 Facebook page followers - My blog's Facebook page is up to 119 likes on Facebook!

500 unique visitors to my blog this month - I feel a little short on this - 468 unique visitors during the month, but I'm still pretty happy with that!  I've had a lot of new traffic, so I can't really complain.  And I know to if I am patient and write good content, the readers will come.  But I'm happy for all the readers I already have :)  That's way more than I expected to have when I started the blog!

Run 150 miles - I fell more than a little short on the running goal.  November ended with a total of 69 miles...less than half of my goal.  It was very hard to motivate myself most of the month given the cold temperatures and post-marathon laziness.

Weight training - I haven't been specifically tracking my weight training, but I've been keeping it up pretty well!  And I've have started working in the planking too.

I think my November goals went pretty well.  As far as the running/weight training, I'm gonna call November a rebuilding month.  It's hard to get going again now that the Chicago Marathon is over.  I did a really good job on not eating out/getting Starbucks during the week and am continuously increasing the blog traffic!  I hope my new design changes have helped :)

I've been working on the December goals and will have those up soon!  Let's just say running more consistently is at the top of my list.

How was your November?

No Spend November & Other Monthly Goals

Since boys do No Shave November (which is gross, btw), I decided to make up my own thing called No Spend November.  Maybe it's already a thing somewhere, I don't know, but I made it up in my world.  I know I'm a little late on this post, but here's my plan for No Spend November and a few other monthly goals I just made.

I had a very expensive October.  And really a lot of it was one-time expenses, like my new iPod, a flight to Denver (going next weekend!), a lot of gas for the weekend I drove to Dayton and then to St. Louis, etc.  But there was also a lot of other "discretionary" spending that I would like to get rid of just to save some money.

So basically here's what I'm planning to cut out for the month of November:

- Stabucks - This sucks because it's Gingerbread Latte season and it's cold out, but Starbucks is so dang expensive and I can make free coffee at work.  Obviously the quality is a thousand percent different and the reason I drink work coffee (for caffeine) and the reason I drink Starbucks (for delicious-ness) are completely different.

- Buying clothes -  I've been good about this lately and haven't bought myself many new clothes at all.  And the ones I have bought have been running clothes.

- Eating out for lunch during the week - I do love eating out for lunch and it's so easy, but luckily I've found some good alternative options to pack for lunch, because eating out sure adds up!  It's like $10 a day, plus the $4-5 for Starbucks a few times a week.  I can save hundreds of dollars this month.  Instead, I can just make the best turkey sandwich ever, and also an awesome new salad I've been making:

It is lettuce, turkey chunks, hardboiled eggs, cucumbers, and poppyseed dressing...in a HUGE bowl.  And since I can't go without some type of bread, I've been having half a bagel with it.  But this isn't just any bagel, it's a gingerbread bagel with cookie butter.  It's so amazing and like a dessert.  And if the hardboiled eggs and turkey isn't enough protein, I've been drinking the Bolthouse Farms Protein Plus shakes.  The one in the picture (in my Hangover glass from Grace) is mango flavored and it's really good.

OK, back to my No Spend November though.  Weekend spending on food and alcohol will still be happening.  I have lots of plans for this weekend already, including brunch with Catherine, going out for Christina's birthday, Sunday Funday for the Bears game with Brittany, and hopefully meeting up with Alex while she's in town!  And then a fun weekend with Anne in Denver next weekend!  I'm not going to give up the social life to save money, where's the fun in that?  I even splurge and buy Bud Light now instead of Natty Light.  OK, now we are really off topic.

So here's a random picture to go along with this randomness:

(from the UD Magazine Facebook page)

November running goals:

- Run 100 miles - November is kind of a rebuilding month for me now that the marathon is over and I took some time off.  So time to get back into it and training for the Phoenix Half Marathon.

- Get in at least 2 days of weight training per week - This is something fairly new I'm working on.  I occassionally get into moods where I try weight training, but it never really sticks.  I made up a circuit earlier this week and am going to try to keep doing that or making up new ones.  I'll post them soon!

November blogging goals:

- 20 Posts - This post is only my 4th of the month, but I'm making it my goal to do 20 posts this month!

- Over 500 unique visitors to my site - Google Analytics is super fun.  In October I had 398 unique visitors.

- Get new Twitter Followers - I currently have 146 Twitter followers.  I would like to be at 200 by the end of the year, so I'll go with that I'd like to be at 170 by the end of November.  Follow me here :)

- Get over 100 likes on my Facebook page -I just made a Facebook page for the blog a few weeks ago and it has 87 likes so far.

- My first giveaway! - I am currently being shipped a sample of a fitness-related product for me to try and review and then some to offer in a giveaway to my readers!!  So be on the lookout for that!  And as a heads up, you'll be able to gain more entries to this and future giveaways if you are a twitter follower or fan of my Facebook page, so you might as well get on that now :)

My blogging goals are really quantitative as you can tell!  I like measurable things!  Which is why I like running.

I have a few other personal goals to accomplish before the end of the month or end of the year, but I can't share all those just yet...some big projects I'm working on though.

What are your November goals?

How do you cut your spending when you try to save money?