For months and months my goal was simple: train, train, and train harder. I had my eyes on the prize of my marathon and it was hard to really look anywhere else.

The past month I have had one simple goal: recover. While I added in form drills and strength training, my first and most important goal was to get my body back to where it needed to be. To truly and fully recover from the marathon.

Sure, it doesn’t take a month for everyone to recover but after my failed attempt after Kiawah I knew it was a necessity.

I officially reached the one month mark on Sunday. Saturday’s run was my confirmation that my body is back and ready to be pushed a little more. In small, calculated steps.

I decided going into this week I needed new goals. Not goals for the next month, or for my next race, but simply goals I want to focus on this week. 

As someone who works in a very structured industry, I love lists. I love setting goals to work towards, and eventually achieve. Goals don’t have to be huge, they can be small things you want to make sure to focus on or achieve each week or even day.

It’s been so long since I’ve focused on smaller goals so I find it a fun challenge. Here are a look at the 5 goals I have going into this week:

Start 5k/10k Training

I don’t have a set schedule yet, but I want to make this week the official start of speed training again. I’ll be working it in slowly but it’s time to start pushing my body a bit more.

This time around I know though that I am ready for this and I think that will make a big difference in my focus.

Gym 2-3 Days

On top of my morning run, I want to make it to the gym in the afternoons at least 2-3 times this week. I’m not doing any over the top weight lifting plan, but I need to make it a point to spend some quality focused time on strength training.

The thing with runners is we don’t need anything over the top, we just need a dedicated schedule that focused on the key areas: upper body, hamstrings, quads, and calves. Ok, that is a lot of areas but a little can go a long way!

I do strength training after my runs several times a week, but because I am usually pretty busy sometimes it is rushed. This will help eliminate that some and allow me to focus and slow down.

Relax

Sounds like a silly goal right? Unfortunately, when your crunched for time in the mornings it can often make it hard to relax and focus on the runs.

My goal this week is to really relax and enjoy the runs for what they are. Even on the tough mornings when I want nothing more than to sleep in and not do speed work,  I want to enjoy it!

Soak Up The Moments

This has nothing to do with running, but do you often find yourself wishing the weeks away? My husband has been on a pretty brutal rotation the past several weeks. I’ve found myself not only wishing away the weeks but wishing away the month entirely.

Not it’s mid-November and the time is flying by!

My goal is simple: soak up each moment. These moments, these hours, I will never get them back. I have to find joy in each and every day.

Journal My Running

I used to track my running pretty intensely; however, I’ve gotten away from it in the last 6 months or so.

I want to make a focus on writing down each run. More so than just writing down what I do, but how I feel, what I’d like to improve, work on, etc.

These aren’t always fun to do each day, but to have them to go back and reference is really helpful.

What are your goals for the week?