{"id":144,"date":"2008-07-31T08:58:02","date_gmt":"2008-07-31T15:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/?p=144"},"modified":"2008-07-31T08:58:02","modified_gmt":"2008-07-31T15:58:02","slug":"the-state-of-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/?p=144","title":{"rendered":"The state of me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that more than half the year has gone by Amy and Tom over at Runner’s Lounge<\/a> were curious to hear how we’re doing with the goals we’ve set for ourselves for the year.\u00a0 When I set mine back in January, I was determined to make them realistic, yet challenging.\u00a0 I didn’t want to come up with some arbitrary goals that were counter-productive to my marathon race training.<\/p>\n

I’m actually quite pleased with my progress:<\/p>\n

Goal #1: Determine my maximum heart rate <\/em><\/strong>
\nWhile the common method is to subtract one’s age from 220, that calculation is a bit off for me (it would be 176).\u00a0 Based on several runs and tests, I’ve determined 180 is more accurate.\u00a0 Why is this important?\u00a0 Wearing a heart rate monitor provides another data point to analyze during your training.\u00a0 I often go out too fast during my long runs, so I’ve come to just rely on my heart rate rather than my pace to make sure it’s in line.<\/p>\n

Goal #2: Run at least 1,000 miles<\/strong><\/em>
\nCheck!\u00a0 As of my 15-mile run yesterday, I’m at 1,125 miles for the year.\u00a0 I’m sure I’ll hit 1,600 by the end of the year, perhaps more.\u00a0 I toyed with setting a goal of 2008 miles, but that seemed too ambitious.<\/p>\n

Goal #3: Maintain a plank for at least 2 minutes, side planks for 1 minute <\/strong><\/em>
\nI’m definitely on track for this, although the front planks are getting more difficult.\u00a0 Today I maintained a front plank for 95 seconds, and side planks at 55 seconds each.\u00a0 I had slacked off a bit after my marathon, so I’m hoping by doing these 2-3 times per week I’ll reach my goal by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Goal #4: Fill out my arm weight routine sheet in 4 weeks at least 4 times <\/strong><\/em>
\nMy gym has index cards where we mark down the weight, # of reps and sets for each exercise.\u00a0 There are six columns on each side of the card, so by keeping my Monday\/Wednesday\/Friday routine, I would have filled the card within 4 weeks.\u00a0 I did this twice, but have now changed up my gym routine to concentrate more on flexibility and strength training exercises for my legs.\u00a0 So my new goal is to have at least 12 weeks between now and the end of the year where I go to the gym at least five times in a week.<\/p>\n

Goal #5: Sub 2:00 half marathon <\/strong><\/em>
\nCheck — twice!\u00a0 My Mercer Island Half time was 1:58:02 and my Kirkland Half time was 1:53:35.<\/p>\n

Goal #6: Get down to 155 pounds by March 9 for the Mercer Island half, 150 by June 8 for the North Olympic Discovery Marathon<\/strong><\/em>
\nDidn’t quite make this one (I was just over 160 for Mercer Island, 155 for North Olympic), but I’ve decided 155 is a good weight for me (I’ve had several of you express concern I was looking TOO skinny).\u00a0 I’ve been a bit of a booze hound since North Olympic, plus we’ve been allowing ourselves a few more treats, so my weight has been fluctuating between 156-159.\u00a0 But my goal is to not get above 160 (even during the holidays!) and to get my weight back down to 155 for race days.<\/p>\n

Goal #7: Decrease salt intake <\/strong><\/em>
\nThis is tough to measure, but I feel I’ve been doing rather well, especially after my doctor said my blood pressure was high just prior to North Olympic.\u00a0 It’s now back down to normal, so I’ve probably been a bit more lenient with the salt consumption.\u00a0 I know it’s not good for me, so I have to be diligent about keeping it in check.<\/p>\n

Goal #8: Apr\u00e8s-run junk food in moderation<\/strong><\/em>
\nAgain, we’re doing rather well (although we allowed ourselves a burger, fries & beer lunch after a particularly tough 15-mile run last week).<\/p>\n

Goal #9: PT exercises\/stretching at least 5x\/week <\/strong><\/em>
\nThis is the area in which I’ve slacked the most.\u00a0 Fortunately I haven’t had any hip or knee issues, but I know if I continue to ignore my PT exercises, they’ll come back.<\/p>\n

Races:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

January 12 & 13: Goofy Challenge — check!
\nMarch 9: Mercer Island Half Marathon — check!
\nMarch 16: St. Patty’s Day Dash — bagged on this one as I ran 17 miles the day before and needed a break
\nApril 13: Whidbey Island Half Marathon — ran the Mt. Si Relay instead
\nMay 11: Kirkland Half Marathon — check!
\nJune 8: North Olympic Discovery Marathon — check!
\nAugust 17: Danskin triathlon — decided I didn’t want to give up an entire weekend to do this.\u00a0 In fact, I won’t be doing any triathlons this year (but plan to next year).
\nNovember 2: New York Marathon — with the other travel we were committed to this year, I decided not to throw my name into the hat.\u00a0 However, we will be running the Royal Victoria Marathon on October 12.<\/p>\n

So there you have it.\u00a0 If you were to grade my progress to this point, I’d say I’ve earned a B+.\u00a0 Hopefully by the end of the year I can get that to an A-!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that more than half the year has gone by Amy and Tom over at Runner’s Lounge were curious to hear how we’re doing with the goals we’ve set for ourselves for the year.\u00a0 When I set mine back in January, I was determined to make them realistic, yet challenging.\u00a0 I didn’t want to come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,22],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness-musings","tag-goals","tag-take-it-and-run"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}