Goals, Goals, Goals...

(I was humming Motley Crue just then...sorry, I'm an 80s hair band freak, I know!)

OK, here we go. Goals for 2007. Coming up. Right after we recap 2006. First off, I remember something about 1200 miles of running. And a 5:00 or faster marathon. I can't put my hands on my hard-copy mileage log from January through May (egads!), but I know I ran 832.6 miles from May 1 through December 31. Did I run 367.4 miles in the first four months of the year? I'm pretty sure I didn't average 100 miles a month during that time, only because I am hard pressed to pile up that much mileage when I'm in heavy-duty marathon training. So I'm thinking I hit 1000 miles for sure, possibly 1100, but certainly not 1200. And we've gone over the 5:00 or bust thing already, so I'm not rehashing that here.

I"m sure somewhere in my 2006 goals was something about losing weight. And, um, not so much. Actually, I ended up putting on and taking off the same 10 pounds pounds all year long. But the trend was downward toward the end of the year there, so I just need to continue that direction, and quit the see-sawing.

All told, I'm not going to call 2006 a bust, though, since I did pull nearly 10 minutes off my marathon PR. And I finished two of them, even though that first one was really hard, bringing me to a total of five marathons under my belt. And I did run at least 1000 miles in 12 months. Not too shabby, but certainly it leaves me all kinds of room for improvement.

so... 2007. Just as a reminder, back in November I had these ideas about what I needed to do in the next three years.

• I have to learn to swim, and get that swim coach for me and for the Boy, too.
• I need to learn to shift gears on my Toys R Us piece of crap bike, but by next Christmas, on a real bicycle.
• I need to finish a sprint tri by June, an Olympic-distance by next Christmas, and then spend the summer of my 38th year doing at least one half-IM distance tri.
• I need to lose weight. Goal weight by the middle of next year (and this is not a joke, but some cosmic coincidence, I think) 140.6 pounds. If that means getting a trainer or nutritionist, then that's what it will take.
  
• I need to re-align my life to allow for the training.
• I cannot train for IM-distance with 11 hours a week spent in traffic, so that has to change. Somehow, I have to position myself to make that change in the next six months.

So, here are the 2007 goals and plan, determined as baby steps toward the big one that's looming large and scary a few years down the road:

1. Complete a workout (run/bike/swim) of 30 minutes or longer duration at least 5 times each week, for at least 48 weeks of the year.
2. Commit to weight/resistance training at least three times a week. This does not count toward the RBS workout goals.
3. Continue working with the nutritionist. The goal is learn to eat like an athlete so that I can fulfill my potential as an athlete.
4. By working with the nutritionist and completing the workouts as planned, the weight will come off, so that I can meet my goal of 140 & change by June 1.
5. Complete a fall destination marathon. Either Chicago or New York City. No time goal. Just enjoy the spectacle. For now, I'm leaving the door open for a possible 4th consecutive White Rock, but not committing to it yet.
6. Complete two half-marathons this spring. On the schedule are Cowtown Half in February and an inaugural women's race in Dallas in early May.
7. Swim well enough to finish 800 yards at a time without stopping. In water deeper than 5 feet.
8. Complete three sprint-distance triathlons. Right now, I've got Austin Danskin in June, IronGirl in July, and Longhorn Tri in Austin in September penciled in on my schedule.

That's a bit of a list. I'm pretty close to making another change that will also move me closer to the big goal. But I'll make that one public soon enough. But, that's enough for today, methinks.

Thoughts? I appreciate any feedback, whether that be constructive evaluation of the goals or cynical "yeah, sure, knock yourself out." And any tools you've used along the way to help you with similar goals would be helpful, too. I'll be using SparkPeople to track nutrition (although the nutritionist has another program she'll be providing me the next time I see her), and I have an awesome new Excel log for tracking runs. I'll also be using the iTunes/Nike+ logs, mostly for the chunky simple graphs (though I have some questions as to how accurate the sensor is, but I haven't calibrated yet...that's a whole other post). So there. Happy New Year!