Workout Schedule- January/February

I feel really good about where I ended with the month of January. I reached my monthly mileage goal and my monthly minutes goal, barely, but I still made it!!

I ended the month 3.8 pounds higher than when the new year started, but I didn't just gain weight this past month.. 

It's not very easy to see, but all of the red writing are workouts I did. The pink highlights are long runs and strength training I completed. Basically it comes down to 4 skipped training runs, 1 skipped strength day and a total of 7 days that I was inactive. 

Or, to put a positive spin on it: 4 days of Dopey, 4 scheduled strength days completed and a total of 24 days that I was active. 

I lost some motivation after Dopey. That's a lie.. I lost all motivation after Dopey. I had zero desire to run and forced myself to go out for a painful 1.24 mile run 8 days after the race and then a nice 3.43 mile run 9 days after the race. Then I went back to dreading it again. 

It was frustrating, to say the least.. I had hoped that scheduling my races the way I did would help prevent this feeling after a long run, but I was not so lucky. In fact, I still feel as though I am forcing myself to lace up and be active. 

It's worth it. Every single walk, run, bike or strength session have proved to me that I enjoy being active. I enjoy sweating. I enjoy endorphins. So why can't my mind be ready and remember that feeling before so that it's not such a struggle?

If only life were that easy, right?

The good thing to come out of this struggle is the proof that I'm in this for the long haul. I'm not giving up and throwing in the towel because it's not my favorite thing to do now. In fact, it's pretty awesome to finish a workout and think about how badly I didn't want to and yet I did. Eventually it will become second nature again and I can start this merry-go-round again. 

The start of a new month means a new set of workouts and trying to figure out when and where I can get in my long distance runs for this month. 

I am so happy/excited/grateful to be able to say that I am once again training with my sister for a half marathon in April. Although our training schedules don't line up so well since I am training for a marathon in March, I am (more often than not) able to run her miles together and then go out and finish mine. It is beyond helpful for me to be able to have company for part of those long runs I have this month. 13, 15, 18 and 20 miles back to back to back to back are a lot of miles alone.

I'm looking forward to finishing up the last two weeks of Ripped in 30 this month, as well as working on my lower body and and with Killer Buns & Thighs and 6 Week 6 Pack. 

To add some more strength this month, I decided to attempt a 30 day challenge. I liked the idea of this one because it involves the whole body and I think it will be good to incorporate on an almost daily basis. We'll see if I can actually finish one of these! 

I'm ready to rock this month! I was able to reach my fitness goals last month when I had little motivation, so this month I feel unstoppable as I already feel as though I'm starting the month strong and with more motivation than I've had in a while. The goal? Simply to be active more days than not and to try to complete as many strength training and long runs scheduled as I physically and mentally can while being patient if I miss or skip one or more. Weight related, I would like to weigh less on my last weigh in of the month (2/25) than I do now (184.6). 

Good things are going to happen this month. I can already tell!!