March Resolutions

Reslutions: March

To refresh, my March resolutions were to:

Get 8+hrs of Sleep Every Night

Reorganize Blog and Make Entries 1-2x a Week

So how did I do?

Not too shabby.
I knew getting 8 hrs of sleep every night would be a challenge.  If I goal was to get to bed at 10 pm, I could probably do it much easier, but 9:30 is hard!  I think I achieved this goal about 75% of the time.  Once or twice I may have added 2 extra minutes to my alarm clock, and a few others raced into bed at the exact minute.  A few times I was in bed with a few minutes to spare, but then decided to read a few pages before I turned out the lights (which I, um, may have cheated and counted anyway).  If you want to get really technical, I guess I missed the mark quite a few more times, as it takes me more than a minute for me to fall asleep…but I am not a technical person.

Still, I think this resolution really did have a positive effect on my mood and running recovery (in addition to the extra vitamins and Hammer Vegan Protein I added to my diet).  Most of the days, I was able to wake up and drive to work without the dread of not having enough energy to deal with a bunch of kids.  Instead, I actually had enough energy to play some of their games with them! 

As for resolution #2 of working on my blog, you can look at my blog pages and see that they are slowly starting to fill up.  I still have some work to do, and I still wish I was a bit more skillful in its organization and background, but it’ll do for now.

Before I announce this month’s resolutions, I would like to take a second and step back to February’s resolutions.

As for the “Unlimited” exercises, I wish the messages were a bit more ingrained in my mind.  Mentally, I had a few tough days in March.  Sometimes, when I did remember things, I did feel a bit worse.  For example, knowing I am the creator in my life isn’t exactly a happy thought when on the days when I feel I am going nowhere.  However, on other days, simply remembering to “stay present” was a huge positive and a message I really do think of often, maybe because I have heard it repeated so many times.

I am extremely pleased how much of a habit foam rolling has become for me.  While I don’t do it every day, I still do it most days, which I think is huge.  It really has become a routine thing for me.

What’s up for April?
Resolution 1: 5 Minutes of Meditation Every Day:

This will be my hardest challenge.  It’s amazing how hard simply adding 5 minutes of quiet time can be, but as I’ve tried this before, I know it is.  But, I have heard too many good things about meditation not to try it.  Plus, I read in both “Super Brain” and “Bone Games” that you can meditate to increase your body heat.  There are actually monks who can sit practically naked in an ice cold cave and sweat! This is sometimes referenced to “tummo yoga”, so basically the exact opposite of hot yoga.  I would LOVE to be able to do this in Ohio winters…but I’m just going to try and start small here. 

Now I know some of you are thinking, “Doesn’t she do this running?”  Well, yes and no.  Many times I just have thoughts all over the place, but I really just want to focus and appreciate the nature around me, to feel one with the earth.  If I could hone in on this during an ultra, I really think this would help me through some of the tough spots.  Second, I am also using this as a lead in to my June resolution, which will be to practice “visualization” for Black Hills 100, a key piece I left out in preparing for Virgils Crest.

Resolution 2: Study Personal Training 3x a Week (for at least 20 minutes)

I played around with a few ideas here, but settled on this one because I knew having it a resolution would give me the motivation to get my butt in gear.  I really would like to take the test and get my certificate in May and possibly have the opportunity to test out “Valley” or “green” (using the great outdoors as my key equipment) for a few months in the summer.  I’m not going to right all my thoughts, on this subject here, as they go beyond the purpose of this entry, but with future goals in mind, part of the idea here would be to help fund an adventure out west in August.