Sisters In Sport: Check In Numero Dos and Revised Goals

So, I guess you guys sort of get the deal with the Sisters in Sport posts. I make goals. I tell you how I’m doing. I think the point was to make one set of goals for a few months and follow through on them through the New Year, but Meggie World changes pretty frequently these days, so my goals are often in flux.

Have you used the hashtag #sistersinsport ?

Anyways, below are the goals I set last time for my “after the marathon” period (ATM period, for short) and how I’m doing. Here goes:

1. Go back to SoulCycle, maybe give yoga at shot again, or try one of those billions of strength training classes here in NYC. HALF CHECK. SoulCycle x 1 and some gym time/Nike Training Club, etc. I have not tried yoga, Barry’s Bootcamp, Figure 4, etc…yet.

See? Soulcycle. I don’t lie.

2. Run a Turkey trot, Jingle Jog, New Year’s Day Race. CHECK. Turkey trot done. Jingle Jog this week.

3. Operate under the freedom runners social running schedule until I want to train for something again. CHECK. I’ve been basically doing what I want when I want to do it. I haven’t run over 5 miles since the marathon because even 5 miles has me pretty tired (don’t worry, I’ve worried that there is something wrong with me — everything from asthma to cancer). I ran 13 miles total last week. I take walk breaks if I want to. I left my Garmin in NYC. Freedom social runners, unite!

4. Keep an open mind regarding residency interview rejections and acceptances. I am doing much better here and am very excited about some of my residency prospects. Of course, this is Meggie World classified info not to be shared on internet until March 15, 2013 so you’ll have to bring me candy should you want to know what’s going on here. Sugar is how you get access to my classified files.

No more of this…

***Actually, I’d love to blog about the residency application and interview process – what has surprised me, what the process is like, what I’m looking for in a residency…maybe when it is all said and done as I do currently have a notebook full of notes seeing as I can’t talk to everyone about my actual feelings re: residency. Then again, residency interviewing might bore you all terribly.***

5. Continue foam rolling, PT/core, and preventative treatment up just as I have training for this marathon. CHECK. Foam rolling like a boss. Because I am so paranoid.

Rocktape? I got that. Foam Roller? I got that.

So, seeing as most of the goals pertained to ATM immediate aftermath AND a new year is upon us soon, I’ve sort of being thinking about what I want to accomplish in running in a broader sense before I start residency.

Residency doesn’t mean I won’t be running anymore. But, I think it is unrealistic to expect that the pie chart of the different aspects of my life isn’t going to change significantly this summer. Working 60-80 hours per week is most likely going to preclude training as I have been in the past few years. I’ll keep running and racing, I just suspect running will take on a mostly therapeutic role in the next few years.

I hope so…

But, who knows, I could be surprised. I never would have expected I would have run 4 marathons in medical school…

In thinking about what I wanted to accomplish this winter/spring, here is the approach I took, which is, in part, inspired by something a residency program I interviewed at did. One of the program directors had each intern class write their “mission statement” to set the tone for their training. And, that gave me the idea to come up with this:

Of course it is color coded. What self-respecting type A doesn’t color code?

[I know, this is crazy…I’ve really outdone myself here with the fluffy, sports-psych stuff.]

I tried to come up with a different term for “mission statement” because it’s not like I’m curing cancer or solving the Middle East peace crisis with my running. But, for lack of a better word, it stuck.

And, if you notice, with the pyramid, time goals are included, but aren’t the whole story. Achievement of time goals relies upon non-time goals and the “mission statement,” which, I like to think, take into account your happiness, where you are in your life, etc. I like to think it helps for what I call “optimism tempered by realism.” Optimistically, you set high time goals to motivate yourself, but with “tempered realism” in your non-time goals, you can adjust based on what other things are going on in your life.

Basically, a bunch of semantics. Just look at the color coded pyramid.

I like this because, for me, times don’t tell the whole story. There are races, but there is also a lot of running in between that.

Oh yeah. Next level color coding. [PS – sub-I is my medicine subinternship or “acting internship” ie “play doctor”]

So, I went to the ol’ Believe I Am journal [where all the good stuff goes] and wrote the following as my mission statement:

And to eat ice cream…

I then came up with the following non-time goals for now…I’m sure some things will be added and subtracted from this as the year goes on.

1. Pace a friend to a goal

2. Run in a non-road race: trail, track, cross-country.

3. Run a long tempo without stopping (ie like 10 miles at MP or something)

4. Make as many runs as possible social runs. 

5. Continue to do strength stuff 2x/week.

And, finally, ye olde time goals, just for good measure.

1. 5K: <21 min (a real reach here, probably won’t happen before med school graduation – but I can try!)

2. 10K: TBD, no 10Ks on the schedule yet, suggestions welcome

3. Half Marathon: <1:45…maybe in Miami with some of my running besties if my legs get on board asap…

4. Marathon: <3:35 as the reach goal; <3:40 would be just fine, too

So, that’s the deal for the whole kit and caboodle, for half of 2013.

To make things a bit more focused for the next check-in, here are my goals for December.

1. To build mileage at the rate my body allows. There is no magic number.

2. To continue to do strength stuff twice a week.

3. To be more adaptable with rest [ie not freak out by extra days off per week, meaning more than 2, during interview season and my medicine sub-internship]

Did you stick through this whole novel? I hope so.

TELL ME: YOUR GOALS FOR DECEMBER? 2013?

Until next time…