A New View

In case you haven't noticed (and if you haven't, we've got bigger problems than I thought), I've done some sprucing up around here.  It isn't quite what I was going for....my original choice had skulls and all that....much more my speed.  But when I chose the skull template, it screwed up my blog royally, and I wasn't able to change the fonts.  I'd rather play around with the fonts and the sizes of the words than have skulls and a generally fucked up blog.  (Seriously.  It was a trainwreck.  It posted two headers, and the blog repeated itself at the bottom.  Made me look like an idiot.)  After some extensive googling and messing around in the html code, I fixed it.  Yay!

Anyways....enough about the joys turmoil of creating a blog that visually expresses the author and still is functional for readers.  On to bigger and better things.

Ha.  Bigger.  I am definitely bigger. 

Tomorrow is January 1st, 2013.  The start of a new year.  A clean slate.  I soooo need a clean slate.  2012 just wasn't my year.  I changed jobs......twice.  (In the end, it worked out.  But working at the prison.....really, really bad for me.  Mentally, it got to me, both inmate and co-worker wise.)  I injured myself, and then went through rest, PT, surgery, more PT, and finally recovery.  But the recovery isn't working out too well, b/c I have no plan.

I think that was one of my biggest problems in 2012.  I had no plan.  I was floating aimlessly through the days, with no direction.  

This new year MUST be different.  

Yesterday, after swimming at the gym, I had a kind of epiphany.  (Wow....did I really spell epiphany correctly on the first try?  No squiggly little red line under it?  Coolness.)  I was talking to Chris about how I want to incorporate more swimming and biking into my routine.  That I don't want to rely on running so much.  And he was like....you should definitely cross-train more.

Epiphany.

I don't want to cross-train more.  I don't want to call it cross-training.  I want to just.....have it be a part of my routine.  Running and biking shouldn't be something I do once every couple of weeks because I'm feeling burned out from running.  Swimming and biking should be things I do as equally as running.  

I don't know what kinds of effect this way of thinking will have on my running, but right now, I'm okay with that.  Once I'm full-swing back into pounding the pavement, I really want to avoid getting caught up in the whole  "I have to run a bajillion miles today because everyone else is" mentality.  

For now, I'm going to have an integrated plan that focuses on overall cardiovascular improvement.  

C25K

I'm going to re-start the Couch To 5k (C25K) plan (at week three), just so I can make progression up to a 5k without stopping to walk.  I will probably end up doubling the workout each day.  Most of the training plans are about 20 minutes, but I have regularly been spending about 40-45 min on the treadmill with my walk/run intervals.  I just want to use C25K as a plan.....you know, instead of floating around aimlessly.

I will be doing C25K 3 times a week, most likely on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.

My goal 5k is the Tortoise and Hare 5k on Memorial Day in Wind Gap.  After that, I will re-evaluate and train for the Hershey Half in October.

Biking

I will take spin class once a week, on Monday.

Once it gets warmer out, and the bike paths eventually clear up, and there is more light in the evenings, spin will be replaced with bike rides. I'll also be able to add in more bike rides after work, making this a more integrated part of my routine.  

Swimming

I also want to swim at least one time a week, preferably two...most likely on Sunday/Wednesday.

Misc.

Once a week, on Saturdays, I will do a leg routine that focuses mostly on the exercises taught to me in PT.  I will also continue with Death Gym on Monday/Thursday after work.  I will also do Death Steps (once the ice/snow melts), on Wednesdays after work.

Another plan I want to start is the 100 pushup challenge.  The goal of this plan is to be able to do 100 pushups in a row.  The whole doing a million pushups throughout the day, every day, wore me down.  This plan includes rest days so the muscles can grow. 

So....that is my plan for the beginning of 2013.  Now, I need a spiffy little calendar so I can write everything down.  I learned in the Month of Mayhem that I really enjoyed seeing everything written down.  (I usually track online, but don't have the option to see it all visually on a calendar.)  

In February I'll revisit and re-evaluate.