So, back on January 3rd, I set out some goals I wanted to accomplish with the month. These goals were to aid me towards the goals I have for 2015. I know that I’m a day late in posting this. However, it’s time to look back at the month of January and see how I did. Then, I’ll set some goals for February. Sound good?

First up? My running goals for January…

• Complete all my running workouts as scheduled for the month
• Run 96.4 Miles

How did I do? Not too bad. I didn’t complete every running workout as scheduled like I wanted. The month started off fantastic. The first miss came on my first 20 mile attempt on January 10th. I only finished a little over 12 miles that day instead of the 20 scheduled. Then, illness after the Star Wars Rebel Challenge took out both of my week day runs and I finished 6 of the 7 scheduled miles on the weekend. Then, I missed a run in the last week. At the end of the month, I had finished 82.57 miles of the 96.4 miles I wanted to accomplish. So, I finished approximately 86% of the miles I wanted to finish.

Grade for the month – B+

For February, I hope to run 85 miles as I continue to get ready for the Los Angeles Marathon. If you look at my training calendar, you’ll notice that I’ve had to make an adjustment in my training due to the missed 20 mile run in January. To compensate, I’ll switch the 23 mile run to a 20 mile run and the 26 mile run to a 23 mile run. I would have liked to hit all of the long run distances on the Jeff Galloway marathon training plan (he takes you all the way up to 26 miles). However, with a GPS failure that cost me a few miles when I had 17 miles on the calendar and the missed 20 mile run, I need to make sure that 20 miles is still in me before attempting 23.

Next up in my January goals was to…” the goal is to weigh 240.8 lbs. when I run the Surf City USA Half Marathon on February 1st.”

How did I do? I surpassed the expectation! On February 1st, I weighted 238.6 lbs! So, I lost 10 pounds in the month of January! My goal of 8 pounds was more of a goal to lose 2 pounds per week on average. Because of the timing, there were actually 5 weekly weigh ins. So, while I surpassed the 8 pound goal, I did meet the 2 pound per week average that I set out to accomplish!

For February, I’m setting the same 8 pound weight loss. This month, there are exactly 4 weeks. So, I don’t expect that I’ll hit 10 pounds again this month. By March 1st, I hope to weigh 230.6 lbs. It would be fantastic to be in the 220’s when the Los Angeles Marathon rolls around!

The third goal I set was to make it to the gym 4 times in the month of January. There were 4 possible times in the month to make it. How did I do? I made it to 3 out of the 4 gym workout days!

Here is what I wanted the gym workouts to include…

• 27 minutes on the elliptical machine
• 100 Crunches on the Ab Crunch Machine
• 100 reps on the Leg Press
• 45 assisted Chin Ups
• 45 assisted Dips

I did 2 gym workouts that included all of the above. The third gym workout was the day before the Surf City USA Half Marathon. Due to the missed gym workout and the Star Wars Half Marathon weekend, I hadn’t done the chin ups and dips for a couple of weeks. So, I was concerned how those exercises would make me feel after a gym absence. With a half marathon the next day, I couldn’t afford to take the chance that my upper body was in pain for the race. So, I skipped these exercises in that gym workout.

• 2 miles per workout on the treadmill
  • For the first two workouts – I’ll walk 0.25 miles/run 0.25 miles and repeat until I get to two miles complete
  • For workouts three and four – I’ll walk 0.25 miles/run 0.50 miles and repeat twice. Then, I’ll finish by running intervals of 1 minuet run/1 minute walk.

I did finish this goal pretty well. Even with the one missed gym workout, I did the workout three exactly as I wanted and was running 2 intervals of 0.5 miles without stopping. I added a 0.25 mile run after that to finish out the 2 miles!

For February, I have 3 gym workouts on the calendar. I hope to make to all 3 this month. I’ll be doing the same routine I did in January. For the treadmill, I’m setting a goal of completing the following…

• For workout number 1 – I’ll walk 0.25 miles/run 0.50 miles and repeat twice. Then, I’ll walk 0.25 miles and run 0.25 miles to finish 2 miles.
• For workouts two and three – I’ll walk 0.25 miles and run 1 mile. Then, I’ll walk 0.75 miles to make 2 miles.

For January, here’s the plan…

• Beginning Monday, January 5th, I’ll limit myself to 1 soda per day for two weeks.
• Beginning Monday, January, 19th, I’ll limit myself to 1 soda every other day for two weeks.

How did I do? Well, the first two weeks went exactly as planned. The week beginning January 19th, I cut out the soda on Tuesday, but did not cut out any other days. The week after, I did the same. So, this goal didn’t go so well.

For February, my goal is limit myself to 1 soda every other day for the first two weeks and 1 soda per day for the Saturday and Sunday for the next two weeks.

Next goal is to reduce the calories I’m taking in by using books like the above to fill out my menu’s for the week. How did I do? Well, I must have been better at cutting calories. I did use some of the old recipes from this book. However, I found the greatest success at looking at what I could cut out of my diet. I must have been pretty good at this since I did lose 10 lbs. I know that you don’t loose weight by only exercise. Diet does play a role.

For February, it’s more of the same. Continue to cut back on the calories to aid in my efforts to lose weight!

I want to hit all 40 days without a miss. So, for January, I want to read the first 31 days without a miss! How did I do? Well, this one didn’t work out well for me at all. I did finish 20 days. However, when I was sick, I missed a few days which lead to an entire week. So, I tried playing catch up. I must say, though, the days I did read were good. I forgot how much awesome advice is in this book!

For February, I’d like to finish out the 40 days and start on something new.

So, the goal for January is to read from the New Testament every day without a miss. How did I do? This was my greatest miss for the month. The week after the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend, I fell off the wagon so to speak. I haven’t read from the scriptures since then.

My goal for February? Hopefully, to get caught up. It doesn’t take too much time to read through the entire New Testament in a year. So, I think this is a doable goal.

One goal I want to add to the February list is to try to set my race calendar for the rest of the year. In January, I added a race registration for the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon to my calendar. By month’s end, I’d like to set all the goal races I want to run and begin the process of registering for them. This will help me look at my training calendar for the rest of the year as well. Currently, it’s set through the LA Marathon on March 15th. So, by March 1st, I really need to start getting the calendar together for after the LA Marathon. Getting races on my calendar will help with that effort. I need to figure out which races to register for in order to set new PR’s and meet that goal for this year.

That’s it for February. I think I’d grade myself at around a B- for the month overall. I lost more weight than I had in my goals, I finished 86% of the miles I set out to run, I finished 75% of the gym workouts I had in my goals, I finished 68% of the Purpose Driven Life goal, successfully cut back on calories for the month, but only got about 50% of my New Testament reading plan finished. I’ve finished my only race for February (Surf City USA Half Marathon). So, I’m totally focused on the Los Angeles Marathon in March. Can’t wait to see how this month turns out!