Above 1.0 + Resolutions

Posted by Lauren

Hey folks! Happy Friday! Happy February 1st! Happy Super Bowl’s Eve Eve!!! What are your plans? What are you cooking? How badly are you rooting for the Niners??!?

I made a new 12-week fitness plan to usher in February. It’s simple and should be easy to stick to. The strength workout muscle groups in blue are still TBD. The full document breaks down all my runs by expected pace and time. If you want to download it, please click here to download from Norton Zone!

I also finalized my top 10 New Year’s Resolutions, which I have been mulling over the past 31 days (I prefer “thoughtful consideration” instead of “procrastination”). They are at the bottom of this post. :)

Thursday’s lunch was the highlight of the day – I ate at one of Google’s super duper cafeterias with some previous coworkers (Sang, Sarah, and Krish). I only had 20 minutes to spare, so I pretended it was Super Market Sweep and put ALL THE FOODS on my plate:

Thai pork grilled cheese (?), chicken curry, albacore sashimi, ceviche, side salad with chipotle lime dressing, and a mexican chocolate cookie. A lil’ of everything!

Krish and Sarah (the Googler)

After work, Krish drove over to give me my toothbrush that I left at her place two weekends ago. Now I can finally brush my teeth!!!! Haha just keeeeding. Had she not stopped by, I’d probably sit at my desk all night, tinkering with my new workout schedule on Excel. At the gym, I used the row machine for the first time to warm up – are these stats good/bad/whatever for 5 minutes?

During my previous 12-week plan (Oct/Nov/Dec), Thursday was tempo OR hills day. Not once did I do a hilly run!!! This Thursday I was determined to put the treadmill incline above 1.0!

I spy Sharks hockey (7-0 baby) and Kelli’s blog!

1) 5 minutes | 7.0 incline | 4.3 speed
2) 5 minutes | 2.0 incline | 6.6 speed
3) 5 minutes | 4.0 incline | 6.6 speed
4) 5 minutes | 2.5 incline | 6.9 speed
5) Repeat 20 minute cycle (1-4)
6) 5 minutes | 7.0 incline | 4.3 speed

That was soooooo tiring and the incline wasn’t even that high! This is clearly an area I aim to improve!

Speaking of improvements…. New Year’s Resolutions!

1) Learn to play an instrument. This will remain top secret and details will not be revealed until June. Any guesses?

2) PR the half. My best time (see Races page) was in 2011 when I was obsessed with running and had NO life. This time I’ll do it right! I just need to pick the right race and train my tookus off.

3) Ski a TON. This relates to #2 in that I won’t start aggressively training for my PR until ski season is over (end of April). I’ve got a cabin in Tahoe, a season pass, and I can’t wait to make the most of those!

4) Help my mom and David pull off an awesome wedding – it will be the highlight of 2013! Luckily Shirley is a planner extraordinaire and has almost all of it figured out. Mom: this is an official invitation to go to ME for help… :)

5) Volunteer! I’m so excited for this one… I’ve got something planned that’s right up my alley!

6) Either learn to code something new (JavaScript, Python, and Ruby are high on my list) using Code Academy or build my own iPhone app for funsies (I have a really good idea but the process is a little intimidating!)

7) Complete the California Half Marathon Series 4-race challenge… this will be tough since most of my scheduled half marathons are not a part of the Cal 1/2 Series. ERG. I signed up for Salinas Valley and Walnut Creek and I think I’ll add the Clo-Cow in Petaluma and the Oktoberun in Redwood City to get to 4 qualifying races.

8) Keep up with dentist, orthodontist, and doctor appointments to make sure I’m healthy and everything is in tip-top shape. I went to the dentist last month and I have a cavity that needs filled :(

9) Maintain and grow the blog. Not sure how to pull this one off. Hopefully Katy’s 28 day blog challenge will help me figure that out.

10) Sleep more. Drink more water. (Will I ever get better at this?!) I’ve got something pretty nifty helping me monitor sleep and water intake… more on that later!

And, I picked my 2013 phrase/mantra:

-Lauren