Respect Your Goals (& Homemade "KIND" Bars!)

“The first step in achieving your goal, is to take a moment to respect your goal.  Know what it means to you to achieve it.” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Respect your goal.  Anthony and I have lots of goals – life goals and fitness goals – and we always make sure we take time to recognize what it takes to achieve these goals and why we want to achieve them before we attack them.  When you know why you are going after something and are aware of what kind of work and sacrifices it will take, the journey becomes much more meaningful.  

Be clear about your goal but be flexible about the process of achieving it.

The big fitness goal that we are working towards right now is Ironman Lake Placid.  Why do we want to achieve this goal? There are so many reasons, but to list a few: we love endurance sports, we love challenging ourselves, and we love that feeling of completing a race that we worked so hard to train for.  Training for an Ironman is a whole new ball game.  A marathon takes about 16-18 weeks of training and the longest week (for us) is about 55-60 miles (no more than ~8.5-9 hours).  We are 5.5 months out from Ironman Lake Placid and our training weeks are currently between 11 and 14 hours.  To stay motivated and stick to a training plan, we have to constantly keep our goal in mind and we have to continue to respect that goal and what it means to us.

Achieving a big goal like training for an Ironman has some serious ups and downs.  After “the worst training session ever” we have to wake up and approach our next workout with an open mind.  We must believe that it will be better and stay motivated enough to push ourselves through regardless of the outcome of yesterday’s workout.  These are the times when a support system comes into play.  When I doubt myself, Anthony always picks me up reminds me that it’s a new day and that I am strong.  He helps me to attack my next workout like that bad day never happened.  He also reminds me after my awesome workouts to REMEMBER them and stock them away for when I’m having one of those bad days.  Yeah, I am pretty spoiled to have Anthony by my side setting goals with me and helping me to respect and achieve those goals!  Our coach is pretty darn supportive and motivating as well! :)

Another aspects that comes into play when working towards any big goal is FLEXIBILITY.  A work meeting runs late and you can't fit in your evening workout or you get a cold and have to miss a few workouts or you have to get into work super early and can't make that morning workout or a family situation comes up and you have to miss a workout or a stress fracture keeps you from running for six plus weeks...the list goes on and on and on.  Flexibility is key to success when it comes to big goals.  Ups and downs are all a part of the journey to great achievements.

What is your current fitness goal?  What does it mean to you to achieve it?  Do you want to run a 5k? Feel comfortable sitting at the front of yoga class? Boston Qualify at your next marathon? Finish an Ironman? Run your first sprint triathlon?  Qualify for Kona?  Whatever your goal is – make sure you respect it!

If you want to qualify for Boston, you can’t run just 4 days a week and ignore tempo and interval runs.  If you’ve never run a day in your life and you want to cross the finish line of your first 5k without walking, it’s going to take time and commitment and it’s going to be frustrating.  If you want to finish an Ironman, you can’t just workout a few hours a week.  If you respect your goal, understand what it will mean to you to accomplish that goal, and are flexible along the way, the commitment will come naturally and the outcome will be amazing. 

Know what you are capable of and respect yourself enough to know that with hard work and persistence, you can and you will accomplish your goal.  You may fall a few times along the way, but if you get back up and continue working towards that goal, your perseverance will pay off and you WILL accomplish that goal.  As you work towards your goal, you will learn a lot about yourself along the way and you will grow so much.  Setting goals and sticking to a plan to accomplish them, while being flexible, is what has kept me happy and healthy - without a goal in sight, life tends to lose a bit of its purpose.  Keep working towards that big goal!  Respect it. Give it time.  Be flexible. Work for it!

What is your current fitness goal?  How do you stay motivated?  Do you have a good support system?  What does it mean to you to achieve your goal?  

p.s. I made these Homemade "KIND" Bars this weekend and they were AMAZING I made Almond Coconut and PB Dark Chocolate - can't wait to try the others!!  http://www.theyummylife.com/Homemade_KIND_Bars