Vision Board 2015

Guys. It has been one heckuva year. I’ve taken up mountain biking, skiing, adventure racing, Muay Thai and triathlons. I started a new job. I moved. And I had the time of my life in 2014.

At the beginning of every year, I create a vision board as a platform to build my year around. What do I want it to LOOK like? And then 365 days inevitably happen and things are more successful, messier and way WAY better than anything I could have dreamed.

I had a seriously awesome year and I am so set on the power of naming what you want and reminding yourself of those goals every day.

What did I set out to accomplish in 2014? My vision board can be seen here.

Podium: I had a really great race year. I will be doing a bit of a running rundown on Friday, but I won 3 races OA and all of them were a half marathon or longer, on trail with a LOT of hills. At least I was consistent…

Complete my first triathlon. I had no swim training whatsoever but I did it! Although I don’t consider myself a triathlete yet, I was bitten by the bug and I have my sights set on an IRONMAN in 2016.

Volunteer. I joined the House of Friendship Board on the Public Relations Committee. I love using my strengths in communication to support a local organization that ensures that the hungry, sick and needy in my community have the help they need.

Work with my coach to meet my goals. This has been a great year and I did my first proper build and taper for my marathon this summer with a solid finish. Very happy and pleased.

Run my first 120 mile race. Due to training schedules with my team, we needed to defer to this year, but we have the flights bought and I am headed to Colorado in August 2015 to go tear up those Rockies for a week with some of my endurance athlete friends!

Learn self defence. I wouldn’t say I knocked this one out of the park because as soon as I started taking lessons, I found out I had stress fractures and needed to cut out the training for the time being because of the high impact, but I learned the basic punches, kicks and blocks and will be picking it back up this winter.

Learn to ski. I nailed this one as well! I took lessons and now can ski or snowboard  depending on where I am and what I am wanting to do which was a goal.

Learn graphic design. LOL. Did not happen. Although I do use Canva design for the blog and it has been a great resource for me.

Travel North America. Well…I would say I did ok on this one. I was in Mexico, Michigan, Arizona and Florida. I started a new job this year, so I stayed more landlocked than normal, but I made some incredible memories.

Read at least one book a month. DONE. I think my favourite read of the year was The Big Book of Endurance Training by Dr Phil Maffatone.

I have just put the finishing touches on my vision board for 2015 and I have tried to be specific and varied with my goals. I started thinking about what I wanted to do this year in November and have taken my time developing goals.

Central to my 2015 is being happy. I have spent a lot of time thinking on what that means for me and a lot of that is staying healthy, surrounding myself with incredible people and carving out space for myself to grow. I feel as if these goals reflect this and although not all my goals are on the board, this is a snapshot of what I want my year to look like.

1. Drink 8 cups of a water a day. I plan to accomplish this with the help of my awesome pint glass from the Yankee Springs trail race I did this summer and Nuun All Day, both of which live on my desk at work. I also love adding lemons and limes to my water at home.

2. Master Mountain Biking. I am buying a new bike this winter and am planning on tearing up the local trails in preparation for Wilderness Traverse in October 2015. I have a decent hold on mountain biking, but decent isn’t good enough when you want to win! It will be fabulous cross training for my marathon and ultra training.

3. Sleep 7.5 hours 5 times a week. Sleep is vital. There is nothing that cannot be improved by getting more sleep and anything that cannot be negatively affected by not getting enough. Moving to the city where I work and play was key and I have fallen into a pretty solid rhythm so far.

4. Connect with one mentor a month: I am so blessed to have some incredible mentors both in business and athletics and I have made a goal to take at least one of them out a month for dinner or coffee to chat and learn.

5. Journal 2 x a week. I know I write a lot on here, but the truth is, I have filled a journal every year of my life since I was 13. At least before 2014. (Did you see what I was busy doing instead?) I’m not a sentimental person, but this is a vital part of my personal chronology I love to watch develop so it is something I am committing to pick back up in 2015.

6. Take one rest day a week. This will be a hard one, but my main athletic goal for 2015 is to go the entire year without a running injury and rest and recovery is a huge part of that. I am committing to taking a rest day every week.

7. Strength train 3 x a week. This ties into the injury prevention goal but also just about feeling good. I will be focusing on my weak areas as a runner as well as making sure my core is rock solid.

8. Take a course. I am doing some intensive training for work, but I want to go over and above and take some courses, do some reading and make sure I stay connected with everything going on in the field on public relations. I love what I do and I want to continue to be the best at it that I can.

9. Yoga 1 x a week. I have a dear friend who has committed to going once a week with me for a year at Goodlife Fitness so accountability will help make sure I am on top of things!

10. Give. It is easy to wrapped up in my own training schedule, work day and goals, but I want to be intentional about giving to others throughout my year.

Looking forward to an awesome 2015!

What are some of your goals for 2015?