Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Those pesky goals (here we go again)

I had a truckload of process goals for 2007. Frankly, way too many to track and pay attention to very well. But things were going along well enough until I had a major computer crash in midsummer and lost the Excel spreadsheet on which I had been keeping my records. I think I have it back now on a rebuilt computer, but the recordkeeping ground to a halt when that happened.

I started just logging my workouts in the sidebar, and totaling them manually, which was such a pain that I developed an enormous backlog of un-summarized records that I still have to clear up. Right now I don't even know how far I swam, ran, or rode in 2007, although I believe my totals ended up lower than the previous couple of years.

I enjoyed my events this year quite a bit, and made lots of progress in my speed and fitness levels - setting a total of TEN PRs while maintaining my body weight. My 2008 season is going to look a lot like 2007, with a few more running events. I plan to complete (carpooling with my training buddy Dave) an 8-race Championship Series put on by one of our local running clubs, Annapolis Striders (at least 7 of the races, that is - I may have at least one date conflict with a triathlon, but 7 races should be enough for me to make the top ten in my age group and work up from there in the 2008 standings).

For right now I'd like to keep my 2008 process goals simple and pegged on simple weekly goals, which seems to keep me on track in continually improving my fitness and performance:

  • Log my intake at least 5 days per week, striving for a 500-700 calorie daily deficit until I hit an 8% body fat reduction (from January 1st, 2008).
  • Swim at least 2500 yards per week.
  • Run at least 12 miles per week.
  • Ride at least 25 miles per week.
  • Count the weeks for each of the above, striving for 80%+ completion (42 weeks out of 52).

Those swim, bike, and run workouts should include at least one long less-slow distance workout (1+ hour swim, 2+ hour run, 3+ hour bike) and a set of high-intensity intervals (speedwork) every 7-10 days, but I'm not going to quantify that right now, just work it into the routine.

I think I'm going to start this year keeping my Excel workout log on Google docs to crashproof it and keep it in a place that I can get to from any computer.

4 comments:

Herself, the GeekGirl said...

Baboo and I are getting some fitness assessing done soon, and one of them is bodyfat % (dunk tank, and air in the lungs being measured, etc.) I'm both frightened and excited by the prospect of what I might find, but at least it's a baseline. Thanks for the link to Google docs! I hope to learn a lot of you about bodyfat reducing this year.

jeanne said...

so this is my 2nd try at leaving a comment.

in which i said: TEN PRs in a year??? HOLY CRAP!!!! that's fantastic!

and then i said, i was keeping my log at coolrunning, which had a meltdown, but i finally retrieved my log and signed up on running ahead, which i LOVE.

I love your goals. Well thought out.

Andra Sue said...

Happy new year and happy training in 2008! Good luck with all your goals, fitness-related and otherwise. :)

Comm's said...

very sensible and realistic. Can't find anything to sharpshoot.

Good job.