Weekly Goal Checklist

As I began this week of training I knew it was important to continue using a weekly goal checklist that I created and have been using over the past year and a half. I have been given a number of PT exercises I'm supposed to do three times a week. I have also been cleared to begin doing my form running drills and strides three times each week. Combined with all the other small things I do in training it helps to have a checklist to make sure I get everything done. I fill in the mileage and yardage goals before I begin the week. At the end of the week I put in parentheses what I actually accomplished. I also write in any additional or extra things I do. It definitely helps me to keep the checklist of things I need to accomplish each week. Most of these things are small and take less than 5 minutes to do but without the checklist they would be easy to skip. The importance of these small things was reminded to me this week when I was directed to a website on the Iowa Hawkeye football team. The Iowa football team uses a phrase, "Break the Rock". The metaphor is that a rock takes a long time to break when you begin chiseling away at it. The rock is much too strong to break with one big swing. It must be broken over time with on hit after another. What this implies is that breaking the rock is the goal to be achieved over a long period of time. Workouts completed each day are only one small chip into the rock. By chipping away day after day the rock becomes weak and ultimately breaks. I think about this because all the small things on my checklist are small chips into the rock. I know that one day of lunges or core work is not enough to get into the shape I need to but doing these small things week after week will make all the difference come May 7 when I attempt to finally break the rock at Ironman St. George. If you're finding it tough to ahchieve all your goals in training each week try making a checklist for yourself. It's a good way to hold yourself accountable. At the end of the week if you left some things unchecked you'll know. If you were able to check everything off it will help your confidence grow little by little. Soon enough you'll be breaking your own rock.

This was a solid week as I'm progressing in the running category. I'm now running two straight days before taking every third off. 14 miles for the week is lightyears away from where I want to be but I'm beginning to chip away at the rock and my achilles feels great while I'm running. I was able to ride 50 miles this morning and I did 5x 10 minutes of it up tempo and averaged 22.4 miles per hour for the ride. It felt great. Thanks for reading. DREAM BIG!