I wanted to wish you a happy holiday season and all the best in the New Year. As my final post for 2009, here's a quick tip for improving your fitness and health in 2010.
Every New Year's day millions of people make resolutions to get into "better shape" but over 90% abandon their resolutions by the end of January. My best tip to avoid this trap is to think about your fitness goals TODAY! Pick one or two major goals and then devise a plan to achieve them. It's a cliche but there's plenty of truth in the statement that "failing to plan is planning to fail."
I'll use myself as an example. My major goal for 2010 is to run a personal best in the marathon, which translates to faster than 3 hours and 15 minutes. It's been seven years since I've done a marathon and everyone knows that as we get older we get slower, right? Well I'm going to prove that wrong in my case.
The Vancouver marathon on May 2 is my target race and I've planned out my workout schedule from now until race day. It's my 133 day marathon training plan that began on Dec. 20. By starting my program now I've avoided a couple of major pitfalls.
First, I'm not worried about over-indulging during the holiday season. I've planned into my schedule days like Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Year's Eve where I've allowed myself to over-eat or have a few drinks (few being a relative number ;-). But I can do so guilt-free because I know on the other days during the holidays I'll be eating healthy and getting my workouts in.
Secondly, I've quantified my "resolution" with a measurable goal, a schedule and target metrics during that time to gauge my progress and keep me on track. Simply stating that I want to run a fast marathon is pretty useless.
So take my advice and take some time to come up with your resolutions before January 1. Set a goal you can measure and devise a plan to achieve it. And then make yourself accountable to someone to get it done. I've told enough people about my goal that I now have extra external motivation to keep me going.
If you live in the Lower Mainland I also want to let you know about a couple of workshops I have coming up in January.
(1) Fuel Your Metabolism is a 3 hour healthy nutrition workshop that will be held on January 23 in Vancouver. It will cut through all the b.s. surrounding nutrition and give you a scientifically proven plan to eat well that includes tasty meals and is realistic for a hectic lifestyle.
(2) Core Running Camp is a one day runners camp to be held on January 30 in Vancouver. Whether you're just starting out or an experienced runner, this camp will teach you proper biomechanics, efficient form and give you drills to keep you running strong for years.
More details on both workshops will follow in early January.
Enjoy your holidays and stay strong!
Curb Ivanic, MS, CSCS
