January Wrap-Up

It's time to post my January stats, and then lay out my lofty goals for the month of February. The best part of saying this? After February, a short month, comes MARCH! Which means SPRING (although in these parts, that's negotiable), and soon the outdoor running ops will be more. I can't wait! I remember when running outside was 'harder' than the 'mill, but now with some more miles on my feet, I'm ready to hit the open road for those longer runs.

January was good! It was like one long run really. It took the first two weeks just to 'recover' and regroup after the holiday madness, and by the middle of the month I was feeling back in the groove, adding more miles and developing more endurance. I celebrated my 6 month anniversary of running, which is so cool for me. If I get to sneak in a couple easy miles today, I will have 34 miles logged for January. Not SO impressive in the whole scheme of things, but definitely the most ever in a month for me, so I am on my way!

Weight loss - well, as I expected, there is nothing fabulous to report there, but again, I wasn't focusing so much on that. I broke up with the scale, focused on my running - which consequently led to hunger, and probably consuming more calories then I had been. Plus some stress eating and poor planning proved to hinder my good habits. I weighed in at 147 this morning, and pretty much have been bouncing between 145-148 for the last 30 days. On Jan 1st I weighed 147, so NO weight loss officially for January.

However, I continue to lose inches so I am not overy concerned about 'weight' these days.
In the meantime, for February, I continue my 1/2 marathon training, which is definitely starting to kick my butt! These are some of my goals for the next 4 weeks:

1- Weight loss I'd like the scale to show me a little love and be down closer to 143 by the end of the month.
2 - Cross Training - I have not gone to our rec center yet, so I plan to start next week. I want to check out a pilates class, meet with a personal trainer, and maybe add some eliptical workouts.
3- Continue 1/2 marathon training, and perhaps do 4 days of running instead of 3. I would like to add one slow and easy 2 mile run to the plan, depending on how I feel in a given week.

4- I have been slacking on core/strength exercises, but still focused on good stretching and flexibility. The lack of core work translated to NO inches lost in the waist. LESSON LEARNED. I will make at least two strength workouts a week just as important as the runs, by writing them down in my planner. When all else fails (time limitations), basic crunches and planks will be better than nothing at all!

Lots of lofty goals, but as long as I can look back on each month and find some sort of progress, I am good with that. January was GREAT in terms of running more miles and getting a wee bit faster. I don't know why I am still such a slow runner...I know speed is not important, and I'm still a newbie...I get all that, but I just want to be a little faster!

I'd love to hear what YOUR goal/s are for the coming month! Do share....