Resolutions

Two posts in a day? Maybe I'm avoiding the graphs I need to update shortly. I have a personal log on the Precision Nutrition web site. It's a fairly small community of people who maintain active logs, and people share recipes, workout notes, and encouragement related to Precision Nutrition. The moderators insist that it be a positive and supportive environment and it's a good place to "hang out" on the web, although you have to be a "PN" customer to access the user logs portion of the site.

Some people on the logs have been suggesting that everyone needs to list resolutions for the New Year. I really don't do that very often, other than to say that I'm going to focus my attention on whatever my "A" race is for the coming year. Obviously, my "A" race for this coming year is Western States.

But, I did post a list of resolutions there this morning, so I thought I'd repeat them here. They are ambitious, I will admit, but the toughest one of all, for me, is probably number 5:

1. When I weigh in for the race on 6/27, I will either be at 12% BF or lower OR I will be at 175 pounds or lower. I won't be unhappy if I get to 12%, but my weight is above 175. Similarly, I won't be disappointed if I lose some muscle mass between now and then, and I arrive at the starting line at 175 or less, no matter what my BF% is.
2. Over the next six months, every workout, every meal, every skipped alcoholic beverage, every supplement, and every night of sleep will be dedicated to getting ready for this race. A few times in my life, I've invested myself wholly in prep for a single race for a six-month period. Those prep periods have led to my best ever races, including a sub-3 hour marathon and a finish at the Hardrock 100.
3. While I focus on my race prep, my family will still come first in my life. If they need something, I'll be there for them, no matter what it does to my training. But, being there for them does not mean abandoning how I eat.
4. As much as I love skiing and teaching skiing, I will reduce my number of skiing days this winter to focus on this race. This is hard to do at times, but I need to do it. This starts tomorrow, when I will skip a skiing day to run 20 miles. The skiing conditions will be amazing and I want to ski, but I NEED to run.
5. After the Western States race is over, I will not revert to bad habits for the next 6 months. I will maintain or improve the results of goal #1 through the end of the calendar year.
6. I will recognize when I am overtraining and I will rest when I need to do that. Last year, I got sick three different times. I think that overtraining was a factor in those illnesses and I want to prevent that from recurring.

Happy New Year to everyone. Enjoy your parties tonight. I'll probably be asleep by 9:00 as usual.