When I set my goals for the first three months of the year, I thought I had most of them in the bag, except for one, which I secretly expected myself to wimp out on.
But the first quarter was full of surprises. Here's how I did.
What I said: Continue working on being mentally strong.
How I did: Terrible. (Which continues the negative self-talk I kept engaging in every time I caved during a run.)
It seemed like I successfully resisted the temptation to walk during last fall's speedwork far more often than I did this spring. All the stopping meant a lot of self-doubt, criticism and declarations that I should just quit running.
Better luck next quarter, I guess.
What I said: Break 24:00 in a 5K.
How I did: I was only about 2.5 minutes away from that ...
No, as Cory said, you can't PR at every race, and despite the runner's high I got from that 24:09 finish, I knew that would mean pushing even harder to do any better.
I don't think this was an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I wasn't surprised that I came up short. It's been a participation-award season so far, not an accomplishment-filled one.
What I said: Focus on running slow runs slower and fast runs faster.
How I did: The weather helped me out here — it's hard to go too fast when your thighs are frozen during the entire run.
What I said: Incorporate stair workouts.
How I did: The good news is, I dutifully did this once a week during 5K training. The bad news is, it didn't appear to put an end to my breathless arrival at work after walking three flights.
Seriously, though, while it was far more physically challenging than the yoga and core routines I picked out for myself, I found it much easier to force myself to get this workout in. The simplicity of it worked incredibly well for me.
The one goal I had faith I'd fail at was the most successful one. Huh.
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