WWU - Year in ReviewEasy Weight Loss

I don't think I've done one of these posts regarding my exercise in quite a while, but since 2018 was a bit of a different year for me, I thought I'd do a little recap, see what worked, what didn't, and what improvements I want to make for 2019.

Running:  I began 2018 with my 11th half marathon that ended in one big barf fest.  Even if I hadn't gotten food poisoning, I was pretty sure that this would be my last half marathon for a while.  I was tired of my race anxiety getting the best of me and ruining our race weekends, I was tired of training, and quite frankly, I was tired of running long distances.

I scaled down my longer distance runs on Saturdays, and I ran the fewest number of races since I began running - only six - and I'm OK with that.  For me, 2018 was the year for simply running and trying to return to the basic enjoyment of it.  I am getting there, and I hope to continue to build on that in 2019.

Workouts:  I rejoined Planet Fitness last February and was pretty regular about going until our home renovation started.  That threw everything into a bit of chaos, but once it was finished, my attendance was still sporadic.  I just wasn't all that enthused about doing the 30-minute circuit and it showed.  However, I was frustrated with how poorly I was running and knew deep down that I needed to do strengthening exercises in order to become a stronger runner, and when Karen offered me a chance to go workout with her during "bring a friend" week at BCS Fitness, I said yes, and I'm so glad I did.  Even though I tore my calf muscle on my second visit there, I was still able to do my workouts, with modifications for my legs, of course, while the tear healed.

I've been going to BCS Fitness now for over four months and I enjoy it so much that in December I added a third day.  The workouts are different every single time and I like that my coaches push me more than I would push myself, if it were up to me.  I was down a pant size after six weeks, and when I was lifting some tubs of Christmas decorations recently, I realized that my biceps were showing a little muscle, woohoo!

Improvements for 2019:  Now that I've got a good workout routine established, and my calf muscle is healed, I'm ready to start pushing my running a bit.  I have had some faster runs recently, although they weren't all that fast - let's just say they were an improvement.  I'm planning on lengthening my running vs walking intervals with the goal of running a mile without stopping.  Then two miles, then three, then 3.1 miles, aka a 5K.  I don't have the expectation of running the pace that I did back in 2010, but I would love to get somewhat close to it.

I realize that adding in some speedwork will help with this goal, so I'm going back to what worked in the beginning - I ran on the treadmill at BCS Fitness, my coaches would choose a speed that was much faster than I thought I could run and I'd run for X number of seconds before hopping on the rails for a little breather, and then I'd hop back on the treadmill, lather, rinse, and repeat.

If you're noticing a theme with me tending to do better when I follow what my coaches think I am capable of doing instead of what I think I'm capable of doing, you would be on track with that.  I'm coming full circle on my journey to fit(ness)...what can I say, it seems to work for me.

from My Journey to Fit http://bit.ly/2GHat1R
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