July 2014 Goals

So I guess I’m not perfect. I had great aspirations to do a June goal post, just like May, but somehow the month sped away. Speaking of speeding away, how the hell are we already half way through the year?

So, while I may not set formal goals each month as June proved, even if I do them every other month that will be 6 times more than last year. I know that July is going to be a tough month for me due to some work stress at the beginning of the month and then two weeks of vacation mentality at the end of the month. Hopefully, by sharing these goals with you all I will stay accountable!

July Goals

Fitness: Woah! I just put out a time goal for my first triathlon! While of course I will be proud of myself to finish, I spent some time researching last year’s times and this would put me in the middle of the pack for my age group which is 19-34. While I feel pretty good about each of the individual sports, I get hives thinking about all of them together. Having a time goal in place motivates me even more to get my ass into my wetsuit and hop in the lake this weekend then get out and hop on the bike. I add the goal about prescribed run workouts because I know it’ll be easy to make excuses when work is busy, next week, and when we’re on vacation in Savannah. But, since I’m my own coach this year, I need to be a hard ass. I know the goal I want on September 28th is going to be tough but if I put the training in now, I can achieve it. Yoga should be an easy one as I know I’ll go in Geneva the first 3 weeks of July and I’m excited to try out a Savannah Power Yoga when I’m home.

Home: I am leaving this one blank this month as I really believe there are bigger, more important areas to focus. Bo has put a lot of effort into our flat these past two months and while to the naked eye it looks very much like it did before, to the person who lives here it is a whole new home. There is better organization, brilliant new gadgets, a laundry room and storage closet which is being used super efficiently, and lots of other improvements Bo has made since moving here.

Personal: I’m able to use my New York state drivers license for one year after arrival in Geneva. As luck would have it, on July 12th I’ve lived here for a year. That means that if I want to drive Alpy, our cute car, I have to get my act together and get my Swiss license. The second personal goal is the most important one for me this month. I have the opportunity to be home in Savannah with Bo for 11 days. I want to soak up every minute of time I get with my family and friends. In order to do this, I’m going to unplug from social media a bit so I am really focused on the moment. I will blog in the mornings or evenings, but otherwise I want to focus on the memories we will create together. It’s such a gift to have this time with them.

Blog: June was all about updating my About Me section and getting my Pinterest plug-in up and running. Now that those two are done the next goal is updating the race recap and travel section. We still haven’t decided how to organize the travel section so if you have any ideas, let me know!

What are your goals for July?

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Geneva Triathlon Training– Goodbye June

June was a pretty great month training wise. I ended the month feeling stronger than ever! Hopefully this trend continues into July. Right now the month isn’t off to a great start after over sleeping by 3 hours this morning and missing my morning run along the lake. But, I didn’t make excuses and squeezed it in this afternoon. July’s mantra is going to be “no excuses” but we’ll talk more about that later. Now let’s recap last week’s training!

Monday: I’m having an issue waking up early Monday mornings which means tempo runs on the treadmill. I really can’t stand the treadmill these days but being able to squeeze in a 6 mile tempo run during lunch is definitely nice. My prescribed pace was 9:23 for the 4 tempo miles which felt tough but not impossible. Later in the evening my tired legs headed to the pool for my first swim meet! We did about 400 meters warm-up before the actual event which was the 100 meter relay. This meet was a huge non-scale victory which I’ll talk about more in a dedicated post but I can’t believe that just 4 months ago I’d never swum more than 100 meters!

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Tuesday: There is a substitute teaching the 90 minute power yoga class this Summer and dare I say I love her just as much as our regular teacher, Patric. They have totally different styles but her Mumford & Sons heavy playlist was the perfect music when paired with lots of long holds, inversions and hip openers.

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Wednesday: This 5 mile run included 3 miles of speed which was definitely a challenge! It was a speed pyramid with each interval getting faster paced. My “slowest” interval was 1200 meters at an 8:26 pace and my “fastest” interval was 400 meters at an 8:12. While these speeds weren’t as fast as previous workouts the length of the intervals made it tougher. I’m also finding that the 1 mile warm-up helps me get into the groove of speed work. Historically I often skipped the warm-up because I didn’t think it was “important.” Trust me, if you’re shirking on your warm-ups or cool-downs try focusing on them for a week and your legs and body will thank you!

Thursday: I headed to the gym during lunch to do some biking only to find the bikes occupied. Instead of leaving I hopped over to the weights area and did a 30 minute strength workout sprinkled with 5 cardio intervals. I ended the session with pull-up practice and arm hangs.

Friday: Rest day!

Saturday: I think I’m still smiling from the Mt. Blanc 10k trail race! It was seriously so much fun! imageSunday: The weather forecast in Geneva was 100% rain with the chance of severe thunderstorms and hail. When we woke up to the sound of rain we agreed that it may end up being an rest day or a perfect day to break out the yoga mat and pull out an old DVD. But, around 4:30 when the rain paused and the sun broke through we decided to head over to the pool. Things worked out and we had the lanes all to ourselves for an hour of drills. Bo helped me with my form and led me through some kicking drills. By the end of the session I swam 1,500 meters and realized just how much I enjoy swimming outside versus inside. Hopefully we can squeeze in more outdoor swim practices this month!

How was your June? Do you have something you’re focusing on this month to help keep your training on track during vacations or the Summer heat?

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