Write your goals

I ran for 21 minutes today. 28 push-ups. 130 crunches, some pilates. 142 pounds, down from 144 last week.

One thing that really keeps me motivated and on track is my exercise record. Before I had a blog, I kept (and really still do) a cheap day-planner with my goals for the week. I would sit down on Sunday night and make goals through the next Saturday. I write down the goal on the day I plan to accomplish it, then when I've reached my goal, I make note of it in the same place. At the end of the week, I make a tally of all I've done, so when I look back at previous weeks, I can find a weekly total easily.

For example, this week I plan to run 20 minutes and walk 10 on both Monday and Thursday. So at the top of the Monday section, it says 20/10. Monday's goal also includes a push-ups and crunches goal. 26 push-ups, 130 crunches. When I've done the running I planned, I put a check next to the goal. If my actual exercise was different than my goal, I circle the goal and write in the actual next to it. Today, I ran for 21 minutes instead of 20, so I make a note of it. Yes, even one minute matters to me. It helps me remember that I felt good enough to keep going past my goal.

If I skipped that day, I just put a slash through the goal, and sometimes revise goals through the rest of the week to keep myself on track with the weekly goal. If my running goals for the week will total 75 minutes, then I just add a few minutes to other days of the week, walk a little more, or just forget about it and redo the same goals the next week.

I like being able to look back at my progress before I got pregnant with Kiki. I had raised my goal minutes (which translated pretty closely to mileage, 10 minutes = 1 mile) by about 10 minutes a week until I was running 25 miles a week, with one long run of 10-12 miles. Sometimes I recorded where I ran, and how I felt during and after the run. This helps me especially on days when I don't feel like getting out. I find a day when I had a good long run that I enjoyed, and remember that I can't feel that good unless I get out and run.