August had its up's and down's --- pretty much like every other month in my life. I only worked out 26 hours. Not quite my hour a day goal but getting back in the groove with the school routine, extra horse days, hurricane warning days, and more I am pretty happy with what I sweated out.Plus, I am back in doing some new workouts....with a twist. You see, Audible offered a great deal to its members to get Aaptiv workouts for free and I have been running to those and pushing myself so even though the hours are less, the effort is more!
Before I started this my last new workout was #24 on June 15th. I wrapped up August with 37 new workouts! How cool is that?! And I am really hoping I can get access to the Aaptiv workouts after the September 5th cut off date. So I am not giving up on my goal to nail 70 new workouts in 2018....at least, I am not giving up yet.
I also hope to break 10,000 streak miles this year so I need 1,170 miles in 2018 to nail that goal. With the 120 miles I ran in August I am at 981 miles for the year and 9, 811 streak miles. With God's ongoing help, I will nail this goal and quite possibly surpass it. That actually makes me happier than my cross training goal.
I have also added in some extra goals for myself that focus on my physical well-being. My overall heart health has dropped a bit (but it is still classified as very good according to FitBit) but I want to see if I can get that dip to at least stabilize or hopefully improve. I am looking at diet adjustments to help out with that. And of course, I am hoping the Aaptiv training will help. I think I have become a bit too complacent in my running and running pace and am happy to say, I am making pace improvements again!
This is after a year of slowing paces and I just was accepting it as a part of life. Runners hear it all the time. Women hear it all the time. You get older, things change, do not underestimate the power of menopause and your hormones.
The workouts are tough but doable and I love the focus on breathing and running form along the way. And those runs have consistently been at faster paces than my average for the past year and pretty close to my long ago days of marathon training run paces. Maybe not for as many miles, okay, absolutely not as many miles, but I am also doing speed work at paces I have never trained at since....well....maybe forever. I can't remember ever pushing myself to do 7'30" sprints! And 10 of them in a single workout too! For some that may not seem like much but for me it is HUGE.
So as my 46th birthday comes creeping up quite quickly I am going to keep running strong and happy and not give up on improving overall health, running faster, and perhaps shedding a few unwanted pounds. And I got my annual physical done on the 31st and am awaiting blood results.
But now onto a completely unrelated note and humble ask...
Y'all, if you could spare a dollar a podcast I adore may not be on the air much longer. She was able to get up and running with Kickstarter but those funds are gone and she just has enough left for a couple more months from donations that have come in past that Kickstarter and she is cutting back the podcasts from two a week to one a week to stretch things out.
The podcast is called Hello & Welcome! and is hosted by Kristine Franklin. All I want for my birthday is for this podcast to keep going and growing strong. In less than a year her reach has gone international but it is totally funded by cool people like all of us. So, if you could spare just a dollar, please donate today. She did not ask me to do this but I am praying for my 46th birthday that 46 people will donate in my honor so the show I love will keep going strong. Her shows truly lift my spirits and help me to be a better mom, wife, employee, me.
Thank you and God bless.
Love and Hugs from Erica G :)
