Fitness Plan for 2010

Well, 2009 had it’s ups and downs. I that firing on all cylenders in the Spring – running 3-4 times a week up to 16 miles with a long run of up to an hour and down to my lowest weight in years. But I didn’t keep up with it. By the end of the year I had gained back the ten pounds I worked so hard to lose and was having trouble getting 2 runs in each week.

In looking back, I think my struggle to keep with my training plan was the result of three things:

1. My treadmill broke and my gym membership expired and so I had trouble getting in workouts when the daylight was limited or the weather was bad.
2. I stayed up too late and had trouble getting up early enough to squeeze in a workout even in nice sunny weather. I think my chronic lack of sleep also caused me to get sick a lot, further limiting my workouts.
3. Related to #2, my kids are getting bigger and stay up later. I used to be able to put the kids to bed by 7pm which left time (and often daylight) to work out in the evening. Now it’s usually 8 or 8:30pm before we’re done with the bedtime routine and they’ve stopped thinking of questions to ask or wandering downstairs to see what’s going on. By that time, I’m tired and it’s too dark and too close to bedtime to start a workout.

I’ve tried workout during the day. As a working mom, I try to keep my time at the office each day to the absolute minimum. It takes a full hour to run and get cleaned up and I have trouble “escaping” from clients and colleagues to workout consistently. With a 2 hour+ daily commute, I need to be focused on working during the time I’m in the office so I can get home in time to spend time with my family before bedtime. I can’t depend on working out in the middle of the day during the workweek.

My Goals for 2010:

1. Join a gym or buy a treadmill. After some research, I decided on the gym and joined a Planet Fitness less than a mile from my house. It was cheaper than investing in a treadmill and has weight machines, ellipticals and bikes for cross training.
2. Go to bed by 10pm in order to get up at 5:45am to workout twice during the work week. (But can I sneak out of the house without waking up the kids and pissing off my husband? This is one of the benefits of a treadmill in the basement.)
3. Be diligent about scheduling my workouts and sticking with my plan. I need to say NO when someone suggests I do a planned workout “later”.
4. Run 520 miles in 2010 (last year I ran 397 miles).
5. Run 3-4 times a week, extending one run to 45-60 minutes.
6. Run a 10K or simliar distance race.
7. Lose the 10 pounds again.
8. Cross train at least 1-2 times a week.

I’ll keep you posted.