My 2011 fitness goal dissertation

Happy New Year!

Yeah, yeah. I know it's January 5th. But you have no idea the hours upon hours I have spent dreaming up, analyzing, re-working and prioritizing my 2011 fitness goals. Now I can only hope that it won't take you equally long to read this post. (Sorry!)

These goals are in a particular order.

MY MUST MEET GOALS

1) Be smart about injuries. This used to say something like "injury free." But why not set myself up for success instead? And since I believe goals should be measurable, "smart" means the following:

• No running in pain. I'll tolerate a little twinge here and there, but no aggravating an injury just to get a run in.


• Strength training. Some of my muscle groups are definitely stronger than others (i.e. I can barely fit my rockin' calves in ski boots, yet strain my hip muscles every other time I run up a hill.). I'm also aware of a few left vs. right side imbalances (besides just my lips). I'm hoping tackling some of these issues will ultimately help heal and prevent injuries.


• Vitamins. Believe it or not, I didn't even think about this until Page made the recommendation. And seeing as how she could probably run a marathon in the time it takes me to tie my shoes, I'm going to listen. Thanks Page!


• Stretch and ice. I accidentally just typed pie instead of ice. What do you suppose that means?

2) Keep running. No longer than one week without going for a run. It doesn't matter how fast or how far, I just want to keep running.

Note: I may need YOUR help next year remembering how to count (i.e. 1 comes before 2, which comes before 3, 4 and 5 etc.).

WHAT I'D REALLY LIKE TO DO IF MY KNEE LETS ME

3) Complete the Northern California Half Marathon Series. In order to complete the series you have to run four out of about a dozen half marathons in Northern California. I'm pretty much set on running the Oakland Running Festival, the Healdsburg Half Marathon and the Walnut Creek Half Marathon. The jury's still out on half marathon #4, but I'm leaning towards the Lake Chabot Trail Challenge.

4) Run a full marathon. My first marathon...whoa. "Wait a second!" You might say. "I've seen your sidebar and there's a marathon there!" Okay, yeah. That's true. This is the one and only marathon I have ever entered and I did, in fact, complete it. But it was far from ideal. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was happy to cross it off my bucket list and vowed never to do one again.

Well, I've changed my mind. I need a redo. I want to wipe that race from my history and run my first marathon again. And let me be clear. My goal is to run* a full marathon. Not walk a full marathon. Not race a full marathon. Not finish a full marathon.

*Walking through aid stations is acceptable.

5) Beat some times. Before "the knee" I had the times below in mind. They felt a little intimidating, but I also felt excited for and up to the challenge. I typically set time goals I know I can achieve and purposely decided to shoot for the numbers I really wanted instead. Unfortunately, hitting these targets would require some serious training that is not currently happening due to said "knee."

• Run a half marathon in under 1:50
• Run a 10K in under 50:00
• Run a 5K in under 24:00

MY BACK UP PLAN

My stupid knee is forcing me to do something I am really bad at. I mean worse than peeing while standing up kind of bad at. And that is - drum roll please - going with the flow. But my knee isn't really into being predictable. So I'm tossing a few ideas around in case I have to throw out goals 3-5.

• Lots more yoga. I've done a 30 day challenge, but maybe I could do a 100 day challenge or something.


• Learn to swim and/or bike since I am, after all, intrigued by the concept of a traithlon.


• Join a cheerleading squad. Say what?!?! For those of you that don't know, I was a cheerleader in a former life and actually coached high school cheerleading for a couple years. I considered trying out for this squad for a couple years, but never took the plunge.


• Try something completely new. Like ballet.