Making resolutions at the beginning of every new year has never really worked out all that well for me.
If I’m going to make a change and try to better myself, the fact that the calendar changes and a new year begins is probably not going to motivate me to do it. Usually I write down a whole lot of things I want to change or do (couldn’t we all think of hundreds of things if we really tried?!) but the list gets overwhelming and then I don’t follow through with any of them.
Last year I kept it pretty simple and realistic with my 2011 running goals:
1. Beat my Boston 2010 time of 3:38. – done, by 5 minutes.
2. Sign up for more races (I only did 3 in 2010). – done, I think I did 7-ish in 2011.
3. Stretch after every run. – not yet every run, but getting much better.
4. Foam roll at least twice per week. - yes, for most of the year.
5. Pay more attention to what I eat and what works for me. – not really sure how to judge that one but maybe slight improvement.
I know those sound like pretty whimpy goals, but at the time of writing that post, I probably knew I wasn’t ready to committ to a PR goal. And at least those were little things, all of which I really wanted to do, and was pretty much able to accomplish them. I also knew I would be ending a job and starting school so from August to December I had no clue where I would be or what I would be doing.
I am almost surprised that I wasn’t tempted to set some kind of crazy running goal, but maybe in my head I was thinking I would judge how Boston training and the marathon went, see if I could finish un-injured and go from there. Obviously that didn’t happen and it just made me want a PR even more, but this year I think things will go much differently.
My expectations for myself at this time have changed, and my priorities are not what they were a year ago. I am demanding a lot of myself in terms of school and career, and running has become something that provides relief and precious alone time, not another category in which I need to perform.(Just to clarify, this doesn’t mean I’m not pushing myself or enjoy seeing the small improvements in my workouts – it just means that I’m pushing myself to the extent that I want to and not as a means of achieving a certain time goal).
I still have long-term visions for myself with running, and I think being 20-something with a handful of marathons done, it will be a perfect time to take at least a year off from intense running after Boston. (I’m not saying I will completely stop running, but definitely long distances.) There are also things going on with my health right now, that I’m not willing to share on the blog, that suggest a break is what I need.
So in 2012, my ‘goals’ are:
1. Finish my 2nd and 3rd semesters of grad school.
2. Have fun running Boston and accept what my body is able to do on that day.
3. Take a real break from running after Boston.
4. Accept that I am still learning and take each day one at a time.
That’s it.
In reading everyone else’s goals for 2012, it is hard to not compare or feel like I’m falling behind, but I know that these goals are what’s right for me right now, and that I have plenty of time to accomplish my long-term visions for myself as a runner. Sometimes short-term breaks are necessary to move forward long term.
________________________________________________
I also wanted to share that Vega recently sent me some products from their new Sport Performance System.
Out of what they sent me, my favorites were…
The chocolate and vanilla Protein Performance
The taste was better than most other protein powders I’ve tried, and the ingredient list is definitely a plus.
I also really liked the endurance gel & endurance bar: both reminded me of power bars/gels except I liked the taste and ingredients better.
I was not a huge fan of the recovery protein bars (definitely edible, but like most protein bars they tasted really chalky to me).
The only downside to these products is definitely the price. I don’t think I could see myself spending the money on them unless I found a good deal, but they are definitely worth checking out.