December in Review

Wow.  What a month.  I feel like I ate my weight in candy.  Pretty sure I did.  The scale sure suggests I did.  Am I the only one that is glad the holidays are finally over so we can stop with the ridiculous amounts of temptation?  I LOVE spending time with my family, but I wish it didn't all have to revolve around food.  I certainly enjoyed spending time with my cute nieces and nephews, though!

This cute little thing turned 1 year old!

Let's recap December's goals and see how I did:

• Complete the 30-day boot camp and go at least 4 times per week (preferably 5)
• Status: DONE!  I averaged 4 workouts per week.  It was rough, but super fun at the same time!
• Don't die doing the boot camp (it has to be said!)
• Status: I am still alive.  Booyah!
• Complete a 3-day juice fast
• Status: Finished!
• Cook 2-3 meals per week (leftovers last a long time at our place!)
• Status:  I didn't count each meal, but I cooked a lot throughout December.  I feel good about this one.
• Lose 5 lbs (Weighed in this morning at 155.4. Boo is all I have to say about that)
• Status: Ugh.  My weight fluctuated a crap ton this past month.  I was down four pounds and then up eight pounds.  Up, down, up, down, up, down.  Ended on a high.  This goal was definitely not reached.  I blame the candy.
• Blog more. :)
• Status: I blogged 21 times in December.  Success!

All in all, a decent month.  I'm a big fan of the gym I did the boot camp at and plan on getting a membership there.  The workouts are KILLER.  My heart rate is almost always up in the 170s and I sweat bullets.  I am definitely stronger than I was at the beginning.  Strength training is awesome.

So what goals do I have for January and 2012 in general?  I haven't finalized it yet, but here is what I am thinking:

For January:

• Survive HELLth week at my gym (going on right now!)
• Average 4 workouts per week or more
• Run 30 miles for the month to supplement the strength training workouts
• Cook 2-3 meals per week

For 2012:

• Consistently strength train
• Run at least 25 miles per month
• Run another 10k
• Run another half marathon
• Hike Lake Blanche
• Hike Ben Lomond Peak
• Hike Yosemite National Park
• Hike Glacier National Park

We have a National Parks Pass that we really want to utilize over the next year.  I have big goals for using it!   We live near a lot of great parks and I really want to explore them.  This will be a year of hiking more than a year of running.  I love running, but I want to use this next year to strengthen my core and stabilizer muscles so that I can finally start running injury free.  It was very discouraging to keep getting injured last year, so I plan on working hard to build up my muscles to prevent it from happening again in the future.  Should be a good year!

What are your plans/goals for the New Year?