It’s a brand new link up with FIVE amazing hosts – me, My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude,Runs with Pugs, Zenaida every Friday for Fit Five Friday!
BONUS – it’s the February Ultimate Coffee Date!
The Ultimate Coffee Date
Want to get together for a cup of joe (or tea) and have a little gab session? Join in the monthly Ultimate Coffee Date! What would you tell ME if we were having coffee? Linkup is open now and stays that way through the weekend.
Deborah and Coco are your hosts and you can find the guidelines here.
Five Goals for February
If we were having coffee…
I would tell you that as much as I don’t want to “set myself up” I have decided to make a few goals for February.
The firs goal that I’d like to ease up on the steps a bit. Maybe that sounds a bit nuts, since I’m involved in a distance challenge until May, but I’m not too worried about the mileage.
It was a nice goal, it kept me focused and as of today I have had 10,000 steps or more per day for 55 days in a row. But, as I mentioned in my FFF post about this particular number of steps, there’s no real science behind it and I shouldn’t have to feel obligated to hit that number every single day.
So, I’m knocking my daily step goal down to a minimum of 6000 steps for days that I do other workouts and 10,000 for days that I don’t. More realistic, in my opinion.
If we were having coffee…
I’d tell you that another goal I have this month is to get back to taking my vitamins daily. A while back I used to take a lot of supplements for inflammation and I just got out of the habit at some point last year.
I set this one up in my streaks app, but still hadn’t managed to do it on a daily basis yet, but now I’m determined to get it done again. Yesterday I put 5 days worth in a vitamin pill box so there’s no excuse. In addition to supplements for inflammation, I also want to get the basics in, and especially vitamin D.
If we were having coffee…
I would mention that I really, really, really want to get back into my strength training workouts again. So far I’ve done bodypump 3 times but that’s not enough for me to call it a habit.
Starting this week I will be doing it at least 2 times a week (or 1 or 2 other strength workouts). I have the Les Mills On Demand subscription and I am going to make better use out of it.
If we were having coffee…
I would confide that I am looking to reduce stress again in my life. The drama of my GP telling me to find another doctor and subsequently trying to find another doctor really knocked me off my feet. I have another (quite luxury) situation going on as well that is stressing me out. I’m too affected by it and I want to have it in control.
I’m not saying that I shouldn’t feel upset or sad or angry about things that happen. No. I am all for feeling emotions. However, it shouldn’t affect my mood, my sleep, my state of mind as much as it does. So I will be working on this through meditation, yoga (with Judy’s help), and reframing a situation when it happens.
If we were having coffee…
I’d probably make you laugh when I say that I’m going to get up early or at least work on that goal for a few reasons.
Working from home has gotten me into a bit of a different sleep-wake pattern and that’s fine for now, but what about when we go back to the office? I’m not going to be able to get up only at 7 or 7:30 and be in the office at 8! So, after this weekend my goal is to:
- go to bed on time (between 10 and 10:30)
- get up between 6 and 6:30
- plan the night before what I’m doing in the morning – a workout? a walk? catching up on blogs? an affirmation podcast?
- eventually I can train myself to get up before 6 when the weather is better and I’m able to run or walk outside
What would you tell me over coffee?
Do you have goals for February? Do you take vitamins/ supplements? How often do you strength train each week? Any stress reducing tips you have for me – podcasts or affirmations that help you? Are you an early bird or do you struggle with getting out of bed in the morning?
Join the Fit Five Friday Link-up!
Here are the guidelines:
- Your link should center around some kind of fitness (exercise, wellness, mental health, nutrition… the possibilities are endless!)
- Please link back to your hosts! It’s the right thing to do!
- Share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!
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Here are the guidelines:
- Your link should center around some kind of fitness (exercise, wellness, mental health, nutrition… the possibilities are endless!)
- Please link back to your hosts! It’s the right thing to do!
- Share the link-up love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!
- Feel free to share about Fit Five Friday on your social media! Tag #FitFiveFriday to get the word out!
that’s a great goal about your vitamins. I need to get better about that as well. I know i need to take them every day but some weeks i barely take them 4 times.
I hope that the meditation will help you. I didn’t think that it would, but it has helped me a lot over the past few weeks, even if only for 5 minutes.
I think I could help myself a bit and the pain that I have with vitamins for inflammation. At least try to have a little control over it, you know?
I have mostly been skeptical about meditation but I’m going to at least try!
I’m an early bird. If I sleep until 7, I’m ecstatic. I’m in a Feb step challenge and a few distance runs (over month/months) so I’ve been driving hard on the steps/miles. It’s good to remember that it doesn’t really matter if you get to a goal but if you’re making progress in the right direction!
I’ve become even LESS of an early bird since we’ve been working at home. It’s going to be a harsh reality when we go back if I don’t change it up now! And yes, I agree – it’s about moving in the right direction.
I am not a goal setter. I do try to get outdoors EVERY DAY. That’s it. My long run day is the only day I get many steps. Even my runs are short – 3 miles. So I’m trying not compare myself to others who streak and workout like crazy. I feel healthy.
I do think I need to drink water. Also if it were not so cold, I would prefer to run or walk before work. I get up early but procrastinate with my breakfast and reading FB.
No vitamins or supplements – ZILCH! I don’t know if I need them…
I have to read before I go to bed…it’s my stress reliever. Even so I am not a great sleeper.
I haven’t done well with goals for a while. I think I have too much crap in my head about setting goals and then having something happen that wrecks it for me. I need to let go of that. Goals don’t have to be big and hairy. At least not for me. I just want to create some new improved habits. The “streaks” I have are more about streaking my daily habits than anything else.
I want to read again. Maybe I’ll do that in the early mornings! Once I get my butt out of bed early…
I am so impressed by your goal setting! I always just kind of muddle through. I would like to get back to Body Pump too. I did go back to the gym early this fall, but after the gym closed in December, I never went back, even though they are open again. I might go to one of the virtual classes that run in the early afternoon. They are often completely empty, or there is only one other person there. I think it would be pretty safe.
ah thanks Laurie! I think my goals are really more just like trying to get into better habits. But nothing wrong with those kinds of goals, right? I am missing the gym but haven’t been back even though they opened for a while. Of course they are closed again. I would definitely do a class with a low participation. I did go to a few indoor rowing classes that were perfect because the space was huge and the rowers were 2 meters apart from each other.
You probably know I’m an early-riser. I’m grateful it comes natural for me, because I love getting most of my workouts done before getting to work by 8:00. I take a slew of vitamins as well. It wasn’t until after my knee emergency (2017) that I began keeping them organized in my “old lady pill box,” though, because I had several meds to take for awhile after that freaky episode.
Yes you get up super early! My 6 or 6:30 would be like a lie-in for you! I also took a lot of bits before and after my last surgery and then later I took them for inflammation and also to help with menopause symptoms, but everything kind of fell apart when the house-hunt/buying/renovating/moving began.
I am definitely an early bird. Its nice to not have to commute to work, but I still get up early to have coffee, blog, and workout before 6:00. I’m usually in bed by 8:30 or 9.
whoah that is a seriously early bed time! I feel like I “need” a couple of hours after we eat dinner to just chill. And we tend to eat around 7, though I’d love that to be earlier as well. Hmmm. something to think about.
I feel you on the supplements. That’s a habit I tend to let fade away as well. Since getting my very low vitamin D results though I’ve been vigilant. I typically rise without an alarm between 5 and 6. Mostly 5:15-5:30. Closer to 6 toward the end of the week when I’m more tired. Stress really sneaks up. Good for you for recognizing it and being proactive about ireducing it.
I’ve really slipped on taking my supplements too. It’s so dumb because my husband is really good at it and leaves them on the kitchen counter so it should be easy. I really don’t count my steps, though I like getting over 10,000 (my watch tells me whether I ask it or not). The days I run I have a lot of steps, the days I don’t, well, I don’t. It all evens out in the end.
My cats wake me up between 4-5 so I need to go to bed early the night before. How rude of them to do that since then they sleep all day long while I go to work. I take a multivitamin (Ritual) everyday. I stopped counting my steps because I did not want to wear anything else on my wrist (I only wear my RoadID everyday and add my Garmin for running). The goal of 10,000 was stressing me out so I stopped. I could have done what you did and just reduce the number of steps. :-)
I take a ton of supplements–some for RA and some for my anxiety. i’m really good about it because I’ve been feeling so good. But I have also made big changes in my diet which also have been helpful. Sleep is a big problem for me. I don’t have trouble falling asleep but i wake up in the middle of the night and that’s it. Looks like you’ve got some good goals–hopefully they’ll help you with your stress and if they do, let me know?
These are great goals! I really need to follow your lead on the supplements. I used to be really good about taking them but somewhere along the way I fell off the wagon. Thanks for the nudge on this!
I hear you on the vitamins! I’ve had no problem remembering to take the pill every single morning for the past 20 years but I miss a day or two of my vitamins every week, it’s like there’s a limit on the number of things that I can “adult” on. I noticed that I got really bad with my morning routine this fall b/c with the later sunrises I started delaying my runs. I was counting on reversing the pattern this spring and then being in prime early morning shape when/if we go back to the office next July. But now that I’ve been treadmill bound for a few weeks I’m starting to get better about starting early. We’ll see!
Lots of hugs to you <3 I feel like we are all being overtaken by stress these days, and I think you are taking the proper steps to manage it. That was some nonsense about your GP. Ugh!
I take Vitamin C and D. I try to take Zinc but it generally upsets my stomach and makes me nauseous, so I can only do that occasionally.
I’ve really been missing strength workouts since my fall. Hopefully I’ll be back to them in a few more weeks. I’m usually good at putting things out of my mind, but sometimes I get ridiculously focused on/stressed over something that’s not really worth all that mental energy, but I just can’t let go …. I hope your new GP works out. The old one sounds like a b anyway!
I really don’t like getting up early but the kids have to be out of the house at 06:30 to be at school for 7am. So that’s what gets me out off bed. But… as my husband takes them to school and I work from home now I must runfess that I usually go back into bed for a nap once they’ve left the house! Its such a bad habit as it won’t be sustainable when I return to the office!
I miss lifting weights, but definitely want to get back to at least strength training regularly so I don’t lose everything.
I hope the meditation helps you! I’m unfortunately rather terrible about it (mostly because I tend to just fall asleep whenever I try, but I guess sleep is a nice rest for the mind too though…?).
All good goals! I hear you on the sleep thing- during the pandemic my sleep schedule got later and later (more a consequence of my kids not going to school than anything else) till over the holidays it became ridiculous. I had to reign it in and get back on schedule last month. It feels good to get up earlier again!
Yes… definitely sparkle! Why not?
I am an early bird who used to also be a night owl, but I have trained myself to be in bed by 9:30 most nights since I get up by 5-5:30 most mornings. This morning I slept until 8:30, though!
I take quite a few supplements and I’m pretty good at remembering them. Perhaps put a reminder in your phone?
I hope you can get your doctor sorted out quickly. And I’m sorry to hear that something else is bothering you as well. Sending hugs, my friend!