A review of July

July was a busy month for me. I had a family vacation and visitors. I broke down some of my barriers and achieved things I didn't think possible.

At the same time, it wasn't perfect. I struggled a bit with my eating, and in the midst of potty training my son, spent far more time indoors then I would have liked.

My goals for July included:

1. Swim twice a week, run three times a week, bike three times a week.
2. Hike at least 4 times in the month.
3. Take 1 day a week as either a rest day or an active rest day.
4. Track my food intake at least 5 days a week.

1. This should have broken up into three separate goals, as it would have been easier to evaluate it that way. Overall, I'm happy with what I achieved in this respect. I swam 3 days a week, and discovered that it isn't as tough to work around the pool's summer schedule as I thought. I continued following the C25K program, running 3 days a week. My biking suffered when I became a shut-in to get my son potty trained in time for pre-school. Having said that, in the last couple weeks, I've upped the ante and started riding my bike to the pool in addition to the rides I take my kids for.

Perfect? No.
Overall a success? Absolutely.

2. This is the goal that I thought would be easy to achieve. Given that we started off the month with a camping/hiking trip. Sadly, I did not meet this goal. We went for 2 good hikes as a family (with the kids mostly in the carriers). On our third attempt, my daughter decided she would NOT be carried anymore and we spent the time throwing rocks in a stream instead of hiking. After our vacation, weekends seemed full of family events and busy-ness.

Goal achieved? No.
Lesson learned: when the kids are involved, it's unrealistic to set specific goals that require their cooperation. It would be better to plan a trip to the mountains as a mental health requirement but realize that actually hiking depends entirely on the mood of 2 and 3 year old we bring along.

3. This seems like an easy goal to achieve and in some ways it is. Having said that, when trying to fit in 8-9 workouts a week, it's easy to just power through and do something every day - and that is what I was doing in the month of June. This month, I ran on Tuesday, Thursday and one weekend day. Then I swam on Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays. I had to remember that Monday was my rest day, so if I did take the kids for a bike/chariot ride, it was an easy and slow paced one, so that it could be considered active rest.

Goal achieved? Yes.
Lesson learned: it's easy to overdo things. Sometimes those of us that are overweight are that way because we have trouble with moderation. Replacing one type of excess with another is not a good thing.

4. It seems like I completely forgot about this goal for the first few weeks of the month. Tracking food intake is one of those things I wish I didn't have to do. After putting some thought into it and writing a little letter to myself, I realized that it is something I need to do - at least as this point in my journey. I find it far to easy to overeat and justify it by the amount of activity I am doing.

Goal achieved? No.
Lesson learned: I still need to work on this one. Watch for a repeat of this goal when I list my goals for August.

Overall, I'm happy with the last month. I've reached new heights by following through on some of my goals. I've learned new things about myself in examining why I didn't achieve others. Setting goals isn't like homework or tests when we were in school. I am the one that evaluates how I did. The single most important aspect is that I grow as a result.

(I was going to set August goals in this post, but it's gotten pretty long, so watch for them tomorrow.)