300 Miles

While my surgery to correct FAI is now nearly two full years behind me (December 2011), I continue to reap the benefits of goal-setting during the recovery process.

As I wrote last year, my long-term rehab goal was to get fit enough to run Tough Mudder Tri-State in October 2012 (exactly one year ago today, coincidentally).  I achieved that goal, and then continued to focus on increasing my running.  My follow-up goal from there was to run 300 miles in 2013.  As much as I enjoy running, I figured having that target to shoot for would keep me more motivated to keep at it even when I wasn’t feeling it as much as usual.

I’m happy to report that I achieved my goal of running 300 miles on 12 September 2013, a solid 3 months and change before my deadline:

And here’s a breakdown of mileage by month:

I’ve continued to run since then, albeit at a much reduced rate, as my fitness focus is now back on weight training.  I’m lifting four days a week and only running occasionally, but at least that’s by design (a conscious decision) rather than by default (“I don’t feel like running today… or tomorrow… or this week…”).  My son has also developed an interest in running, so we go out for the occasional mile together as well.  A mile with him at his pace doesn’t do much for me physically, but does us both worlds of good emotionally.

My educational leadership program is grounded in the Educational Leadership Policy Standards, which emphasize goal setting to guide growth and program implementation.  While I’ve done all the coursework and understand it all from an intellectual standpoint, nothing has driven the point home for me quite like the experience of setting, achieving, and re-setting my own physical fitness goals over the last two years.

Now that I’ve hit my goals of completing Tough Mudder, running 200 post-surgery miles in 2012, and 300 miles in 2013, I’m still working on a goal related to my weight training.  My short term, “interim” goal is to make linear progression on all lifts 2.5-5 lbs per session, but I know that will only take me so far.  Once I figure out my long-term lifting goals, I know that having a target to shoot for will further help motivate and energize my fitness regime.