A NEW OLD GOAL

What next?

So, I just had a birthday, my fourth since I started this major journey to better fitness and health.I'm big on deadlines and goal-setting, so birthdays have always been good milestones for me.

In June 2008, my goal as to have lost my first 100 pounds by my birthday (thanks to breaking my wrist a month before, I reached the goal a few days later).  In 2009, I was in LA giving a workshop, visiting with a good friend, and still pegging away very hard at eating healthy. Last year, I was singing at Des Moines Metro Opera, and had to work, but my goal at the time was to be in the best shape of my life by the end of the summer ... and I was.

Well, another birthday has rolled around, and it's got me thinking about what my fitness goals for this year should be. In general, I know that I want to continue with P90X and continue running. But I need more specific goals than that. I need to figure out what I can be comfortable with in terms of an eating plan.

I am tired of thinking so much about weight loss. It's on my mind as much as it was when I was fat, and hey, maybe it always will be, but I need a break from it right now. I am not happy with my current weight/size, but I am also frankly exhausted with dealing with it. So I figure that a better course of action is to just stop worrying about it for a while and concentrate really hard on working out.

I'd like to target the two parts of my body I'm least happy with: my belly, and the triceps. Let's face it, these are problem areas for most women, and once you pass a certain age you're going to have arm fat unless you have it surgically removed. Even Madonna, who is famous for her intense, long workouts, has some fat swinging from the backs of those scary-skinny arms. Thanks to my P90X routine, my arms are pretty toned, and I even have a little tricep definition. But I'd like my arms to look leaner, so I need to figure out the right weights and types of exercises to do to get that specific look.

The belly is a bigger problem. I have loose skin, and will always have it, because I will never be able to afford a tummy tuck. I've been faithfully doing Abs Ripper all these weeks, and beyond a certain point I just haven't gotten any better at it; I wonder if I'm doing it wrong, or just need to build up more stamina. Regardless, I'd like to lose some belly fat (which is where most of mine tends to pool) and tone up even more.  I've got some good core strength and some muscle under there, somewhere ... I'd just like more of it to show!

So, for resistance, I'm targeting those two areas, and to get there, I am going to continue with P90X but also do some research.

Still, you know me. I need a big, glamourous goal to work for. And I have one in mind, one I've been thinking about for some time.

I want to run a marathon.

Now, I just started running again after almost a year off, and right now I'm just getting my feet wet again by training for a 10K. I'll look for a couple to do in the fall, maybe when I'm in Kentucky for The Marriage of Figaro. And then I'll need to train for a half. I don't know whether I can get ready to run a marathon in a year, given how slow I am anyway and my crazy schedule, but I would like to try. How awesome would it be to run one on my birthday next year? It's just one of those things on my bucket list.

If I am going to be able to take my mind off weight loss, that means I've got to concentrate really hard on working out, more than I have been doing. Training has to become a big, big priority. To be quite honest, I don't know if I have or can create that mindset. I take a great deal of inspiration from people like my friend Robin Flynn, whose journey into endurance sports has transformed her life (SO proud of her, BTW), but I still don't feel entitled to put myself in her company and call myself an athlete. But I would lik to be.

These are the things that I'll be pondering for the next few days, weeks, months, trying to figure out the best way to go about attaining these goals, and whether there are others I need to add. Of course, nutrition figures large into all of this, and I plan to continue focusing on eating mostly plants and foods that have been altered little from their natural state, minimizing refined carbs and sticking to healthy fats. But I would really like for that to become more habit, less struggle. Don't know if that's possible for me, but that's a goal too.

Goals are a good thing, even if you don't actually attain them. Sometimes the journey itself teaches you what you need to know and shows you where you really ought to be going. So I enter into this new phase of the process with an open mind, hoping to achieve and learn.

What it all boils down to is the same goal, but perhaps a slightly different way of trying to get there. By my next birthday in June 2012, I want to be in the best shape of my life --- better than now, which is already better than last year. I'm open to interpretation as to what that will mean. 

Comments

[Cindy]

Dalila, thank you. I'm happy that my journey is an inspiration for yours.

Hope, thanks for the link. I'll certainly check it out. And congrats on your first 5K! That's how it starts, you know ... ;)

Sara, thanks for the cheering!

And Robin ... wow! I would love to train with you. I am scared to death ... but also excited. Thank you. I'll email you. :)

Just got done with Back-Biceps, and now it's off to rehearsal. Cheers, y'all!

[Sara]

Go, Cindy, go! Can't wait to cheer you on as you train.

[Robin]

Hey Sweetie,

You just let me know if you want to do virtual coaching and we can work something out. I think you could run a marathon in one year's time... if that's what you truly want to do! I'd absolutely love to help you on that journey.
It CAN be done!

You just have to really really really really want to do it! :-)

xoxoxo,
Robin

[Hope]

Hi Cindy-
Have you ever checked out the No-meat Athlete's blog? He's got a new e-book available about training for a half-marathon, as well as one for a full marathon, that you might want to check out. I am not sure if I ever want to run a marathon (just barely managed my first 5K last week in 85 degree, 70% humidity and that was enough for now), but if I do, his advice seems pretty good.
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/half-marathon-roadmap-is-available/

And good for you for making goals!

[Dalila Valentine]

This is one of the most moving things you've ever written. In fact, it made me cry. Particularly:

"Goals are a good thing, even if you don't actually attain them. Sometimes the journey itself teaches you what you need to know and shows you where you really ought to be going.'

It's so funny how your journey with fitness reminds me of my journey with singing. I feel about you re: singing the way you feel about Robin re: athleticism.

I think focusing on fitness rather than weight is a good thing. I spent years trying to maintain a weight that was below what felt healthy and fit for me (I was never underweight, but starving myself to keep below my "set point") and I certainly was not fit, got tired easily, and had trouble concentrating.

You're just the greatest inspiration to me.