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February 2012 Goals

Jan 31st, 2012
by gazelle.
1 comment

Can you believe that today is the last day of January? 2012 is already 1/12 over! This month was not the way I typically like to start the year, and I think you’ll see that the number of stressors in my life negatively impacted my goal achieving for the month. I am okay with that, because if I weren’t okay with that, then I would be more stressed out, and that helps no one.

So – what was I going to do this month?

January 2012 Goals

  1. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July! – FAIL! But I really do need to get on this ASAP. July is only 5 months away, and I don’t think the cats are going to be adequate caregivers. We’re on a waiting list, but the earliest that would start would be September.
  2. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room. – FAIL! Dammit. But – we got a carseat! And baby laundry detergent. As soon as I have a place to keep the clothes, I will be washing and folding and storing.
  3. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die” – FAIL! This is going to have to wait until I’m done w/ school, but since that’s nearly here…
  4. Minimize work/school stress through the gratuitous use of meditation (oops – typed medication the first time; not the same thing), yoga, and other exercise. – FAIL!

January 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity. – FAIL! I got about 11.5 hours, which all things considered is okay, I guess. Between the pelvic pain and the additional stress in my life, I’m just pleased that I didn’t quit EVERYTHING 3 weeks ago!
  2. A minimum of five yoga classes – SUCCESS!  Finally – something I actually did! I logged 5 yoga classes & 1 home practice. Yay!
  3. Average one swim/week – FAIL! I only swam twice in January. BUT – my last swim was so awesome, and I’m swimming again tomorrow. So, yay?
  4. Average one bike/week – FAIL! I am finding it very difficult to bike at all anymore, so didn’t log any bike time this month. My knees hit my belly. I need to go back to the fitness center and use the recumbent bike again – that seems a little better.
  5. One walk with the architect every weekend – FAIL! See aforementioned pelvic injury.

 

Well – that doesn’t look good, does it?

BUT – I did have some successes that I need to mention.

  1. I got through my big, stressful work project, sanity intact
  2. I survived the month, sanity intact
  3. Ummm…my sanity is still intact?

Honestly – January was not good to me. Between the giant, enormously stressful work project, finishing up grad school, my dad’s cancer diagnosis, the tree falling on the architect’s truck, and oh, yeah – last Saturday night our furnace stopped working (so happy we don’t live in a SUPER cold place), this was a rough month. Add to that being fairly pregnant, and you have a recipe for crazy, I think.

It’s hard for me to gauge how well I handled all this, as I’m not sure how well I should be handling it all. Sometimes I think I’m okay, and sometimes I think that I could really be doing much better. I have decided that since I still feel fairly sane, that maybe I’m either (a) handling it okay, or (b) repressing and on my way to a huge breakdown at some unknown point in the future. Could go either way, I suppose.

 

ANYWAY – onward and upward…if my February goals look familiar, that’s because they are.

February 2012 Goals

  1. Finish grad school! YAY!
  2. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July!
  3. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room.
  4. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die”
  5. Finalize baby prep lists

February 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity (total tallied below: 15.5 hours)
  2. Six yoga classes, minimum (estimated time: 7.5 hours)
  3. Five swims, minimum (estimated time: 3.75 hours)
  4. Two 15-minute upper body weights sessions/week (estimated time: 2.25 hours)
  5. Four visits to the fitness center for 30 minutes of cardio (estimated time: 2 hours)

I know that the key for me is exercise, and I don’t think this is overly ambitious. However, I do reserve the right to listen to my body and step back if necessary. It’s going to be a busy month. I am 31 weeks pregnant & will end February at 35.5 weeks pregnant. I have no idea what I’ll be able to do by then. I’m hoping that I can continue to move – at least a little – because I know that will make everything go easier.

So (don’t feel compelled to look at this; it’s my own personal crazy) my training plan for February 2012: Feb 2012 Plan

Happy end of the month!

December 2011 Goals

Dec 1st, 2011
by gazelle.
2 comments

As always, we start with the recap.

November 2011 Goals

  1. Survive the first 4.5 weeks of my terminal project without going crazy. – SUCCESS! I totally feel not crazy yet! Although definitely getting there. I might be crazy after today, but I made it to December! WOO!
  2. Make lefse! With her! We will have so much fun. – SUCCESS! More or less. We did hang out. And we talked about lefse. And we both made lefse. Just not together.
  3. For reals, get the garlic in the ground & build the cloche – FAIL! So many things; the garden has really taken a back seat. Boo!  It’s supposed to be nice this weekend, so I will plant my garlic then (I have garlic! It just needs to be in the ground, now.)
  4. Visit the daycare that looked awesome on paper (or, the computer screen, rather) and beg them to take my as-yet-unborn child – SUCCESS! We visited the daycare. It was just as awesome in real life as on the internets. We are on the waiting list for September 2012 (i.e. 2.5 months AFTER we need care, but whatevs….next steps – find bridge care for Alvie Bean.)
  5. List one thing I am thankful for every day (thanks for the inspiration, Alisa!) – SUCCESS! If you look at yesterday’s post, you’ll see my 30 days of thanks. I didn’t post every day, but I sure did have 30 things I was grateful for!

 

November 2011 Training Goals

Since I am pregnant, this is harder than usual, but my goal is to work out a minimum of 3 times/week; 30 minutes/time. I had a decent start last night with a trainer ride, although I wasn’t able to hit 30 minutes due to the extreme discomfort of my bike shorts which apparently are not baby bump accommodating. (Why do I never spell accommodating right on the first try? WHY?!?) Any suggestions for bike short comfort? I really don’t want to shell out bike short money for something that I’ll wear for a maximum of 5ish months (I’m pretty sure that biking will not be the first exercise I’ll get back to after giving birth…just a feeling I have). (Also, 5 months? Seriously? That’s it?  ACK!)

I already have a swim date for Wednesday evening, and yoga plans for Friday afternoon, and will try to run on Thursday and/or Sunday…I am hoping to convince the architect to start doing weekly long walks with me on a weekend day. I’m pretty sure I’ll be mostly walking my half marathon, and want to start getting some serious distance on my feet.

Well – semi success. I definitely exercised more in November than I have since July (i.e. before I was/knew I was pregnant). I didn’t hit my non-written goal of 15 hours of exercise for November, but I did hit my written (above) goal of  an average of 3 times/week, 30 minutes/session.  In fact, I hit just over 10 hours of exercise, which ends up being an average of ~21 minutes per day!

 

 

December 2011 Goals

  1. Finish the first half of my capstone STRONG!
  2. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July!
  3. Enjoy the holidays with a minimum of stress and a maximum of fun! (So many exciting things coming up!)
  4. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room.
  5. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die”

 

December 2011 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity.
  2. A minimum of five yoga classes
  3. Finish my December race. That’s all I want. A finish time.
  4. Fifty miles on the bike (again, minimum)
  5. Convince Alvie Bean that we really do like swimming. (I actually can’t tell if he hates it, or likes it so much that he tries to swim along…either way, it is not the awesome pregnancy workout that I would prefer)

 

Happy 12th month, y’all! Can you believe it? DECEMBER! Where did 2011 go?

September 2011 Goals

Sep 1st, 2011
by gazelle.
2 comments

But first, as always, the August recap…

August 2011 Goals

  1. Buy new sheets/comforter for the guest room (breaking it down into small tasks) – finally! SUCCESS! I did get a new bedding set (and new pillows) for the guest room. Since the guest room is currently home to all the stuff that is normally in our bathroom, though, I haven’t put them on the bed yet…..
  2. Make Cheddar – FAIL! I did, however, go to a cheese making class and learned what I may have done wrong in regards to said cheddar. I then bought 2 gallons of frozen raw milk so that I can use that to make cheddar.
  3. Buy the tile and new vanity for the bathroom – half SUCCESS! We bought the new vanity, and have picked out the tile. We will go get and install the tile this weekend.  The bathroom is going to be awesome!
  4. Find a plumber – SUCCESS! Thanks to recommendations from friends, we had a couple plumbers come over and picked one, and they came and moved stuff around last Monday. When we’ve put down the floors and put up the walls, we’ll call them to come back and hook up the toilet & the sink. I really miss having a functional bathroom upstairs.
  5. Continue to do PT exercises twice a week – half SUCCESS! I have done pretty good at remembering to do the simple ones that I can do without needing equipment. I’ve sucked at the others. 
  6. Have a great time in South Dakota – SUCCESS! I got to see my three bestiest besties from college, my parents, my sister, and a decent assortment of relatives!  Yay!

August Training Goals

  1. Weights/Yoga/Swim/Bike – 12x this month(not 16, just a little more than the last months) – I definitely stepped up the biking this month, and hit the pool a couple times, but overall, a big, fat, FAIL
  2. Run 90 miles  – FAIL! And we’ll just leave it at that…
  3. Lift weights at least once – SUCCESS! I did lift weights exactly once.
  4. 30 hours of exercise – FAIL! I didn’t get as many hours this month as last month
  5. Hit all planned long runs – until marathon training is over! – half SUCCESS! I started every planned long run. I did not always hit the planned mileage, but I started, which is better than not, right?

Overall, I feel like this was a decent month, goal wise. I didn’t do as well with the training goals as I would’ve hoped, but travel and related exhaustion really cut into those plans.  Considering how fast August flew by, I think I’m okay with all of this!

And now – looking forward. September is my favorite month. It’s harvest time. The air is cool and crisp. The leaves start to turn color, and there’s still enough daylight that I don’t want to hibernate yet. Apples and pears are starting to appear at the markets, and the  mornings are just perfect.

Sepetember Goals

  1. Can tomatoes…salsa, marinara, ketchup, whatever – just can it!
  2. PICKLES!  My cucumbers, once again, sucked, so I will be hitting up a farmer’s market and buying as many cukes as I can carry for dill pickles and bread & butter pickles. I’ve already done beet pickles & pickled asparagus this year.
  3. Finish the bathroom before my in-laws arrive! It would be awesome to have a second usable bathroom as well as a usable guest room by the time they get here.
  4. Fancy dinner party. It is on my life list, and I am excited to host a few friends for my first fancy dinner party. I have invitations to go out this weekend. I am finalizing the menu. I wish I could invite everyone I know, but unfortunately, I don’t have enough room for that many people!
  5. Mother-effing pirate festival. Every year, I say I’m going to go, and every year, I don’t. I can walk there! The only year I actually did go was 2007 – and it was the day after the architect had surgery. He insisted he wanted to go, so we drove. And parked about 1/2 mile away (and 1/2 mile away from our house). We got there, walked around a bit, and then he felt crappy, so I went and fetched the car & picked him up at the gate. Not the best time, really. The next year it rained. I don’t remember my excuse for 2009, but last year, I just flat out forgot. Not this time, bitches!  I am going to the pirate festival, and you can’t stop me! YARGHHHHHHHHHHH!  (Ummm, I just went to the site to get the link, and it’s MOVED! I can no longer walk there! WTF, Pirate Festival?! Is this because I never attend? WHYYYYY??????) (AND, it’s Labor Day weekend! When I will be laboring! I do not want to drive to St. Helens for my piratey goodness!) (Also, I really wish the interrobang was a symbol on my keyboard.)
  6. Since I just maybe deleted my goal #5, I decided I should probably add a real goal #5. Okay, then….this is harder than I thought. I was so set on the pirate festival. Oooh – I know!  I will fall-clean and organize my kitchen! I was thinking I was going to anyways, due to the how-to guide posted by Cat, but now I have to! (And I really, really need to…the house cleaner is good at making my house look clean, but she hasn’t looked in the fridge or taken the initiative to organize my pantry & cupboards…I have a LOT of kitchen gadgets, and should probably determine which are necessary and which can go.)
  7. Oh, wait! I just thought of another! I need to plan the next 12 months of the gardening enterprise and get some fall crops in the ground!

September Training Goals

Well, really, more of the same. Run. Bike. Swim. Yoga. BUT, this month, I really want to start focusing on strengthening my core and doing some stability exercises. If that means I need to get my stability ball out of the closet and start using it, so be it. I’ve really had it brought home in the last month how much strengthening my core needs – it’s the weakest part of my body, and unfortunately, it seems to be vital to my comfort and strength in every other aspect of my life.

So – keep up with the exercise & training, and also CORE!

August 2011 Goals

Aug 1st, 2011
by gazelle.
6 comments

But, as always, let’s see how I did in July….

July 2011 Goals

  1. Lose 3-4 lbs – Seriously. I mean it. – FAIL. And honestly, at this point, I give up. I’m 2 months away from my marathon and I’m freaking hungry all the time. I have lost inches, but not weight, and will revisit after the marathon.
  2. Finish guest room fancifying – Ditto. – FAIL. BUT – I have a deadline! We will have guests in mid-September, so I need to get ‘er done by then.
  3. Make more Parmesan – SUCCESS! I have made the Parmesan, and in approximately a year, we’ll know how that turned out!
  4. Finish the month confident in my ability to do my new job.  – SUCCESS! I am definitely feeling a lot more confident with my job. There are still things I’m learning, but I’m getting there!
  5. Get bathroom cost estimate completed, find a plumber, and get the bathroom remodel started – half SUCCESS! We are getting there, things are in process (we want this to be done by the time our guests arrive in September, too).
  6. Do PT exercises every non-running day! Starting today, obviously. – half SUCCESS! I did my PT exercises a lot, but not every day. However, I did graduate from PT and my physical therapist actually told me that I look graceful when I run. suck it! (I’m not sure who that’s directed towards, but it felt necessary.)

July 31 day challenge

I am going to go back to the “picture a day” challenge. I like that one.  Also, less time consuming than some others I have on my list. :)   Keep an eye on the sidebar for the updates!

I did pretty good with this, not every day, but most days! Go, me!

July Training Goals

  1. Weights/Yoga/Swim/Bike – 16x this month- FAIL! Again, only 10 times this month. I always do 10.
  2. Run 80 miles  – FAIL! I ran 67.35  miles this month, which was still 22 more than last month, so  not a real fail at all!
  3. Lift weights at least three times – FAIL!  I lifted weights approximately zero times. No excuses except that I really don’t like to lift, so that’s always the workout that gets skipped.
  4. 25 hours of exercise – minimum! It should be waaay more than this. :) – SUCCESS! I worked out 29 hours (and 5 minutes) in July, not counting any yard work. This makes me so happy.
  5. Hit all planned long runs – until marathon training is over! – half SUCCESS! I missed one run (which is why I didn’t hit that 80 mile goal), but I did everything else! Yay!

August 2011 Goals

  1. Buy new sheets/comforter for the guest room (breaking it down into small tasks)
  2. Make Cheddar
  3. Buy the tile and new vanity for the bathroom
  4. Find a plumber
  5. Continue to do PT exercises twice a week
  6. Have a great time in South Dakota

August Training Goals

  1. Weights/Yoga/Swim/Bike – 12x this month(not 16, just a little more than the last months)
  2. Run 90 miles 
  3. Lift weights at least once
  4. 30 hours of exercise
  5. Hit all planned long runs – until marathon training is over!

May 2011 Goals

May 2nd, 2011
by gazelle.
1 comment
April 2011 Goals

  1. Lose 3-4 lbs – FAIL! But, I also didn’t gain (again).
  2. Finish my 10K faster than last year’s time. – SUCCESS! I beat last year’s time by 7 seconds. Go me!
  3. Make first steps towards Audubon site certification – SUCCESS! The site plan is taking shape.
  4. Make sausage – SUCCESS! I made chicken, tomato, basil sausage, and it is delicious!
  5. Finish guest room fancifying – FAIL! The guest room is still unfancified…
  6. Upstairs storage solutions  – FAIL! I also haven’t figured out what I’m doing w/ the guest room closet.
  7. Make cheddar & goat feta. – half SUCCESS! I made the feta, although it didn’t turn out quite right; I can no longer find the goat milk I previously used, and there is a definite change in quality (and curding…). I need to get the raw stuff from somewhere again.
  8. Get my awesome new prints framed & hung in the kitchen – FAIL! I have not done this, but I will this month. FOR REAL!
  9. Find graphic designer to help with a secret project – half SUCCESS! I have the design down & a contact, just need to make it happen
  10. Follow the budget to the letter! (number?) – SUCCESS! I was a marvel of fiscal restraint.  :)

April 30 day challenge

I will take one picture every day & upload it to my Flickr site. These will show up in the sidebar! In addition, I would like to redo January’s challenge – the month of no extraneous spending! Go me!

I did great with the photo thing until I was derailed about 10 days ago with work.  I’ve definitely reached my goal of being more conscious of what’s around me, though!

April Training Goals

  1. Weights/Yoga/Swim/Bike – 16x this month – FAIL! I was doing great w/ this until about 10 days ago, again; that is a recurring theme…I got in 9 yoga/swim/bike (no weights) April 1 – 19, but nothing since then…
  2. Run 50 miles – FAIL! BUT – I did run 26 miles, which is my biggest mileage month since March 2010! Yay!
  3. Two OWS, minimum – FAIL! Again, see April 19 excuse & add ‘crappy, cold, rainy weather’ to that.
  4. Push-ups every week – FAIL! I’d forgotten I’d even put that in here. Oops.
  5. 20 hours of exercise – FAIL! Again, pesky April 19 when I stopped exercising excuse…I did get in 14.3 hours, and since I did not one lick of exercise between April 20 & April 29, I figure I was on track, at least!
May 2011 Goals

  1. Lose 3-4 lbs
  2. Finish my 10K faster than April’s time
  3. Finish guest room fancifying 
  4. Upstairs storage solutions 
  5. Make cheddar
  6. Get my awesome new prints framed & hung in the kitchen 
  7. Find awesome birthday present for the architect
  8. Get through the month without losing my sanity…this is key

May 31 day challenge

Send out 31 postcards…if you want one, sign up to the right or email me your address at gazellesoncrack at gmail.MayTraining Goals

  1. Weights/Yoga/Swim/Bike – 16x this month
  2. Run 50 miles 
  3. Three OWS
  4. Lift weights at least twice
  5. 20 hours of exercise

 

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