We’re just a couple of days away from Christmas and then the looming New Year. I’ve been thinking more and more about 2017. How can I go into it with a more positive outlook? 2016 had ups and downs, and I learnt a lot about myself and what I could handle. I know I need to reprioritize a few things and change some areas of concentration. I stretched myself thin this year and definitely started to feel the strain of it all in the last couple of months.
First things first: my family.
Training for so many races meant that I was away for large chunks of my Sunday mornings. Part of my plan to fix that is running less intense races. The half marathon has been looking really good since finishing up this second round of marathon training. I’m focusing on quality instead of quantity, so I’m limited the races I’m doing. So far I have planned:
Races:
Disney Goofy (Half and Full) Challenge (in just two weeks!!)
Krispy Kreme Challenge
Tar Heel 10 Miler
Run Like A Mother 5k
Destination Races Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon
Gigi’s Cupcake Run 5k
City of Oaks Full Marathon??
Only having about half a dozen races, two of which are just 5ks, should really cut back on long trainings. I also want to ease back on my kids activities. At one point, Big Fig was doing gymnastics, swimming, AND soccer, all within a 3 hour period on Saturday mornings. While I love that he has the chance to try so many things, I don’t want him to burn out too. Not doing so much also gives us more time as a family and with our friends.
Love moments like these!
I also want to really focus on my career. I want to continue to build my knowledge of my day to day role, as I’m in a field that’s constantly changing and evolving with technology. But I’d also like to get in some additional trainings and certifications that will help me to be a better category manager and have a better understanding of the field that I’ve been in for over a decade now. I don’t think I fully realized the value of certifications until I saw my husband get his project management certification, and then I went through my own fitness professional certifications. The latter really increased my confidence, as well as provided opportunities to be more efficient in my teaching. To be able to translate that into my day to day career sounds pretty exciting.
For fitness teaching, I plan to continue doing Piyo and water aerobics. They’ve worked really well with my current schedule and I like that both give me a good workout when I’d regularly be working out anyways. I also want to look into Barre Above, which I had tried at DCAC this past August and loved. All of those things are also excellent cross training with my runs, and have really helped me with my injury prevention.
My own fitness plan? I’m just going to keep up my runs, take some PiYo/barre, and then squeeze in something additional when I can, hopefully once a week… ideally some strength training or other cardio like cycle or Zumba.
From a nutrition perspective, I’m not changing much. Continuing to focus on eating out less (we currently only do it about 1-2x a week if you count lunch), for both healthy choice options and to cut back on costs. I currently stockpile foods like I’m preparing for an apocalypse, but I’ve been working hard to constantly cycle through what we already have in the pantry or freezer, combined with fresh produce. It helps me stay on top of my meal planning, watch our overall household costs, and just be more efficient with our time. The main thing I need to do is get back to less sweets and to my controlled portions of said goodies. Preparation and planning has been the biggest winning strategy to this healthy lifestyle, so I need to keep it up and keep focused in the New Year.
Last, and certainly not least, I want to continue to focus on my friendships that have meant so much to our family this past year. Unfortunately, through all of this, I found there were friends who weren’t there, or who just kept taking and then manipulated situations behind my back. But, I also had friends that were there through thick and thin. They made the time to hang out, or understood when life was just crazy for all of us, but that we would all find the time when we could. It was an emotional year and while I blog about certain aspects of my life, or spend time on Facebook or Instagram sharing happy moments, I also try to keep the harder times closer to the vest or only share with those who are actually ‘there’ for me. Just because I don’t post those things online doesn’t mean I’m not dealing with them or coping in my own way. It really did help me to put some of those relationships into perspective, and I’m so thankful for my husband for also being there as my rock through it all.
I’m excited for 2017. I hope that our nation can get it together, but I’m trying to have a positive outlook on the future. Here’s to family, friends, and a joyous new year!