I’ve been working in my Believe I Am Journal for a month now, and it’s time to check-in with myself and all of you to see how it has been going. In my first post about Goals and Believing, I talked about my goal of an Olympic Trials qualifier and the smaller steps I’m focusing on to get there.
2013-2015 Marathon goal planning
The goal I chose to focus on was hip/glute/hamstring strength to set myself up for less chance of injury on my way to a super speedy marathon. The Journal has given me an easy way to record my strength and stay accountable. My Sisters in Sport have kept me motivated every week with their posts and encouragement. It has been wonderful. Here’s what I’ve been doing.
First two strength sessions of the month. I would like to claim the title of “worst handwriting of all sisters-in-sport bloggers”.
Twice a week, I’ve been focusing on strength exercises. One day, I do between 120-130 lunges (between 60-65 per leg, per session). Another day I do specific glute strengthening exercises – a few exercises from the following Coach Jay Johnson video. I really recommend incorporating a few of these exercises into your strength routine. (Just don’t add too many at once, you WILL be sore!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GLrKr54yA0&feature=player_embedded
Like everyone else, I have little free time to throw in extra workout-related-stuff, so I knew I’d have to get creative. My first lunge session was completed in the hallway of Currie’s dance studio. In this outfit:
I got the feeling that if I waited to do lunges after Currie went to bed, they wouldn’t get done so I went ahead and did them in my “street clothes”.
My next session was done 2 days later when Currie (thankfully) decided to take a nap. Boom – just like that “week one strength” was done. Each week’s strength workouts followed a similar pattern. I found a way to get the stuff done without adding stress to my life or rushing through the exercises. Seeing my progress in the journal motivates me to keep it up. Hearing that others are doing well helps me even more.
A few days ago, right before I drifted into dreamland, I noticed something and jotted it down in the blank pages in the back of the journal. Check out 10/29 below:
No idea why I was flexing my booty in bed (dirty jokes aside), but glad I did. I felt so strong and wonderful!
A positive I didn’t expect from the Journal is it’s helped me keep track of little quotes, sayings, etc that I pass throughout the day and want to remember in my racing. Anytime I see something inspirational, something I want to think about during the marathon, something I need to remember during training, etc, I pull out my journal and write it in the blank pages in the back of the journal. I visit that space often, reread it, etch it in my mind.
Digging these quotes this week.
So what’s next? I’m training for my marathon for the next few weeks. As far as my strength goals go, for the month of November, I’m going to continue the current routine, but add some core (think planks), some drills and some additional hip exercises. Adding slowly, staying consistent, enjoying the process.
Do you have a Believe I Am journal? How are you doing in terms of goals this Fall?