accomplished.

last week, i completed my six-week exercise goal!  in trying to build a healthy maintainable lifestyle, i wanted to incorporate several different types of exercise.  usually, i get into just one for spurts with breaks in-between activities where i'm not doing much at all.  so, the goal was to run/walk 3-4 times a week, while working up to a 5k distance again.  in addition, i wanted at least 1 hour of power yoga a week, three days of strength training and 1-2 rest days.  the schedule was a good fit for me right now because it allowed for flexibility from day to day.  if i didn't feel up to running on monday, i could take a break from the pounding, do yoga and be ready for more intense cardio on tuesday.  it was also nice to measure my running in "this many days per week" rather than miles per week like i used to.  after about week 3 of my goal, my hip and knee of my left leg started bothering me quite a bit, so i had to tone down my running and walk a little more.  the plan allowed me to ease into running slower than i anticipated while still being able to reach my goal.  because of that, i'm tackling the setback to my running with a lot of stretching and being mindful not to push my legs too hard.

so, all completed, here's the chart!

of course, this probably only makes sense to me.  but for the sake of documenting and remembering my progress without collecting clutter, i have to put it somewhere so it doesn't become clutter.  for the sake of my mental health, you know...

for a while i was just keeping the chart on the desk next to my laptop, but after cleaning i pinned it on the wall above the desk.  what i didn't realize is that the location was an absolutely horrible place to write.  so the last two weeks are practically illegible.  but really that's irrelevant because i did what i set out to!!

although this was meant to be just a test period, it worked so well for me that i'm going to continue this plan for another six weeks while i keep working toward building my running back up to at least a 5k distance.  i love incorporating the strength training and my body craves yoga.

i've also realized that my body does quite a bit better when i don't run every single day.  for the last three weeks or so, every time i've run three days in a row i'm sore and exhausted and it gets harder with each day.  if i give myself a rest in between (running on monday, wednesday and friday) then my legs are much happier and my body doesn't feel quite so beat-up.  this was kind of an interesting discovery since most of my running progress in the past was made during times when i committed to run 5-6 times a week.  i understand now why i felt like i was wearing myself out!

all bodies are created differently, i guess.  some can take 5 days of running in a row and others (like me, it seems) need more cross-training and a break from the repetitive pounding in order to feel good!

anybody else have good work goals their plodding away at?

btw, happy friday! :)