S.M.A.R.T Goals

As an eductor I am always working to set goals for improvement, monitorng to see how I am progressing toward that goal, and constantly analyzing my data. If I reach my goal, I set another one and move on. If I am mot progressing the way I should, I analyze the data, make changes and keep moving toward that goal. That is what we do in education. It is engrained in me to do this. Several years back we started hearing the term S.M.A.R.T goals. This little acronym was developed to help educators know how to set goals that could be reached and it is used all the time in everything. So why not in fitness and health improvement?

Well you may be asking what in the world does this have to do with fitness and health. Simple. S.M.A.R.T goals can be used for anything and only just recently have I started applying this to my fitness and health goals. It has made all the differnce in the world. What is a S.M.A.R.T.goal? Easy, it is a goal that is
S-specific, M-measurable. A- attainable, R-realistic, T-timely.

Often times when people start trying to improve their health they establish goals that sound something like this " I want to lose weight" or "I want to be healthy." Neither of these are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, or timely  goals. They are just too generic to be helpful.

A better goal might be " I would like to lose ten pounds over the next 4 weeks"  It meets all the requirements of a good goal... specific, measuable, attainable, realistic, and timely.  Anything over ten pound takes too long to get to it and people get frustrated trying to lose 5o pounds. Small goals lead to huge victories. You have to "eat the elephant one bite at the time or else you will get choked." It is the same way with goals. Too many or too large or open ended goals keep you frustrated.  That is why so many people have dropped their New Years Resolutions by February every year.

I usually don't even set monthly goals, I like weekly goals to change it up. Some weeks I look at weight, some times I look at habits like eating, journaling, or exercising and set a goal for that instead of always focusing on my weight. You don't want to become obssessive about that (as many women can, me included). Shake it up a bit set a S.M.A.R.T Goal and see what happens, I think you will like it and find more success in the end.

It takes the right person

I did my first hand stand push up tonight! YEAH! It is the craziest thing. I practiced slinging myself merciless up against the wall last night, but could never get myself vertical for more than a few seconds. Basically, I would throw myself so hard like trying to do a cartwheel that I would hit the wall, bounce, and fall to the floor. At one point, I actually thought I may go through the wall and so did my family. It became comical and painful. After about twenty attempts, I gave up figuring I would never do it. Last night I would have told you it was impossible for me. To be truthful, it really bothered me. Just a week ago in my crossfit class I watched others do this that most days I could out do strength wise. I couldn't understand it. I reasoned that I was doing something wrong. I gave in to the fact that maybe my strength wasn't as great as I thought. I even considered that maybe I just didn't have what it takes to do it at all and it was hopeless so I needed to move on.

But the nagging persisted in the back of my head all day today. I quickly tried to push it aside and told myself to let it be. As my friends would tell you the OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) that I have just wasn't going to let it go. My brain says I have to do it even if my body parts may not be able... they must rise to the occasion. I can't let it go... you get the picture.

Tonight after class I jokingly was telling everyone about my adventures last night and that I was bruised from head to toe from combat with the wall. The instructor tonight, who fills in periodically, said let me see you do it. He watched once again as I slung myself and said "you are doing it wrong." he then preceded to tell me exactly what to do. He assisted me once so I could see how it felt. On the next attempt, I did it exactly as he said on my own and then I did it again and again. I had mastered the hand stand and one push up by the end of just about five minutes. It was an awesome feeling, but the thing is it was all about technique. It had nothing to do with my strength, my desire, or my capabilities. It just took one person watching me, telling me what I was doing wrong, and correcting it.

Sometimes it just takes the right person to get us where we want to go and we are done. Now to master the pull up!

Small Victories

I ran the the Georgia Publix Half Marathon this morning.... 2:07:06... good for me... my best time. It was a great event, the course was pretty good, and the weather was perfect. I had more food at the end than any event I have ever prticipated in up to this point; however, my buddy hardly got any so I am not sure what happened. I think possibly too much food was being handed out. I got two of everything and even some things three. I said I didn't need it, but volunteers handed it out anyway. Good for me ... bad for those coming up later in the race, but something that can easily be fixed in the future.

 I am slowly plugging away at improving my time on the half marathon distance... a minute or two each time. While a piece of me wants to knock it out in big chunks to hit that 2:00 mark or under, I can live with small increments of improvement to get to my goal. Sometimes those small victories keep us going and not giving up. My goal will be to continue to be thankful for the small improvements and eventually I will chip away at that time... which becomes more important the better you get at running. I feel good and I am happy with the results knowing that next time I will want more!

I enjoyed being out this morning. The weather was perfect about 63 degrees and overcast, perfect for running. The course had enough flat sections that I was able to make up my time from the hills and some of the neighborhoods were beautiful that we ran through. There was a lot of support from the community cheering people on some for specific individuals and others for everybody that ran by. It was nice to see Atlanata out bright and early this morning. A lot of first time half marathon runners that I met waiting to start and afterwards that said they will do it again. Overall it was great, but the best part is always being with my buddies... going to the expo, talk of our goals, race preparation the night before, and the race morning jitters. In th end this makes it all worth while...

Try a local event to get started

A great way to help motivate you to run is to sign up for a local 5k race in your community. As we are moving into the spring season, there are more opportunities for these events to take place as the weather is warming up. Remember it is OK if you walk... most of these races encourage walkers to sign up as these are mostly fundraiser type events many through school, churches, and local businesses looking to support some organization. Because the money is going toward helping out in some way you get the added benefit of doing a good thing for your community.

The other benefit for me is that I will practice more once I am signed up because I don't want to be last. I might be second to last, but never last. We are all created competitive. You can say you are not, but I believe no one wants to be last... ever. If you wait until you get "good" or "can finish" you will never do it. It just becomes and excuse. Remember you are not looking to win the event, you just want to finish. You are not racing against anyone; you are proving to yourself that you can and will do it once committed.

There are a lot of local events taking place in our home town in the next few months that you may want to check out ( I am sure there are many in your area as well). A quick search on the iInternet will bring these right to your fingertips.

Beaverbrook Elementary Spring Sprint-March 19, 8:30am
Pike County Elementary Shamrock Run 5k - March 19th, 5:00pm
Stepping Stones 5k- April 8, 6:00pm
Crescent Elementary 5k- April Date/ Time TBA