2016 Goal Recap

What a year! When I made my 2016 goals last year, I wasn’t sure where the year would take me. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to make fitness goals and almost didn’t. And when it comes to my personal/professional life, things took a major turn from the expected when I quit my job and started working for myself.

2016 was a hard year and an exciting year.  I learned a lot about myself as a woman, as a mother, as a business person and as a wife this year. On the fitness front, I achieved all my goals. And while my body is physically as fit as it was before baby, if not stronger in some ways, I still feel a ways off from regaining my pre-baby running speed. None of my 2016 goals involved speed goals (I didn’t even plan to run a marathon), so I suppose it makes sense that I’m not finishing the year fast. But, that doesn’t mean that 2017 won’t hold some lofty running goals, but that’s a a post for another day.

I made five fitness goals in 2016 – let’s see how they went!

1. Do an unassisted headstand during yoga class. I did a lot of yoga in 2015, leading to two yoga related goals for 2016. Although I probably did yoga at least once a week on average, the majority of the yoga I did was 21 Day Fix or 21 Day Fix Extreme yoga which, while beneficial, isn’t going to push me to grow my practice. However, in the beginning of the year I did set my sights on this goal and achieve it. Asia and I practiced headstands a couple of times and I actually surprised myself by being able to get into form on the first try. However, it took me a few weeks of practice before I was confident enough to do it during a Hot Yoga class. But I did it! A few times actually. Check.

   

2. Do a yoga challenge. As I said, I started the year yoga focused and then lost a lot of that focus throughout the year. I ended up waiting until December to do this but I had a blast doing it! 15 days in a row of experimenting with new yoga poses and it ignited that yoga passion in me again. I also learned some things while doing it.
3. Run a strong half marathon that I’m proud of. For me this was the San Diego Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon. Although I had secretly hoped I could run a sub 1:50, ultimately I was really proud and happy of this race because I executed it well and finished really strong with a solid negative split in 1:54:06.

   

4. Finish P90X. Yes! I succeeded in finishing P90X and losing 11 pounds and gaining a lot of muscle. I didn’t do the program perfectly like I did in 2011 (interrupted workouts due to a hungry baby were frequent) but still had great success. I went on to do 21 Day Fix Extreme and 21 Day Fix several times throughout the year and to become a Beachbody Coach. 
5. Fit into my skinny jeans again. Yes! I can’t remember when this happened but it was sometime around April maybe? Consistency hosting and participating in my challenge groups helped me feel strong and confident in my body without feeling deprived or like I was “dieting.” Funny enough, I rarely wear jeans these days – I mostly are workout clothes and in the summer, swim suits and shorts! So this was a funny goal that way, but you get it!

   

Running wasn’t always at the forefront of 2016, but I still ran a lot! I ran two 5ks, a 4 mile race, a 10k, two half marathons and a marathon. This was actually fewer races than I normally do in a year, but I found that it’s tough to get out there and race while juggling the responsibility of taking care of an infant. I just don’t have time to recover from a 3:30 AM pre-race wake-up call like I used to, especially when I was still working full time. I decided to focus on more local races and only run a few races that require early mornings and/or travel each year.

2016 – you tested me in a lot of ways. You tried my patience with running and humbled me. You made me appreciate what it means to PR more this year than any other year. By not even being close to a PR, I realized just how much work and effort goes into one. I’m trying to appreciate where my body is at now and do less comparing to my old self. Being happy with my fitness or self doesn’t depend on how fast I can run a 5k or a marathon. I’m content with how things went this year, but also excited to see what I can achieve in 2017.

How was 2016 for you? Did your life take any big turns? Did you finish the year stronger or faster than you thought you would?