Moving the Goalposts

So, another month down since I began my quest of healthdom. I reckon I've achieved a fair bit in the last two months. I can now swim properly, which is a huge step up. The running is coming along and I feel more like a pro-cyclist every time I go out, mostly down to the fact that I can drink and ride - something I did not think possible when I first started out on the road bike in March. I'd just like to clarify that this is drinking from my water bottle whilst remaining balanced and not getting lashed up and heading out for exercise.

I've varied the exercise a bit in the last month too, taking in yoga, hiking and indoor climbing among other things. This is a trend I do plan to continue (suggestion on a postcard please!)

I have had all of two alcoholic beverages (this appears to be the monthly average) and one was utterly deserved after completing the three day Dartmoor trek. The other was totally undeserved but I blame my dad for pier-pressuring me into it.

I must admit, food-wise I have slipped in standards a bit. The lure of a bag of cookies was too strong earlier in the week and I did succumb. Add to this a little bit of a lunchtime cake habit and the odd chocolate craving and you get one very naughty Egg. It's not just treats either, it's finding a good balance of eating enough proper meals rather than just snacking, I've gotten a bit lazy with some of the cooking too.

I think it's time to set some entirely new goals, as new ideas and targets will bring fresh motivation. Plus I have pretty much passed the majority of my previous goals (with the exception of the 8 minute-mile!) and need to set some higher standards. So, here we go..

1. Plan my daily eating: I don't mean that I need to know exactly what I'm going to eat every day. But definitely planning a packed lunch to take to work and having an idea of what to eat for dinner so I end up eating a proper nutritious meal and not just skipping it and snacking. If anyone has recipes for brilliant, healthy and quick meals I'm very open to ideas. Of course I shall continue to be creative and invent new combinations, but some tried and tested recommendations would be very helpful! Also my taking a proper lunch to work (and taking enough of it) it means I shouldn't get the urge to buy cake, even if it is from the health food shop.

2. Sub 24 minute 5k: OK, so I haven't managed to run an 8 minute mile yet, and to do this I'll need to run three and a bit of them. However, I've been focusing on pushing up my distance with a half-marathon in mind and if I tailored just one or two runs a week towards speed I think this could be goer!

3. Get as close to the eight-minute 400m as possible: 8 minutes (in my mind) is the split between people who are fast and people who are slow when it comes to swimming. This again, will be quite a major push but given my progress from non-swimmer to lake-lover, I feel confident that with a bit of hard graft I could do it. 

4. Prioritise sleep: I know this sound ridiculous, but with some seriously early starts and reasonably late finishes, I have put training in front of sleep and that definitely doesn't fit in with being healthy. It fits in with being knackered and that is never good! I will start planning the exercise regime with this in mind.

With some fairly tough standards to achieve in the mix, I'm going to go for slightly longer than a month this time around. The end of August is the end date which gives me just over six weeks. Phew, better get on the training plan..