2016 Goals – First Quarter Check-In

Holy moly! Can you believe it’s the end of March already? The clocks have changed, there’s much more daylight and we’re officially a quarter of the way through the year. How on earth did that happen?

I’ve had a very busy and stressful three months, but back at the beginning of the year I did set myself some goals, so in order to stay accountable I thought this would be a good time to check in and see how I’m getting on…

1.Overcome injury and return to running
When I set this goal, I was doing a grand job of keeping the injury bench warm for the next occupant. I was awaiting confirmation of a stress fracture in my foot and keeping out of trouble with time on the exercise bike, in the pool and working on body strength. In three months things have changed a great deal. The stress fracture was confirmed, but by the time I got that result I was just about ready to begin my Return to Running programme. My podiatrist had instructed me to work in 30 minute sessions of run-walk intervals, with the walk time gradually decreasing until I was running for 30 minutes straight. I was allowed to do this three times a week. On my first attempt, I abandoned the programme after about three or four sessions as I didn’t feel like my foot was quite ready. There was no pain, but I could “feel” it and my gut instinct was to stop. When I re-started a couple of weeks later, things were much better and once I was running pain-free for 30 minutes (on the treadmill – boring!) I rewarded myself with a return to parkrun. I ran a parkrun worst, but I was delighted to be back there again regardless.

Since then, I’ve continued to be sensible. I stuck to a three runs per week plan and have increased mileage very gradually. My pace has not improved much, but on Sunday I ran 10 miles so things are definitely heading in the right direction. Progress – excellent!

 

2.Work on learning the front crawl
This was the goal that I’ve been playing around with for a year or so and wanted to finally take seriously. I had another lesson and had some tweaks made to my form which made an instant difference to how I felt in the water. I then worked on gradually increasing the distance I was swimming each time I visited the pool. There were “breathers” at the end of a length, but I did peak at a kilometre of swimming which I was really proud of. There’s still a lot to do, but there are definite improvements.

My impetus for this was the 1.5km Swimathon earlier this month. Unfortunately, due to some difficult personal circumstances, I didn’t make it to the event this time, but dauntless as ever I’ll continue to work on my swimming and try again next year. Progress – good.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

3.Get out on my bike more
So far, this just hasn’t happened. Hopefully there will be some better weather coming and I’ll manage some cycling, but so far the closest I’ve come is the stationary bike in the gym. Poor old Trixie will need a bit of TLC before we head out, but I’m happy to give her that attention and fingers crossed we’re out on an adventure soon. Progress – disappointing.

4.Be more organised
This one began ok back in early January, but then the house move happened, work got crazy and I never really established a routine. Things are beginning to improve now and I’m hoping that by the time my two week spring holiday is over, I’ll have a better handle on life in general and be able to establish a more effective pattern to my week. If not, I may not make it through next term in one piece! Progress – could do better!

5.Read more books
This is probably the goal I’ve done best with. I set myself a target of 15 books in 2016, so to be on track I should have read 3 by now and be most of the way through book 4. In actual fact I’ve completed 7 books so far and am over halfway through book 8, giving me a bit of room on this one. My favourite book so far is I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. If you like a bit of a thriller then this is a real page-turner with lots of twists and turns all the way to the end. It was recommended to me by one of my pupils and we had great fun discussing it and choosing what to read next (we both ended up with The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins which was a bit slower to get going, but still had loads of twists). I’m looking forward to continuing with this particular goal and if you have any recommendations for me, then I’d love you to add them in the comments. Progress – excellent!

And there you have it. A bit of a mixed bag, but some good progress nonetheless and some things still to work on (it would be over-achieving to nail them all in the first quarter anyway!). So let’s see what the next three months have in store..!

How are you getting on with your 2016 goals?
Any book recommendations or other tips to help me reach all my goals?