Christmas was different again this year, as it likely was if you celebrate. Luckily it also had a side of silliness with the inflatable tour through mom’s neighborhood Was able to see my brother, sister in law and the kids, which was awesome. We had a white Christmas Eve, I had some running/fashion fun and Running Claus was very good to me. Three new pair of Balega socks, new NoxGear and Rollgas. One thing that’s definitely not needed is a new hat because I so love this hat from my first Fred Half.
I don’t have anything to say about this week’s runs, but they were fun, relatively pain free (yay!) and seasonal culminating in 12.25Ks (ish) on Christmas Day with so many of you.
As I think about my 2022 goals, that is one non-negotiable. These virtual runs with so many of you are the one thing from the pandemic that I want to keep forever. So much fun. Running should always be fun, if not we’re doing something wrong.Can’t believe I’m coming in to my fifth running anniversary, and am so glad running is a part of my life. Something I never imagined saying.
Linking up with Deborah and Kim on Monday and Kim and Zenaida on Tuesday to talk about 2022:
It’s too early for my 2021 recap, but here’s a quick look at my goals:
- keep up the prehab.
- Increase my strength training. I inherited some dumbbells when a neighbor moved out and I want to do more. Or at least more consistently. I’m beginning to think about the Peloton app for that since I have wifi at home and our insurance reimbursement may even cover it. Double CHECK. I fell head over heels for Peloton and have a daily streak going back to February 2020. (Yes, this goes hand in hand with my obsessive tracking, see below). But I truly believe the increased and consistent focus on strength training kept me healthy despite bonkers mileage and gave me something different to focus on non running days. While I have some niggles happening this month, they’re to be expected with this bonkers mileage increase and I can’t imagine what they would have been without these focuses.
- Start the year on pace for 900 miles. That was originally my hard goal for 2021, but as I mentioned, I have no idea what running will look like once we return to the office. Even if I’m ready to return to the gym to shower at that point, there’s not really a branch close enough to facilitate run commute. So 75 miles/month until we return to the office and then re-evaluate. Um. 1133.81 and counting. We went hybrid this fall, but have since returned to full remote for at least January due to omicron. I am deliberately not setting a mileage increase goal, but this is shocking and awesome and wow.
- Find a non-race goal to work toward. I have no idea if I’m running an in-person race in 2021 and don’t tend to treat virtual races as races. But I want to work toward something. What that something is? I don’t know. Maybe it ties in with strength training. Sort of? I’ll be honest, I forgot about this one. I can call my Peloton streak this?
- Re-evaluate my relationship with the step spreadsheet. This partially happened last year, but I didn’t realize it until late. I think the Fitbit is a great tool to motivate to go that extra bit, but it’s also crazy making. Beat last year, last month. Does it matter? It’s like when I threw the 30m goal out the window early in my running journey. I’ll still track my steps, and want to be better about going for walks on non running days, but does the step goal matter as much? We’ll see. Yes. I update it weekly/monthly ish. I don’t stress it if I miss goal as long as making it or not was a choice I made. 1K steps are OK if there was a good strength class.
2022 Goals:
- Find a fun destination race. Bermuda and Malibu were awesome. I want to have similar fun in 2022, although neither of those races work for me, schedule wise in 2022. Also, some of the fun was going somewhere new. I don’t have any races in mind yet, but likely a Half, and domestic probably going to be saner at least in the early part of the year. Any recommendations?
- Run 1,000 miles. I’m not sure if this is doable, since I’m not sure what the return to work is going to look like, but it’s worth shooting for. At a minimum, I want to keep up the consistency in running four days a week. I won’t be disappointed if I keep up consistency but come in slightly shy on mileage. M/W/Th/Sat works for me in non-Sunday race weeks, but no reason they have to be the exact plan for 2022. What I found this fall was running with my laptop led to poor form, so hoping I won’t need that on all my office days.
- Peloton Annual Challenge: 10K minutes. I’m going to come in around 9K this year, and this is a manageable increase. I could shoot for higher, but the reality is I like to alternate my runs between Peloton workouts, music and podcasts so don’t want to overestimate what’s manageable and enjoyable. How do I plan to achieve this goal? Well in part this will be from goal four
- Daily Peloton Strength Classes: as I mentioned, I love my daily Peloton activity. It’s time to up this to be a daily strength class. It has made a major difference in my running and even if I don’t see speed gains in 2022, I want to continue to stay healthy. I also want to leave room for things like #12DaysofFitmas, which I loved, so not setting a specific it must be 20m etc. class. Flexibility is key.
- Maintain #3for1 challenge. While Robin’s challenge ran only in December, I find the 3 miles/30 minutes a really worthwhile goal. I don’t have to leave my apartment if it’s a nasty winter day and / or if I’m quarantined (something seeming frighteningly possible with omicron), but I do have to be active.
- Have a solid Central Park and Brooklyn Half. Deliberately not setting a PR goal for two reasons: Central Park hills are devil spawn and my Half Marathon PR is a unicorn that I do not think is attainable. I also think shooting for a specific number is a recipe for disappointment. But I want to be proud of and happy with my races.
What are your goals for 2022? How do you feel about your 2021 goals?
Excellent miles and goal achieving. I did just more than that in 2020 but will be below it in 2021, but I’m happy with what I’ve done. I loved being part of the collage and thank you again for letting me know about it! Happy New Year and I’m so glad I’ve been able to accompany you on your running journey, if all but one run not in person!
crazy to think it’s five years since we added “running books” to the list of books we’ve talked about for 17 years! Can’t wait until we can run together again
I have not ironed out my 2022 goals yet. I am so happy to see you embracing strength training so much. I truly belive it is one of the keys to aging strong and healthy. A daily strength class sounds like a perfect goal. I hesitate to set mileage goals too and I was so close to 1000 this year. Oh well! I only have 1 race so far in Asheville. I will probably do Cherry Blossom and something in Philly at some point. I know those are not new for you either. I need something destination for fall.
Oh not to worry, my goals are 100% wrinkly, but otherwise my run down was going to be the pics at the top and the collage. Again.
I haven’t been to Philly in so long that I’m tempted to call it new enough. Helping is a friend doing the LOVE run at the end of March. Definitely look forward to hearing your thoughts on Asheville race as the city is on my bucket list.
I have totally embraced “move more, exercise less” (which I heard on some Peloton workout, couldn’t tell you which one or with whom).
I pace around the house a lot. I use walking workouts while I’m at my mom + outside walks (when the weather isn’t too nasty). I’ve never worried about yearly or even monthly mileage, ever, but there was a time when I was more obsessives about steps.
No longer. I have a base I usually can get to, which is not very high (8k) — on running days it’s super easy, and there’s are times I get almost 3 x that much. Other days it’s a struggle. Sometimes I don’t meet that base, and I’m ok with that too, because I know I do enough.
Good luck with all your 2022 goals! It will be interesting to see where you land with them.
yep, being happy with what we can do is key. Only one of yours I “can’t” is pace, even if I vaccuum and swiffer, it’s 600 steps. Not leaving my apartment is behind all of my sub 1000 step days.
I have my goals and will post soon but nothing really exciting – more of the same… good health… lots of racing… 1000 miles.
Tell Fred I’m coming for him!!!
Excited to race with you in Feb.
Can’t wait to run in CP… and of course, I’ll complain about the hills.
I predict that you will rock Brooklyn.
You’re so far ahead of me – I haven’t given any thought to my goals for 2022. I’m actually not sure if I will set goals for 2022 – I guess I have a few days to come to a decision, lol.
My 2022 goals have not been solidified yet, but I am giving them thought. That said, I don’t remember what my 2021 goals might have been. I have just a week or so before my Peloton free trial ends. I need to decide if I want to re-up.
Well done on your 2021 goals and I love what you’re targeting for 2022! I especially like your daily strength goal and may borrow that one. I have lots of things swirling around in my head but no clearly defined goals yet. Guess what I’ll be trying to figure out this week LOL.
Feel free! I think so many good/shared ideas come out of our Peloton chat . And Deborah can give us both ideas.
I have zero specific goals for 2022 thus far. I will be contemplating & brainstorming done things in the next couple weeks. Thumbs-up for all the strength training 🙂
**some things (another autocorrect fail, LOL)
Listen. If you find a cool destination race, let me know. You are always welcome here if anything in the NE Florida region snags your attention 🙂
Well, you’re inspiring me. I haven’t thought about 2022 goals yet, but I will these next couple days. i’m glad everything is going so well for you! Sounds like you had a great 2021 and are going into 2022 ready to conquer!
Wait, a daily Peloton streak going back to 2020? Wow! I am impressed and GREAT job!! I do love the virtual race we do too! Hopefully we can continue to do them next year.
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