Cleaning up the first month of the year

My January wellness goals were focused on establishing small, manageable habits for sustainable growth (thanks, James Clear). Three races, a nutrition reset, and a week of meeting ALL my coworkers in person later; here’s how it all went.

Goals

• Whole30 nutrition mindfulness
• 5+ minutes/day of meditation or affirmations
• Run 4x/week
• Strength/Oxfit 4x/week
• Read 5 books

How did it go?

• 16 runs (avg 4/week) – plus 1 mile walks with Batoot nearly every day – total 100+ miles (lost Garmin tracking for some of the walks)
• 13 Oxfit workouts (avg. 3/week), but completed the All Day Running Co. workout every day
• Daily meditation practice
• Finished 5 books!

Thoughts

Doing a Whole30 nutrition reset has been amazing and not too difficult (most of the things I eat regularly are “on plan” already. I’ve been 90% on plan, with allowances for some special situations within reason (i.e., having Butterbeer at World of Harry Potter). The mindfulness of this reset has helped me when I’ve been in situations where, typically, I would have made poor food choices, with the result being I feel SO much better, less bloated, more energy, etc. I will be glad to move to more flexibility now that my mind is focused on food that makes me feel and perform great. I would also really like a glass of wine lol. I will most likely stick with a paleo-based diet with flexibility for some wine and treats.

I’d like my running mileage (not including walks) to be at least 100 miles monthly. I’m officially starting my marathon training (Eugene Marathon on April 30!) this Sunday, Feb 5, so I expect this goal will be easily met. However, I’d like to give myself some flexibility in the number of runs plus Oxfit workouts per week. Even though I often do both a run and Oxfit on the same day, committing to 4 workouts of each is a lot, and I’d like to give myself more room to work out when it feels right for my body, especially as I add more running mileage for marathon training. I plan to try for at least 3 days per week of Oxfit but will continue to play it by feel. The daily mini-strength workouts from All Day Running Co are great warmups and an excellent way to throw in quick strength and core work, regardless of whether I can make it to Oxfit daily.

Reading nearly every night with tea has been a great way to wind down and has significantly improved my sleep patterns. That goal will stay the same.

Happenings

The free GUTS Fatass run (I ran the 25K) at the beginning of the month was a fun way to get myself back on some trails and kick-start the year with fun miles after low mileage during the holidays. No stress, all fun. Mid-month was the Winter RunTheATL. It was so lovely to run with my friend Sheelagh, who I have not run with much over the last couple of years. It was a good preview for us pacing the Publix Atlanta Marathon 5-hour group! I also had the opportunity to run the Hot Chocolate Atlanta 15K at the end of the month as part of being a BibRave Pro. I’ve run the event for BibRave several times, but this was the first time I’ve run it in person since 2019. This year we finally had decent weather. I had a great time running with my dear friend Maria, who ran it dressed as a Hershey’s Kiss. I often felt like I was running as a bodyguard and manager for a celebrity lol. You can read my review of the event HERE.

Time for the best month, my birthday month, February! Let’s GO!