It feels so good to say hey and catch up…I know it’s been awhile! As you can probably imagine, things have been so busy since the Philly marathon and Thanksgiving holiday. We’ve hosted family, I’ve traveled for work, and I’ve started to get back to working out since recovering from the marathon. I’m looking forward to a much calmer December!
I also recently transferred my website hosting from Bluehost to Siteground. I actually wrote this entire post on Monday but due to the transition, all of my work vanished! Thankfully, things are now where they should be and I’ll finally be able to share my recap of my November goals and a look to what I plan to accomplish in December!
Today I’m linking up with Susie, Debbie, Lora, and Rachel for the Running Coaches Corner, Annmarie, Nicole, Jen, and Michelle for Wild Workout Wednesday!
I’m also joining Ange and Carmy for the Monthly Goals Linkup, Marcia, Patty, and Erikafor Tuesdays on the Run, and Hoho Runs and Miss Sippi Piddlin for the Weekly Wrap!
[bctt tweet=”What are your December running and fitness goals? #runchat” username=”Janelle_RWNR”]
November Running Goal Recap
I can’t believe that it’s December! I know I say it every month, but 2016 really did fly, didn’t it? November was extremely busy as I went on a long vacation, traveled for work, and of course had the big race. I wanted to set some reasonable goals to achieve for the month, but how did I actually do?
- Prepare healthy snacks to replace my cravings for sweets. Grade: F. This still didn’t happen in November. Shame on me! I should have made a better effort. Cake, cookies, and candy were plentiful all month long…
- Step up the prehab during the marathon taper. Grade: B. I think I did a decent job with my prehab, though it always feels like I could do more. My knee pain was AWFUL the last month leading into the race and while I had my doubts, once I started regularly foam rolling, I had NO knee issues during the marathon. Go figure! Now I just need to keep working on it to make it a habit.
- Stay hydrated throughout the day. Grade: B+. I think I did a pretty good job of staying hydrated with water and I significantly cut back on drinking alcohol over the past month.
December Running Goals
Now that I’m no longer in training mode, I really want to take advantage of this time to rebuild, restrengthen, and get back on track with my nutrition. I’m looking forward to pursuing my goals for the month!
- Focus on building full-body strength. One of my big goals for 2017 is to become overall a stronger “athlete”. I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made this year, but I want to do more. I need to work on my upper body and core, so I’m hoping that working with more weights will make a difference. I’m also loving barre and spinning class so I want to keep that up as well. I really just want to do it all!
- Overhaul my meal planning. This area of my life continues to be a disaster. I can’t seem to put in the effort to plan my meals for the week. I need to get consistent, and fortunately, I’ll be discussing this with my dietitian and coming up with a plan that I can and WILL execute.
- Run 2x per week. I think that keeping up with running twice a week will be very reasonable.
Workouts for the Week:
Sunday 11/27: Barre class. It’s always extremely challenging but I enjoy it and I think it’s helping me get stronger.
Monday 11/28: Quick beginner’s yoga class at lunch. I had to squeeze the class between meetings so it was a nice escape. I was supposed to have spin class after work but I had a late meeting.
Tuesday 11/29: No workouts, though I was still feeling sore calves and abs from barre class! In the evening we went to the Penn vs. Villanova basketball game. I graduated from both schools but I had to root for Penn! Hopefully this is a less depressing year as a Quakers fan…
Wednesday 11/30: Barre and yoga fusion class since I didn’t get to do yoga on Tuesday. The class went by quickly. The yoga was more challenging than I thought it would be!
Thursday 12/1: Boot Camp Class. It was my first time with the new instructor. We did a few things but nothing too exciting: squats, lunges, crunches, wall sits.
Friday 12/2: Bright and early 6 am yoga/barre class. The instructor is so much fun! I ended up having a private class since no other students showed up. She always makes it interesting!
Saturday 12/3: No workouts.
Sunday 12/4: I arrived in Savannah for my business trip. It was my first time in Savannah so I took to the road and went for a quick 3.5 mile around the historic downtown area. It was really nice, and so weird to feel humid during a run for the first time in months! This was my second time running since the marathon!
Monday 12/5: No workouts.
Tuesday 12/6: It was my last day in Savannah and I went out in the morning for a 7 mile run – I didn’t plan for it to be that long but I attempted to run through all of the 21 squares downtown. It was so pretty, and I got drenched in rain, but it was worth it! Next time I’ll remember to bring something to protect my phone…the screen’s all messed up now, smh.
Wednesday 12/7: Advanced yoga class at lunch. I definitely felt rusty in class, but my shoulders got plenty of work!
Thursday 12/8: No workouts. I was supposed to go to yoga at a new studio but I had some scheduling issues…oh well!
What are your running and fitness goals for December? What type of workouts are you focusing on this winter?
Great goals! I hoping to hold on to my sanity and not eat too much junk food while I’m holed up in a hotel in Newark for work this weekend.
I had some initial issues when I first transferred my site over as well but now seems to be all good. Working on eating is hard this month!
I like Siteground right now but it seems that a lot more hackers are trying to get inside my site. I know…this month isn’t much better than November for healthy eating LOL, but I’m gonna do my best!
I too am focusing on strength training this month since I’m not “in training” currently for a race. I want to keep my fitness up and stay as strong as I can for when I do get back into the training routine.
Absolutely! I think this is a great time to just focus on building strength, so I want to take advantage of it!
So great to see you back 😉 I’m with you on the meal planning….but I have ZERO motivation to even start LOL
Aw thanks! I can feel my motivation fading already, smh! It’s such a challenge!
I would LOVE to concentrate a bit more on ST for the short time before I start training for my next half, but unfortunately I’m sick & not doing ANYTHING. But at least if I’m going to be sick, now is a “good” time.
I do like to keep to a minimum of 3 x week. Except after a half. Then I take a week off. Which obviously I’m doing at the moment. Maybe next year I’ll have to start thinking about writing monthly recaps. Next year — oy vey!
I really hate it when you work so hard on fixing one pain, and something else crops up during your race — I’ve had that happen, too. Just seems so unfair.
You have run so many races this season, you absolutely deserve your time off!! I’ve enjoyed taking it easy and working on other areas and taking classes that I enjoy.
I like the monthly recaps as they help with accountability…at least that’s what I’m trying to do. Oh yeah, and the pain thing is super frustrating!
If there was a way that we could keep each other accountable for meal planning and packable snacks… I would be so in favor! I’m struggling with that as well! I ate all my November baking…
I still have some cake that’s left over from Thanksgiving, I should probably toss it at this point haha! Yeah, if there was some kind of way that I could be FORCED to meal plan, that would help a ton…I always weasel my way out of it!
You’ve got some great goals ahead! My biggest goal for December is to stay healthy during the holidays and get back to my long runs.
Thanks, Nicole! You have some solid goals too!
Does it feel so weird to be done with all that marathon training? I always feel a little empty when I’m done training.
It feels weird to not be running much and to not have a strong pull to be running right now! But I know I’ll be happy when I’m back in training mode!
Girl, I wanted to eat clean too but the holidays (and vacation)…. didn’t happen! I feel you!
LOL it was an ambitious goal for such a food-centered time of the year haha!
How wonderful to get a private barre class! Running in Savannah sounds amazing. I haven’t been there since I was a little girl. My December goal is to get through this next marathon. That’s as far as I’ve got planned out. LOL. My meal planning is non existent right now. When I get stressed for time, that is what goes out the window. I don’t see it getting any better this month either. Grade F for me! Thanks for linking, Janelle!
I switched to site ground awhile ago and love it! have not had any problems since 🙂 Happy December – it’s flying by!
Great goals, I am hoping to get some good running in and not gain too much weight.
Great job running while on a business trip! I’ve never been to Savannah, but I bet it’s beautiful.
Good luck with your December goals. Meal planning (and overall healthy eating) is a huge struggle for me as well.
‘Tis the season for all things cookies, candies and cakes right?! We have similar goals for December–clean up the diet and strength training. I’m starting to train for the RnR DC half next week, so that’s my main focus this winter but also working on improving my swim.
Sounds like a great plan! I’m pretty sure that I’ll be doing RNR DC but haven’t signed up yet, it was one of my favorite races this year!
The desserts are gonna be SO hard to resist!
I’m like you- I love spinning and I’ve developed an interest in barre classes (what a thigh/glute/ab workout they are!) so I want to do it all plus train for like 4 half marathons and a triathlon! Whew! Things are insane for me haha. I have to figure out how to fit it all into my schedule. I think I’m waiting to sign up for barre until I get back from traveling in January- I’ll be gone for two weeks for work, so it’ll be hard to keep up with workouts.
Your trip to Savannah reminds me how much I love that city- we need to go back soon! I think I’ll see when my boyfriend and I can take a trip that way. Last time we were only there for a few hours, but I definitely want to try that ‘run through all the squares’ thing!
Wow, what a busy schedule! Don’t you love when you want to do it all? LOL, that’s great! I really want to go back to Savannah for another visit and get to explore more of the restaurants! Running through the squares was great – but I’m sure MUCH better in drier weather, lol!
Love that you’re working on your meal planning. It’s interesting, ’cause I seem to be the opposite. I will meal plan // prep all day long, but I sometimes struggle to execute my running training plans, but you seem to always ROCK IT.
My biggest meal prep “tip” is to pick something I can make in the crockpot on Sunday & just portion out for the week. Honestly, I had 2 crockpots going yesterday. One with venison stroganoff for dinner last night, the other with sweet potato, black bean & quinoa chili that I portioned out for lunches this week.