Countdown to Key West

If you know me at all, you know I struggle sometimes with finding day-to-day motivation. To set myself up for success, I create long-term challenges. Before running the Pasadena Marathon, I created Project One Five (a one hundred day, five hundred item challenge). And after that, I completed the Summer of Run Challenge, running at least a mile every day for the 90+ days of Summer. Now, it's time to look ahead to my next big project.

On January 4th and 5th, I'll be running the Ragnar Relay Race from Miami to Key West., Florida. As part of that event, I'll be participating in the filming of the movie, "From Fat To Finish Line." And that means I have three months to get camera-ready. So, it's time to Countdown to Key West!

My challenge will include a bigger focus on nutrition and eating, since I have been pretty casual about that all Summer long. I will also track my biking, running, and strength training. And it will have a bit of an extra component - writing - since I want to make sure I am prepared mentally as well as physically.

And now, the details. Between now and the end of the year:

I will track my calorie intake via SparkPeople. I have a specific weight goal that I want to hit by the end of the challenge, and I have adjusted my calorie range to make that possible. I will continually adjust my eating throughout the challenge to make sure I am striking the right balance between "eating to lose weight" and "eating to fuel training."

I will workout like this:

1. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I will warm-up with a run (10-15 mins), Strength Train (30-45 mins), and finish with an hour of cardio (elliptical or bike).
2. Tuesdays, I will run a short run (30-60 mins).
3. Thursdays, I will not work out at all.
4. Saturdays, I will run a long run (90-120 mins).
5. Sundays, I will walk at least one mile at a slow, relaxed pace.

I want to make sure that I don't get lost in my training, so I will spend at least 30 minutes each day writing or blogging. That will help me step back and assess my ongoing progress as well as provide an outlet for my rants when I'm struggling and my raves when I'm succeeding.

I have assigned points to each of these tasks, and my goal is to achieve at least a 90% success rate. To make it fair for myself, I have adjusted the requirements for the weeks when I have other obligations or commitments (Texas Relay Race, Hercules Marathon, Silver Strand Half Marathon, etc.).

There are a lot of moving parts here, I know. But I have created a spreadsheet and planned out the next three months. Now, I just need to stay focused and start checking off my "done!" items.

It's my own Countdown to Key West. Let's do this!