New Year, New Goals

Where to start?  Well, first things first...  This Holiday season was quite brutal to my body.  I'm not sure if I was just accumulating crap throughout the year and my smart-ass body decided to get rid of it at the end of the year to start "fresh" or it was just bad luck.

I was SO looking forward to a 4 day ski trip to Jackson over Christmas and a 5 day ski trip to Beaver Creek/Vail over New Year's which started with a 4 mile run on Friday the 21st before getting in the car for an 8 hour drive to Jackson.  And little did I know, that'd be the last run of the year.

Sick me at Avon Urgent Care

After two epic ski days in Jackson, I got sick, REALLY sick.  Spent a day in bed in our hotel in Jackson, spent the 8 hour drive back feeling miserable and coughing like never before, I got to go to work two days, which ended up in me being sent home for the second half of the day and then followed by 5 days in bed in my family's condo in Avon. Today, day 12 of sickness, I sit at home in sweat pants feeling a million times better, yet resting and drinking water to avoid a relapse.

The saddest part about it, for me anyway, was that I didn't get a chance to enjoy Christmas or New Year.  And with that comes the fact that I didn't get to even think about New Year's resolutions.  I know, some people may think it's dumb, but it's always nice to set some goals and expectations and at least try to be better.

Looking back to 2012, I achieved a ton.  I swam the most ever, I rode my fastest 100-miler, I ran my fastest half marathon and fastest marathon. I did my fastest half-Ironman and my fastest Ironman.  I ran my fastest 50K. I weighed EXACTLY the 132 lbs I wanted to weigh on Ironman day, and stayed in shape until the very end of the year.  I swam 55km (maybe not too impressive, but impressive to me).  I rode 1983 miles (the year I was born), and I ran 769.25 miles.  Yep, I feel awesome.

Now, 2013... which for me starts TODAY, JANUARY 5, 2013.  I would like to give up corn syrup completely.  I started avoiding it in November, but I still ate a couple things that had it, mostly gummy bears. But I gave up soda, which is huge.  Starting today, no corn syrup.

Also, after Ironman, while I didn't gain a ton of weight, like I did in 2011, I still gained a little, which is healthy, I guess, but I'd like to go back to 132.  My co-worker Jenny and I are working on this together and we've committed to be our ideal weight by April 1st.

And my third is to run every single day for at least 15 minutes.  This will be tough, but I will try really hard to do it.  I have pretty ambitious running goals this year (including the Mt. Hood 50-miler) and I have a great coach to help me. And while I have lots of rest and cycling days in my training plan, I plan on doing some core work with a 15 minute easy jog on my days off and a 15 minute warm-up jog before my cycling days.  In the end, it's JUST 15 minutes.

We'll see how it goes, and I'll let you know... wish me luck.