And RESET I did.

[EDIT -- EDIT -- EDIT -- EDIT -- EDIT]

So I had this big long post all written out yesterday. I wasn’t quite finished with it by the time I had to leave for spin, so I hit save as draft, headed out the door, and planned on finishing up when I got home. After rereading last night and a good conversation with my better half though, I realized I wasn’t really getting across the message I intended. To me it sounded basically like one big vent sesh, instead of just saying what I’m doing to get back on track with my old sound happy heathy habits. Here is my ⌘C and ⌘V (that’s copy/paste for you PC kids) shortened and cut-to-the-chase version.

[EDIT -- EDIT -- EDIT -- EDIT -- EDIT]

Long story short compadres, I got a little fed up on Wednesday. Not just with the day itself, but in some patterns I’ve been falling into that are just not in accordance with the way I want to live my life. I’m an adult, and I know better, so there are no excuses here. For no one else but myself (OK, and maybe my main man up top) , starting yesterday I am drawing the line and reigning myself back in to the old me I know and love.

• sleep: getting myself back on a normal schedule, alarm set for the same time in the a.m. – no excuses
• diet: if I eat crap, I’m going to feel like crap, and my performance will be… crap.
• training: there are good reasons to bail on practice, and there are not good reasons. I know the diff.
• attitude: see quote below.
• faith: sometimes its funny how you can feel so close to God, yet your actions don’t reflect it.

attitude:

Today is only truly responsible for right this very second. It cannot change the past, nor does it need to determine the future. If you are not satisfied with your today, you have the ability right now to pack it up, ship it off to a far away land, and start anew.
-Yours Truly

And I’m pretty sure that covers all of what I want to say. Real quick before someone pulls the hypocrite card on me, let me beat you to it and do it myself. One of my 2010 Goals was to be less “black and white.” Truthfully, that wasn’t really working for me. Yeah, it’s a tough job being Type A, but someone’s gotta do it. Let’s call it “taking one for the team.”

With that team, I’m leaving on a fun (and what seems like flash-back) Friday tradition…

FRIDAY CONFESSIONALS:

You know the rules: there are none! Anything goes, and I promise, I won’t tell a soul Leave em’ in the comments! Here is what I wanna get off my chest for the week:

1. Looking back through my lent journal so far… on 2/18 I said I was going to turn the computer OFF at 11:00 so it wouldn’t keep me up later than necessary. And under GU: I have written: “FAIL!!” Haha I got sucked into late night Olympics, and was up wayy late. Sorry Olympics, but starting yesterday, you’re just not that important any more!
2. The other day I walked down to the coffee shop, bought an oatmeal raisin (essentially raw dough) cookie  bigger than my face, and truthfully it tasted like heaven on a plate, but I wasn’t even hungry. Not sayin’ good food like that isn’t going to happen anymore, but I can promise it will be because I really want it, not just eating to eat.
3. I still love Tiger Woods.

Someone asked what this whole “Lent Journal” business was about… and basically it’s just that – a journal I started on day 1 of Lent… I write a goal in it every morning, and every night jot down some things I’m thankful for. Nothin’ fancy… looks a little somethin’ like this:

Hmmm so I’m pretty sure I’ve written and come back to this post in three different installments. Time. To. Go!
-E

2:10GU

(2010 Goal Update for those not up to date with Dr.TR terminology)

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in on the three goals I made for 2010. Here’s a quick rundown on how things have been going:

1. SLEEP – Well, I can honestly say I’m most often getting my eight hours. I can also honestly say that I am taking sleeping meds almost every night, and when I don’t take them, I’m not falling asleep until like 2-4 in the morning. It’s not that I’m “not tired”.. I get eyes-closing-on-me-while-sitting-up tired… I just can’t fall asleep. I need to schedule to get in and talk to my doctor about it for sure. Hahah but I will say that with the sleep aids (which I am totally not endorsing) I’m getting a sound solid night and feeling rested in the am. So… yep. Still workin’ on it.
2. SWIMMING+CYCLING - Again, I’m still doing better on the cycling than the swimming, but I can say that I’m at least swimming once a week, usually twice. Having the underwater mp3 player is still a huge help, but that doesn’t make the pool not cold. Can I swim in my wetsuit in the University pool? All I gotta say is I better be a better dang cyclist after this winter!
3. LESS BLACK-&-WHITE ATTITUDE - Haha, I feel like my opinion on that will be biased, and definitely leaning in my favor, so you’d have to ask someone else. It is a really hard thing to “measure”, but that’s the point right – I’m not supposed to need to have all these objective measures in my life. I’m actively making an effort though, and that’s what counts!

I feel like all I ever say is “I have some fun stuff coming up on the blog. Stay tuned for _____!” but I really mean it! Here are my two lame excuses:

• Some things though have a “missing component” that I’m waiting on…
• School!

I also just took over as the “webmaster” for all our tri team bidness, and the site that our TEAM PAGE is hosted on is definitely not as user friendly as what I currently use for Dr. Tri Runner. Nor is it very compatible with McMac! I am working hard to get it all squared away, but I might be moving our site over to BlueHost, which is what I use here. ANYWAYS, long story short – with Nationals only seventy days away its important that I get on that so everyone has access to the important info going around!

And lastly to wrap up my quick hello, there’s something loooong overdue that I need to take care of. My Progresso contest winner!! Given the overwhelming response to the contest, I must say this winner is quite the lucky duck, because each you only had a 16.7% chance of winning. (No sarcasm allowed here at Dr.TR.) Without further ado, the is…

Melissa @ A Fit & Spicy Life

Not only is this chicky one of my favorite bloggers of all time, she is also a fellow MiniAppleite, and all around awesome! She is my inside source on all the cool restaurants that I’ve never been to in the Twin Cities! Shoot me your contact info to drtrirunner@gmail.com so I can pass it off to the fantastic folks at BlogSpark/Progresso and you can get to slurpin’ and soup’n asap!

Questions: How are your 2010 goals going? Do you have any races/events on the calendar that you’re counting down to?

Time to get back to work! Hope you all have a lovely weekend! Train hard, train smart, and cheer for the Colts in tomorrow’s game!
-E

Friday Confessionals: 01/08/2010

And the first ones of the new year too! I like it. Aright – you kids know the drill. Time to let go your guilt, admit to the MeanyThoughts, fess up to the xy&z of the week, and mooove on!

1. I drove around on a basically-flat tire for a couple of days. Knowingly. It was either an “inconvenient” time to go get it fixed, or I had “more important” things to do. And then the boy scared the hell outta me by saying it could blow out on the highway. And it took all of 10 minutes to fix and now my baby jellydonut is filled again.
2. My hip HURT yesterday. Like a mofo. I cried in the shower.
3. I blog/watch movies/use the McMac while I’m at the gym. ON the elliptical. Or stairs. Or xRunner. I am on a Life Fitness ellip right now. I would get photobooth happy if there were not people on the stair steppers behind me. It has led to some pretty interesting conversations though (and possibly new readers – HI!!) When I was writing my VitaMuffin Review, someone next to me laughed and asked “What’s a ‘Love Muffin’?” Hahahah!!

Oh, I’m sure there are other things I could confess to, but I already told you guys about my 7 oz. cinnamon roll, and as you know, I like to do things in three’s. Anyways, here’s your invitation to confess away and join in on the fun! Ok, next!

2010 Goal Updates: aka 2:10GU

Time for me to check in on my 2010 goals and see how they’ve been going. I know, we’ve only had 9 days of 2010, but if something’s not working (or I’m not even making an effort – coughswimmingcough) then it’s time to make a change! You will [hopefully] see this as a semi-regular feature here on Dr.TriRunner.. and for those of you who set goals in a similar fashion, I encourage you to do the same! (I’ll even let ya’ use my SupaFlyGoalUpdatesGingerman! ) I’ve gotta keep reminding myself, ”yo Sperly.. these are things you’re supposed to be working on!!” or I can’t expect any real progress to be made!  Here’s how things have been going so far:

1. SLEEP: Mmmm will continue to need work. I’ve been going to bed still later than I’m comfortable with, and in turn, I’ve been “making” myself sleep in later. I guess because I’m on break, that’s “fine”, but personally, it’s not. I have ALWAYS hated sleeping in… ever since I was like 5 and up at 5am watching Martha Stewart. I love my morning time with a cup of coffee… I love getting things accomplished early on in the day. When I wake up late, I feel like my day is basically half wasted, not to mention it just sets your body up to go to bed later/sleep in later again the next day. I think I might start jotting down the hours of sleep I’m getting in my 2010 Minnesota Training Log I got for xmas from the madre.

1. SWIMMING+CYCLING: Spinning = check! Swimming = FAIL! And I feel sooo dang hypocritical! I know said in my Train On Top Volume on SWIMMING that I feel sooo good when I get out, and blah blah blah. And especially since I admitted to my hip hurting.. that’s the biggest red flag to say go get in the pool. (Although unfortunately I can’t say my hip was hurting because I’ve been rocking so many runs lately ) Anyways, I got the spin part down. And I actually may have it even “down-er” in the near  future… Keep reading!!
2. LESS B-N’-DUB: I’m still working on a way to “measure” this goal… but even that seems pretty type A thinking to me! Haha I just can’t win! In terms of “going with the flow” I feel like that’s been pretty good in the whole nine days of 2010 we’ve had so far. Plans change.. you don’t know where your friends want to go ahead of time.. I’ve made it work. It’s probably also true though that I only think of the times that I am being flexible, and the times that I’m not get overlooked.

Hahaha shoot guys – I really want a photobooth photo right now! But the hombre on the stairs behind me looks like he’s dripping up a storm working hard and not going anywhere anytime soon! Ohhh wandering thoughts. Back on track:

Cha-Cha-Changes!

I know… I feel like I just said that. (Oh wait, I did!) But changes are good for you, and apparently very good for me if I’m trying to work on being less black & white! This goes back to my Swimming and Cycling goal….

One thing some of you guys might not know about me is that am/was a certified spin instructor! I say am, because… well, I am. I say was because I’m not currently teaching, and I haven’t for a while now. After talking with a guy at my gym back in November, my little flame for teaching was re-ignited, and I’m trying to get myself a spot back on the schedule! I’ve been spending probably too much time making up new playlists and putting together new hill/spring/base workouts. This isn’t something I mentioned before because I don’t want to get my hopes up about getting a spot teaching if it’s not actually going to happen – don’t want to jynx myself, ya know? But at the same time, I’m sure I’ll be teaching SOME DAY, whether it’s at the club I’m currently at or elsewhere.

True story: when I’m driving alone with the music pumpin, I definitely talk aloud like I’m teaching a spin class. Throwin’ in jumps and sprints and everything. Ohh the dumb things I say sometimes. Haha maybe that should have been part of my Friday Confessional!

I’ll need your help on this next one!

I know there are some awesome bloggies out there who are either beasts on the bike or they know how to rock a good playlist – Spin Lives the Good Life, The Fitnessista, & Tina over at Carrots N’ Cake. I could go on and on! So, in addition to throwin in your own Friday Confessions, I got one more favor to ask ya! Whether it be for spin, running, an elliptical workout, a pre-meet/race/game pump-up mix, what is the ONE SONG you would have to include? One thing that I did for spin was have a “spinner’s choice” day where I played songs that they chose, and this is sort of like a “reader’s choice”! I will post up once I have a good list of songs, and you never know, it might end up being played in a spin class not to long from now!

Adios muchachos!
-E

p.s. HAHAH GOT IT!! I was checking over my shoulder the entire time. Ready? Aim, Fire! Ignore the blur + the crazy look on my face… yo girl was working, and about to crack up!

“Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.”
-Wayne Dyer

I apologize Mr. Dyer, but we are as of yet unacquainted. He does make some good points though, and I feel like it really resonates with my goals for 2010, which I will get to shortly. First though (and more so for my benefit than yours) I want to take a minute to look back to all that has happened over the last 12 months. Feel free to indulge/skim/ignore as you please.

January – Recovered from my percutaneous pinning, 2008. Was accepted into the Honors Health Science program. Went back to Boston for spring semester. Started contemplating “what if I transferred schools…”

February – Went to the Rebook Indoor Games. Was CLEARED to run after [what felt like years worth of] very successful rehab. Flew home for spring break and realized how much I was missing Minneapolis. Namely, family. And the Lakes.

March – Back in Boston. Was still “planning” on running the 2009 Boston Marathon. Vacillated with that decision 10 10,000 Umpteen times. Got my mileage in, albeit very slow running it was.

April – Was hit by a car on April 8^th. Insurance never came through. Made it through finals. Decided at the race expo day before the marathon that I could still run. Hobbled to mile 10 on April 20^th, hopped on a medical bus to the finish. Majorly. Defeated. Moved back home to Minneapolis for the summer.

May – Took a break from the blog. Back at work at the Tin Fish. Emotions running high with post-marathon-FAIL/car accident/insurance not willing to cover anything, I realized the University of Minnesota transfer deadline had not yet passed. Made my mind up that I was movin’ home for GOOD before I even got in.

June – Got in. No stress. Couldn’t go to PT or have any medical appointments because of eastcoastinsuranceFAIL. Hip was feeling much better though, and xrays showed no mechanical damage. Began running with the Dashers and started Twin Cities Marathon training. Slowly.

July – Running was going well, really well. I even started to get my fast back! Ran first race back since surgery and took my age group. Despite that, I started feeling some “twinges” in my hip. Reminded me of how it felt pre-surgery in September 2008. The pain was sporadic, and I still couldn’t go see a doctor because of above insurance dilemma.

August – Got back into triathlons (and the blog!), placed in AG at Green Lake Tri. Joined the University of Minnesota Triathlon Team! Sister got MARRIED! Went out to Philadelphia to visit my dad. Knew on a 15 mile run we did out there that something was still wrong. Still bigheaded hopeful, thought I was going to go ahead with Twin Cities Marathon. Got a sick tri bike – my baby the QRoo. Ran Ragnar Relay.

September – Placed in AG at St Croix Valley triathlon. Also took AG for the Victory Memorial 10K & 5K. School at the University of Minnesota started, and I knew I honestly made the best decision of my life! Finally on new insurance was able to go see a doctor. Had the Appointment of Doom and found out I refractured my femoral neck.

October – Very reminiscent of April, was still thinking I’d run up until the day before the marathon. Didn’t run (didn’t even start. What a DA). Major tears and mommy support when we went to go Watch the Best Race Of The Year. Held Sperly’s First giveaway! Was denied medical coverage for a bone growth stimulator, but an awesome student assistance program picked up the tab. Did not run from September 22nd until November 9^th, but swam and spun my ass off.

November – Moved from RunRoamRecycle to self-hosted Dr.TriRunner. Was cleared to start running… again. Started my Train On Top series. Met some very special people. Dismissed some very not. Turned 20! Will always be the grown baby of my class.

December – Rocked first semester of my Junior year back at the U of MN (with a lot of hard work)! Was accepted into a pretty cool mentorship program with the Med school. Sold my soul to 20 credits this spring. Had my very first Christmas at HOME due to the “Snowmageddon” of 2009.

Um, notice I did say you could skim! Sorry. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but my main thought when I started this site (back in the RRR days) was that someday I’d print out all the pages, photos and all, and turn this into a book – obviously not a book that I’d expect anyone else to read/buy, but a book that would remind me of how special life really is.

Entering into 2009, I didn’t make any real “resolutions” because I was too drugged up on Percocet and Vicodin from my hip surgery to think past the next three hours. I did notice when I was home last year at this time was my dry erase board, which happened to still have 2008′s resolutions goals written on it. (Does anyone else not like the word “resolution”? I feel like is signing yourself up to quit. Hahaha! Moving on…) Here’s what it looked like…

Kidding. But howww much do I love flickr!? These were the REAL five goals I had written for the year of 2008:

1. Make a college decision (I was trying to decide if I’d move out to Boston or go to San Diego)
2. More family time
3. More home cooked meals
4. Strengthh train damnit!
5. GET. MORE. SLEEP.

I feel like an 80% success rate is pretty good, dontcha think? My 20% FAIL lies in #5, which you will see is well noted below. It’s easy for me to look back and say that 2009 was consumed with a whole lot of injuries, doctors appointments, and more time rehabbing than running. Its important for me to remember the really good things though too: lots of family time, moving back to Minneapolis, the triathlon team, hard work -> killer grades, meeting some amazing people and being closer to really good friends.

[EDIT: GOOD LORD. HOW. DO. I. END. UP. WRITING. SO. MUCH. ?.]

Time to get down to bidness…

GOALS FOR 2010:

1. Continue to work on getting more sleep. Ideally 8 hours minimum per night. If that’s not possible, bet your butt that I need to make up for it later.
2. Make sure to keep up swimming and cycling during the brief periods that you are “cleared” to run. Maybe those periods wouldn’t be so brief anymore.
3. Allow room for grey areas. Not everything in life is all or none, needs a plan, or a set schedule. Try to incorporate the practice of “go with the flow”.

And three is what I have. Not one, because that would be a little too all or none. Not two, because I don’t do even numbers. Three is my balance, and I’m shooting for 100% here. (Wait.. that doesn’t sound very non-”all or none.” This will take work.) You will hopefully see a follow up post with my action plan, because we all know that saying your going to do something, and actually doing it are two different things. These goals are SMART my friends (I always knew Intro to Public Health would pay off some day…)

S – OK.. these might take a little more work to be “specific”. Noted.
M – I can definitely measure improvement towards these goals…
A – And if they’re not attainable, well then I don’t know what is. I feel like these should be within my reach.
R – Realistic? Definitely. There is no reason I need to stay up past midnight watching Scrubs.
T – I always used T as “timely”, as in this is a timely time in my life to be working on these goals. I like my version better.

There you have it my friends. If I have not bored you to tears yet with my 2009 in a nutshell novel, then my whole SMART Goals 101 might have put you over the top. Either way, I want to wrap this post up by saying I am truly thankful for all of you that stop by Dr.TriRunner, whether you’re coming for training advice, a Minneapolis buddy, or just to check it out. And I have truly enjoyed reading all of your 2010 goals too! The inspiration I draw from some of you guys… you’ll never know.

True story: this post was 87% written two days ago. How does that saying go? Something like… “life happened.” And to that I say, LIVE IT! Happy start to a wonderful new year amigos.

Love, Erika