april goals

April & May Goals

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 1 Comment

Each month, I set goals and try hard to accomplish them but sometimes life just happens and you can’t accomplish them.

My whole family got hit hard with the flu and we were all out for a 7-10 day period. That meant lots of sleeping and doing zero activity other then walking our dog.  Life happens and you move on, you dust off the dirt and keep moving forward. I did not meet my April goals but didn’t give up on trying, that’s for sure!

April Goals Pipers Run

  1. Run 80 km. Nope – 77 km of running, so close! I wasn’t keeping track each week so had no idea I was 3 km off until May 1st.
  2. Cycle 100 km – nope. I managed 53 km.
  3. Play outside with my kids – Yes and No. While we were sick we did nothing outdoors except one 25 minute bike ride in the freezing cold. I though fresh air would be good and they were pumped to get on their bikes. None of us lasted long.
  4. Start/Finish book – Nope. I started a book and thought I’d finish it when I was home sick for a week but I couldn’t even read!
  5. Strength Training 2 x week – Not really. I do an upper body workout with some weights when I’m on my bike but that was only 3 times in the whole month.
  6.  Continued PT exercises – Yes, I did this! They are a stable in my workouts now, except after long runs. No PT after running for hours, okay 2 hours. My body just doesn’t like the timing.

Not a great month reaching my goals but I’m not disappointed. Okay, I’m disappointed that I missed the 80 km of running by 3 km…but if I was paying attention to my accumulative distance I would have run 3k on the last day of the month to get it in.

May Goals!

May Goals (2)

I’m keeping it real simple this month. Run my half marathon on May 20th, take my bike off my indoor trainer so I can ride outside with my family and get in more strength training.

Have you set goals for May?

Did you meet all your April goals?

Are you a go big or go home goals or small and simple?

March & April Goals

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 23 Comments

I tried really hard to reach my goals in March, leaving some to the very last few days which I don’t recommend. Sometimes when I set goals, I try to make them attainable yet slightly lofty at the same time.

My March goals were: 

PR March Goals

  1. Cycled 105 km (but just got it in during the last two days)
  2. Ran 63 km – nailed that one!
  3. March Break activities with the girls – non stop skiing, skating, library going. Nailed it.
  4. Read a book – nope! I started one a few times but it didn’t amount to anything substantial. I just don’t make time for reading but I want to!

What am I planning for April? Well, that’s a great question. I’ll be training for my May half marathon so that will be part of my goals.

April Goals:

April Goals Pipers Run

So my goals really don’t differ from March but I made a few additions.

Running: I’m hoping I can pull off about 80 km of running this month. Technically, if I follow my training plan I’ll be well over 80 km and maybe more towards 100 km but I don’t think my body can handle that many. Also, my training plan has me running 5 days a week and I only ever plan to run 3 days a week with adding in cross training on two expected run days. I’m trying hard not to push it too much with my hip.

Cycling: This is actually going to be a hard one to meet this month. It’s really easy for me to get on my indoor trainer (bike) and peddle out for 45-60 minutes in the comfort of my home. I usually can ride 18-26 km during those time frames but with the weather getting better outside, we’ll be wanting to get out bikes out very soon. If I take my bike off the trainer, it won’t be going back on since it’s a challenge for me to switch out the tire. So we’ll see how this goes!

Play Outside with My Kids: We all love be outside so this one might be an easy one for us. If they want to ride their bikes or scooters, I’ll likely run beside them so I can leave my bike on the trainer as long as I can. However, I want to do some hiking with them and Spring is a classic “road chalk” time, so we’ll likely be out doing that as well!

Start/Finish Book: I’m not a big reader but I have a pile of books to read! I’m currently reading Heather Moyse’s (Canadian Olympic Bobsledder) new book called “Redefining Realistic”. So far so good but I really just need to make time for it. Maybe I should start reading books while I’m on my bike rather then TV!

Strength Training – Upper Body 2x week: My back is starting to hurt again from my car accident last year – whiplash. It’s like someone is standing on the left side of my back constantly putting pressure on me AND like I have the wind knocked out of me. So, back to PT exercises they gave me a year ago plus focused strength training for my upper back.

Physio Exercises: I’ll be going back to my old upper body PT exercises but I need to continue to do my hip/back and oblique PT exercises in order to keep my hip happy. I usually do these after I run or cycle but also on rest days.

That’s it! Those are my April goals – some easy to do, some a challenge ahead of me.

What do you have planned for April?

Cyclists – Indoor or outdoor riding in April?

What’s your favourite upper body workout? 

 

April Mileage and May Goals

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 22 Comments

Well, we sure are rocking along the months this year! It’s already May which makes me happy to think of warmer weather coming, lots of sunshine and trees/flowers blooming again and more outdoor running! I’m loving all the vibrant colours that are peaking out in the last week!

April Goals

Normal life (no accidents, no injuries): Success! I’m still dealing with my back injury from the accident but it IS getting better as I get stronger. However, it’s going to take a while…and by a while I’m thinking months to really get over this whiplash (maybe longer).

Start training for Johnny Miles Half: I finally registered and have been following a vague training plan and increasing my weekly mileage!

Daily yoga and foam rolling: I want to say I totally failed at this one. I really need to foam roll my glutes more as the pain in my back goes right down to my glutes and pulls on my back muscles. I’ve been stretching my back out daily but definitely not yoga every day.

Run with my daughters (and husband once his knee is better): Nope! However, we have been out biking together and cleaned up a garbage on our local trail on earth day.

Dust off my journal: Nope. Just didn’t do it.

Mileage for April: 

Picture_20170505_092412306[1]

Though my mileage might seem low to some people, this is the most I’ve run this year! With other sports taking over January to March and then a car accident that stopped all activity for a bit…April was a great mileage month for me.

55 km Running, 43 km cycling on my indoor trainer and attended 3 yoga classes. No complaints here. I didn’t bother counting my PT appointments but to be honest there were 8….EIGHT in April!

May Goals

What do I want to do in May? I’ve thought about a daily challenge but we’re already a few days in so it would have to be a “most of the month challenge”. I still want to keep my goals simple like last month so I figure 5 would be enough.

  • Run more outside + Runches.
  • Add in more strength training to my half marathon training plan.
  • Continue with my PT exercises for my back, ankle and hamstring.
  • Go outside more with the girls (running, biking, hiking etc.)
  • Start Bullet Journaling since I’ve put it off for months.
  • Bonus: Clean up my house (so many piles of “stuff” lying around everywhere!)

There you have it! Happy Friday folks…enjoy the weekend! We are in for a WET weekend which might mean I take my long run of 14 km to the treadmill…yikes! This might be the most I’ve done on a treadmill or close to it!

Ever run 14 km (8 miles) on a treadmill?

Did you achieve your April goals?

Have you set any May goals or not bother?

I’m linking up with Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup!

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