Tag Archives: 2011

19 January 2012

By the Numbers

By Nicki

I realize that my year in review talked about my running last year. Then, I finally got some stats from last year via email from Dailymile.com (thanks, guys!). I now can look at this second full year of running and racing from a numbers point of view. Having always been very good at math, I like numbers.

I had 334 workouts last year. This included race days. Now, I did have several days where I would have two or three workouts. I know that sounds crazy but prior to my February marathon, I was swimming three mornings a week and going to kickboxing three mornings a week. Those workouts did not deter me from running on two of those days each week, at least. That basically means if I had one workout a day, I only took off one month the entire year. Since I had my first running injury this past year, I know that I did take off more than one month of rest but those double and triple workout days helped.

Strangely enough, January and August were my biggest mileage months. Both were in the 160’s. Neither were as high as August of 2010 when I hit 194 miles. I am unsure why this year seemed to be less miles in those big months. January of 2011 was cold and snowing but was the last big month prior to my first marathon so I got those miles in. I did some of it inside but the majority of it was outside. August of 2011 included a 5K race and two half marathons ten days apart. All three races were personal records.

The other odd thing for me to look at is that I had three months that were under 100 miles. I do not know why I trailed off at the end of the year. Maybe I was finally tired. Maybe I was just realizing I needed to let the muscles recover. I don’t know but I am hoping to not see that again.

I ended 2011 with 1331 miles on my legs. I had started the year with the goal of running a race a month. While I did not run a race each month, I did run 13 race throughout the year with August being the biggest racing month with three races covering 29.3 miles. My secondary goal was to reach 1500 miles. It took three years of having 1000 miles as a goal to reach it so to come within 169 miles of the 1500 mile goal on the first try is good for me. Had those last three months hit 100 miles, it is possible I would have hit that goal.

Off to make my 2012 goals!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Fitness, Just my Thoughts

6 January 2012

Somewhat of a Year in Review

By Nicki

2011 was a good year for my running life but not necessarily for my business life. You would think that one part of life would be connected to another. This is not – actually, in my experience, is never – always the case. Or maybe I should say that the areas I want are not always, mostly never, connected. If one part of life is doing well – especially with balance hard to achieve – some other part of life is suffering.

There are some parts of life that are naturally connected. My running does tend to help my body image and my weight control but the eating healthy part has to come into play also. My business life effects other aspects of life such as where I live – I rent, whether I have cable and internet and landline and such. My spiritual balance and fulfillment play into every other part of life that I have. I know what I have been letting my relationship with God lapse or suffer a bit as things start to fall apart.

So back to the good part of 2011. Running… yes, the running part of life is good. Is it perfect? Hell, no. I had my first real injury – other than a fall in 2010 – in 2011. I strained a hamstring and did not run two different races that I wanted to run in May. This caused me to not run a race a month this year. I also had set a second goal – after realizing I was not going to run a race a month – of running 1500 miles in 2011. I failed on that account. You are probably wondering why running is so good, right?

I started running with an evening run group in July. This was spectacular. Different people from different places in their lives all getting together to run in the evening once a week. To find a group that I could run with and enjoy the time and the company made for a great year. When the group ended as the days got shorter and no large race goals were in place, I found motivation lacking. I would still run but not as far.

This change in distance worked out well. I started working on speed. I would do shorter runs and see how fast I could run certain routes. I have run two marathons and have never worked on speed before as I was concentrating on getting the endurance down. Now that I know I have the endurance, I am going to work on the speed of my next marathon.

I ran my first and second marathons in 2011. I do not know what possessed me to want to run marathons. I am unsure why I am running more – if I am as I have not yet signed on the waiver line and parted with my money. The half distance seems to be my favorite distance. I actually ran two half marathons in ten days in August, cutting two minutes off my best time each race. The strange thing was I was not running either race as an actual race. Each was just a part of my overall training for my October marathon.

Even though I have not met goals that I set for my running, I have loved every run and every race this year.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Fitness, Just my Thoughts

31 December 2010

Good Bye, 2010!

By Nicki

I started out the morning writing a year in review post that did not involve my running at all.  I realized by the time I was 3/4 of the way done, that was pretty boring and there were just a few highlights from my year.  Some did involve running – mine or someone else’s – and some did not.

 

I have managed to keep in somewhat touch with friends from high school that I reconnected with in 2009.  While a solid group of us started getting together every month, that dissipated in 2010 but we did see each other now and then.  I am truly hoping we can get back that once a month groove in 2011.

 

I am an elected official in the state of New York.  I went through the process, ran for and was elected to the Maine-Endwell Central School District’s board of education.  While this is not a big office, it is one that deals with two things I know a bit about – children and education.  I am enjoying my time on the board so far and will serve my three year term with pride.

 

I did my civic duty in 2010.  I spent a month, from the end of April until the end of May, as a member of a seated grand jury.  This duty did not involve every day at a courthouse but did involve being on call for two days a week for the three weeks after the initial week.  I was floored by the number of people I knew in the initial pool of jurors since the constant mantra was how diverse the jury pool now is.

 

I realized, as I was compiling and writing the post you will most likely never see, that regardless of how much I am looking forward to an empty nest in the near future (a couple years still), I am as much a mother now as I have ever been.  My months evolved around activities for my kids, whether high school plays, Confirmation, band concerts, college athletic competitions or school open houses.

 

2010 was a good year overall.  Here is to an even better, more balanced 2011.

1 comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Family, Fitness, Just my Thoughts

31 December 2010

2010 in Review

By Nicki

I did my last review of my big goal for 2010 in July.  This review took place at about the half way point of the year and had already seen one revision in my goal for the year.  My big annual goal had started out being that I was going run a race in every month but January and February.  I immediately ran a February 5K and altered the goal to be run 12 races in 2010.

 

People may say, so what?  Well, to be totally honest, I never ran a race until December of 2009.  To run 12 of them in the 12 months following that first race was a daunting task.  On top of that, I did not choose just 5Ks.  I will have run 15 races since my first race in December of 2009 when tomorrow’s Resolution Run is over.  Of those races, three were half marathons.  Two were ten milers.  Five were 5Ks.  There were also two 10Ks, a 20K, a 15K , and an 8K.  So, for those of you like me – who like numbers, that is a total of just under 95 miles in race routes for the year.

 

On top of those races, I put in almost 1500 miles in running this year.  It is looking like I am going end the year just shy of 1450 miles.  This is an amazing feat to me.  For the two previous years, I had set a goal of 1000 miles for the year and had failed to meet my commitment.  I had given up at some point and not continued on.  This year I didn’t set the goal for x number of miles but for so many races and the training around those races helped put me over the 1000 mile mark the beginning of October.  Since then I have added over 330 plus miles to that total.

 

As I said back in July:

The benefits of this training are that my body is looking pretty good.  I am not a skin and bones person by any means but I have dropped four pants sizes since I started running in September of 2007.  I have dropped bra sizes from a 42D to a 38C.  I have more muscle in my body composition than I have had in the past.  Singing – actually anything that involves breathing – comes easier, even with allergies and asthma.  My abdomen is actually developing some definition – nope, no 6-pack abs but some definition.

So, I am officially declaring 2010 a success!!

 

Did you set goals in January of 2010?  Did you review them throughout the year?  Did you meet the goals you set?  Are you setting goals for 2011?  What are these goals and how do you plan to hold yourself accountable?

3 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Fitness, Just my Thoughts

30 December 2010

Goals or Aspirations or Resolutions

By Nicki

In a quick glance, the three words – goals, aspirations, resolutions – may all look and mean the same to you and to me.  This is not the case at all.  If you are sitting around trying to figure out what your resolutions for the New Year are going to be, you are probably setting yourself up to fail.

From Dictionary.com, I take the following definitions:

goal: the result or achievement toward which effort is directed;aim; end.

resolution:  a resolve or determination

aspiration: a goal or objective desired

So, now that you can look at those three definitions side by side by side, which two are best for what you set for yourself and your life to start a new year?  Hopefully, you actually follow some advice I gave last year in a post called “Goals and How to Reach Them.”

 

Do be sure that you set something to reach for as you look to make 2011 a fantastic year.

 

Do you set New Year’s resolutions?  Do you set New Year’s goals?  Do you check back in on these directives throughout the year or is it just lip service to a tradition?

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,870 other followers