Goals for August 2016

Hi guys,

Happy August. August is always one of my very favourite months. It is the last chance to soak up all of the awesome summer things like watermelon, campfires, and long weekend bike trips.

This past weekend, my group of friends and I set out for our second annual Coonfondo – which is a moniker given to our yearly 100 mile+ ride which my friend Todd and I began last year. You can read about it here. 

This year, we expanded the group to include the rest of the Genuine Health Ironman team and did a 185 KM route from Toronto to Lake Simcoe and back.

We had an awesome day full of gorgeous country roads, large pizzas, and a celebration BBQ. I am already looking forward to next year!

I am really excited about how great July was and I am confident that August is going to be just as good. I set out to do some pretty big things in July:

Successfully complete my first 70.3 Ironman. A+

Race report here. 

Drink a cup of water in the morning before anything else. A+

I created a solid little habit with this one and have started mixing in lemon water and drinking that within 5 minutes of getting out of bed every morning.

Add some speed training and half marathon specific work. F

Nope. Unless you count ONE session last Friday where I did a 12×400 m repeat track workout. To be honest, I added a race in July that I was not expecting so I needed to extra recovery time. This means that I am not able to go into the half marathon with as much specific work but I have no doubts that I will be able to complete it.

Try a completely new-to-me race. A++

That extra race was supposed to happen this past weekend. Mark and I were planning on heading to Kingston to try a duathlon. But then I was invited to participate in the International Duathlon qualifiers by Recharge with Milk and we shifted plans. I had the time of my life and was still able to check this off my list. Read Mark’s recap here. 

Work on my orienteering and paddling. B

I wasn’t able to make it to the Adventure Racing Training day so I didn’t get in orienteering but this month, I had done a lot of paddling and paddle strength specific workouts.

Now that we have started in August, what do I want to achieve? Well. Now that half ironman training is over, I have more time to focus on lifestyle goals and I will be attacking them hard!

Run a half marathon PR. 

I had a time in mind, but I am letting go of that as I have not had a chance to train as hard as I wanted. I am going to go to Vancouver and visit my friend Ange and focus on having the time of my life. I am in a unique spot where I haven’t raced a flatter half marathon in a number of years so I am almost guaranteed a PR no matter what I run. So I am going to go with only that goal and no set time.

See Vancouver for the first time. 

YAY! I am so excited to visit this amazing city with some of my favourite blogger ladies.

Go to a Blue Jays game. 

I haven’t made it to a single one this year. It’s time.

Celebrate the weddings of some of my closest friends. 

Write down one thing I am grateful for every day. 

Although I am a pretty happy person, I am not being consistent with my 2016 goal of thinking of one thing I am grateful for every day so it is time for me to ensure that I get a bit better at that. I am committing to writing down ONE THING every day that I am grateful for and being specific.

How about you? What are your goals for August?