So I really don't have much to report this week... other than I have not come even CLOSE to hitting any of my goals! In fact, I think I might have blown them so far out of the water this week that I would be better off making a whole new set of goals so that I don't call myself a complete failure :) But... I'm not going to do that. I have faith that these are the goals that I need to attain in order to make myself healthier, so I'll try again this week. Things I have learned from NOT following my goals though... Stress is REALLY toxic to your body. It was a stressful week, and man was my body telling me so. Everything suffered but it was so apparent in my workouts that it proves to me that these goals will help me attain my bigger and better goals for the season. I just need to lock them down. Second, that apparently all my goals (with the exception of the water drinking) are very closely tied together... when I'm stressed I don't sleep, and when I'm stressed and tired, I don't eat as I should because comfort needs to come from somewhere and my best friend sugar is always ready to pick me up. Such a good friend... 

Anyway, I'm going to try again to hit the goals... wish me luck (again if you already were nice enough to cheer me on the first time!) 

Hope everyone had a great week and are looking forward to the weekend. 

Peace out. 

Happy Saturday! That means we made it right? Sometimes that is a push in itself... if it was that kind of week for you, congrats on making it through! :) 

So this last week was one of those weeks for me. Not awful, but long and kinda stressful... didn't feel great, you know the list... it made me think that I need to really lock things down. I'm a list maker, a note taker... for that reason I think my focus for this blog is to make some goals and really go after them. No more floundering around saying I'm going to do something and let it just lazily pass me by. Ha ha, that sounds like a goal in itself huh?

Here's what I've learned this week (or at least what I think I've learned...) 

One - I push my body too hard for me to skimp on sleep. I have always been short on sleep - college all nighters, 2 -3 hour nights, heck work all nighters now! My body works fine on little sleep and often it's amazing how well I hold up, but it's time I stop trying to push my body as far as it can go and instead take care of it. I know they say 7.5 or 8 hours is ideal, but I'll even settle for 7... that is Goal #1. I know there will be exceptions, but since I have made it a routine to do my workouts at 5:15 in the morning, no more 4 or 5 hours of sleep! :) This is going to be a tough one for me... I've always felt like if I was sleeping, I was missing out on something fun. But if I can't manage to stay awake to watch the show I want at 8:00 at night, then obviously I'm already missing the fun... right? 

Two - I need to lock down the eating... I've been getting better about this. I don't go crazy with sugar, trying to keep it to once a week (but must admit that I have failed a bit more this week...) but I also need to try out the gluten free thing again to see if that helps. It's a pain and not convenient or even good tasting but if it helps, it helps. I at least need to give it a chance. I think some of this will go with dairy too. I had a REALLY bad stomach week which made me remember first hand how miserable it can really be. We'll give it a try and see how it goes... this is Goal #2.

Three - drink more water!!! That one is pretty self explanatory... I don't do it now and supposedly it is good for you :) Goal #3.

Four - I need to limit stress. This is going to be huge for me. I'm a stress ball and it does nothing to help me. Nothing beneficial comes of it, nothing productive... so it's got to be eliminated. I was watching Biggest loser last night and more than once Trainer Bob (-sigh-) said that stress will greatly adverse your efforts to be great... both mentally and physically and it can lead to weight gain - exactly what I DON'T want!!! So my goal (#4) is to stop over analyzing and let things roll off my back. Stressing won't fix them so let it go. Pick my battles, fight those and let the rest go. (man this is going to be a challenge... this is changing my character here...)

I think that is going to be it for the list of goals today... reading back those 4 seem lofty and are going to take a lot of effort. I'm hoping once they all seem to work together I'm going to come out of this a better, stronger person - both mentally and physically. I WANT to be great. A great athlete, a great person, a great friend... I just need to get out of my own way first. 

...

On the sport side, I'm feeling strong and I love it... I don't know that I am necessarily stronger than any other year, but maybe just from where I was since December? I've actually been enjoying the trainer workouts (because yes, we're STILL getting snow!!! 3-7 inches possible tomorrow...) but have also got some solid rides in outdoors. Not sure how other states work, but in WI with warmer spring whether comes insane wind. I hate wind more than anything but I'll look at it as making me stronger :) Still not running, but I'm fine with that. Actually more fine that I expected to be :) Swimming is going well... I hope to get stronger but for now I'll just keep rockin it and see what happens... flips turns aren't quite there yet - I haven't given up! And I'm going to answer my question of the chlorine and sinuses... yeah... NOT good!!! :) 

So I think that's it for now. I hope that the weekend brings great things for all!!

Smiles,

B