This is Accountability Sunday where I look at the past week and how much work I did towards my goals and then set some goals for the coming week. Interested in joining me? You, too, can have some public accountability: just go to the accountability spreadsheet and put in your goals for the coming week. The goals can be fitness-related, health-related, work-related or anything else that you care to track. It’s not about competition, it’s just about putting your goals out there and then assessing how you did.
Yesterday I posted about how failing and starting again was a noble practice — that’s where the lessons are, after all — and if that’s the case, then this week was chock full of lessons. Instead of being off for a meal or a workout or a day, I’ve been off for pretty much the entire week.
It wasn’t completely without merit; it was a rest week, so I had that going for me. But the rest was all reactive. Since Tuesday I’ve been dealing with Igor, which is the name I’ve given to the huge knot that’s sitting in my lower neck/upper back and is making me miserable. In the beginning, I couldn’t even lift my arm above shoulder level without pain and I just kept hoping the Igor will get tired of my whining and leave. He’s gotten much less annoying in the past few days, I’ve got most range of motion back, but he continues to be a rude house guest and I don’t want to do anything to anger him. And aside from Igor, I got some blood test results back that have caused me to do some “Last Supper” eating as I contemplate the changes I need to make to make the numbers better. Of course, I’m not giving up any food forever — as I said before, restricting does nothing good for me — but I’ll have to think about adding a lot more vegetables, lean meats and fruits to my diet (which will push out the bulk of the cookies, candy and other sweets).
And plus, it was a rest week. Didn’t want to push anything too hard! How “rest week” came to mean “sit on my ass all week”, I’m not sure, but that’s kind of how it ended up.
Without further ado … or further excuses…
Last Week’s Goals:
- Run 11 miles — Um, yea … none. Didn’t run once. Up until about Thursday, Igor really did make it too painful to do anything, but since then it’s just me being lazy.
- Strength train twice — did this! Well, kind of. I had two strength training sessions, but — again — because of Igor they were necessarily curtailed and not too intense.
- Mindful Eating — I wasn’t too bad for the first part of the week, but then got into Last Supper mode and it’s been a field day of sweets every since.
- Track Weight — remarkably only up a little over 2 pounds.
- At least 4 blog posts — 2 posts. It turns out that I’m better at writing every day than writing sometimes.
This Week’s Goals:
- Run 14 miles, long run of 6 miles
- Strength train twice
- Start to cut most sugar out of my diet
- Track Weight
This week will be interesting because I’ll be home taking a class (a virtual class — everyone in the class connects via a website and the instructor lectures from the comfort of his own home). I believe I’ll have a certification exam connected to this class that I’ll need to take once it’s done, which means that I’ll really have to put energy and study time into this one. The schedule is nice, though, since it doesn’t start until 7:30am, leaving me plenty of time to sleep in. Which is the best thing ever.
What’s Making Me Happy This Week
I just finished a book by Dan Marshall called Home Is Fucking Burning and it was really great. A memoir written by a guy who’s a self-proclaimed selfish asshole who overcomes his asshole ways to quit his job and move back home to take care of his Mom who has cancer and his Dad who has just been diagnosed with ALS. It’s both raunchy and foul-mouthed while also being self-aware and strikingly honest — a world of all emotions in between the covers.