October Recap & November Goals

Happy November! My favorite time of the year is flying by so I’m very happy to take a step back to reflect on the month and go into November with intention. We’ll be traveling a ton the next couple of months, visiting friends and family and I want to soak up every minute of it. It’s also my favorite time of year when it comes to goals. I get a final push to accomplish everything I wanted to in 2019 and the exciting prospect of goal setting for the new DECADE!!

So, to finish these last couple of months strong here’s a reflection of October and my goals for the next month!

 

Health & Fitness

This month I was focused on increasing my 5k pace as well as finding a strength training routine I liked. For running, I train with a plan each week that consists of a long run at an easy pace (a 10k for me right now), a 5k, an interval run alternating between 80% effort and 20% effort, and sprints, which I’ve been doing as a swim instead of a run to get some pool time in.

I’ve never had a difficult time getting cardio in each week, but lately I haven’t been consistent in strength training. I used to go to barre regularly, but have gotten curious about lifting heavier weights and trying out the many interval/HIIT classes in the city. So this month I tried a couple classes at Shred415, went back to CrossTown Fitness, and got in a class at The Barre Code. Next month I’m excited to try the Strength for Runners class at Lululemon Lincoln Park, Runaway Fitness, and incorporate more strength training on my own using the Nike Training Club app.

In October I complete 26 workouts!

On top of the classes mentioned above, this included running, swimming, and yoga at The Space Between and Mirepoix. Al and I also joined a social tennis league for the past six weeks, which was incredibly fun and a great burst of cardio (as if I needed more cardio-based activities to love).

 

Travel

We fully enjoyed the month of October with little travel and plenty of time busy in Chicago. Lucky for us, our friends and family came here this month, including a weekend of dress shopping with my mom, grandma, and matron of honor.

I did get one quick trip in though during an awesome day hike at the Indiana Dunes National Park with aSweatLife. Though I can’t say they quite compare to the dunes in Michigan, it was awesome to soak in some nature just an hour outside the city.

 

Books

I’ve done a much better job of reading every night this month, and it has made for very relaxing evenings. I got through three books:

• Park Avenue Summer by Renée Rosen
• Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

While I love the idea of reading informative books, classics, or books that will better me in some way, I decided reading is not the place I need to do that. I love a good podcast or audio book for those purposes, but when it comes to reading as self-care, a light beach-read type book is all I ever want and thoroughly enjoy.

 

Career

My big focuses this month for my business were on my digital template shop and finishing the yoga studio branding I had been working on for fun. I’m excited by my progress in both areas! I’ve added new templates to my Creative Market shop and have started to dive deeper into SEO and marketing for that, which has led to actual results. I love that these templates can be useful to someone that may not have the budget for a fully custom project, so I’m excited to continue putting more into it and make that a larger part of my business.

Finishing and sharing my personal project to create a yoga studio brand, Udyāna Yoga, also felt like a big accomplishment for the month. With a passion for health and fitness I would love to work on more custom projects in this industry, so hopefully designing one for fun was a good first step.

 

November Goals

This week I’ve felt an added surge of adrenaline to accomplish as much as I can before the new year to go into 2020 with just as much excitement. So, here are my goals for the new month:

• Run a 5k under 8 min/mile- I was so close this month at 8:04/mi!
• Run the Turkey Trot- my new favorite family tradition we started three years ago
• Grow my Creative Market digital template shop– add one new product every week, be active in the CM community, and continue to share products on social media
• But most importantly, BE PRESENT and fully enjoy this perfect time of year. Don’t work in the evenings or on the weekends and stay in the moment to appreciate everything about this holiday season before it’s over.