Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Did I Succeed?

Before the month of June is over, I thought it was high time I revisited those fitness goals I set for myself in May!

As a refresher, here is what I stated as my goals and the actual post on them is here:
So how did I do?

The HIIT workouts and weight training were nonexistent during the month and still have yet to make a reappearance in my life. I blame this on the lack of space we had in the basement apartment. As we got closer to moving out, the little bit of floor space I had completely disappeared. I know that once things get really settled in the new apartment, I will be working this back into my routine.

My weekly meal plan/prep received a little kick in the behind in May. I didn't give it the dedication as I have in the past (as seen here, here and here), but I did make sure to think about what I wanted to have for my lunches during the work week and made it happen. So what if it was the same meal everyday for five days? The variety will come back to me now that I have the time and space to prepare.

H2O, H2O, H2O, I drank so much H2O I could of floated away!

Lose 4 pounds - Didn't happen. I did lose 1.5 pounds though and I know that if I had added those extra workouts in, I would of knocked this goal out of the park. I am seriously not stressing over it. I have since lost an additional 1 pound and my pants have gotten considerably looser. I am heading in the right direction and that's all that matters.

Run the entire month of May (#31daysofrunning)...

If you follow me on Instagram (angelny29), or friends with me on Facebook, you already know the outcome of this huge goal.

I did write a post recapping the first 8 days, but then life got all kinds of crazy and things took a backseat, with blogging being one of them.

However, I did CRUSH this goal!!! I posted faithfully every day to my social media accounts with a snapshot of my running watch to hold me accountable. When all was said and done, I ended up running a total of 33 days straight. I ran the last 2 days of April and didn't stop chugging along until June.

I am still amazed at myself whenever I take a look at this:
Each of those blue entries mean I ran that day!

I ran 119.7 miles for a total of 21 hours, 5 minutes and 19 seconds and burned a total of 11,286 calories in the month of May.

I never, ever thought I would be able to run that many days straight.

Were there days I didn't want to lace up my shoes and go for a run? Absolutely. What got me through those days was knowing that I only had to run 1 mile that day if I wanted. That's 10 minutes or less of running for me. I can do that.

Did I learn anything from this experience or see any benefits from running every day? Absolutely. I learned that my body is quite capable of running every day without having to take a rest day. I just needed to remember that when I felt tired or sluggish, I need to run slower or keep it short.
I also learned that I can actually have an awesome long run despite not taking any rest days. Some of my best runs during the month were my long trail runs. The weeks my total mileage was in the 30's, I knew I needed to cut back a bit the following week. My speed also returned to me a lot quicker than if I had run only 4-5 times a week.

Would I do it again? Sure would! I always fancied the thought of extending the challenge to running 100 days straight, but right now I am in no hurry to jump on that bandwagon.

So talk to me. Tell me what kind of goals you've set, or would like to set, for yourself. Just remember, anything really is possible!

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