September Goal Check-In and 3 for October 2016

Hello friends!

Did you have a lovely weekend? It was a very typical rainy fall day here which wasn’t awesome for outdoor fun BUT very good for getting my hair cut, napping and catching up on a bunch of blog things… like writing this post! I can’t believe it’s October already and that next weekend is Thanksgiving for us Canadians. Have you been planning a menu for your feast yet? I can assure you that I have not because I’m so not ahead of the game, but lots of butternut squash and Brussels sprouts will surely be involved.

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, first things first: September goal check-in. Here’s how the month went down.

1. Learn as much as I possibly can at a digital marketing conference in Dallas – B

As I mentioned on Friday, this was SO awesome and just the boost I needed  to get really excited about the impact that I’m able to make in my job. For those who are new to the blog, my full-time gig is alllll about email marketing strategy, and the event was attended by about 5,000 digital marketers of all kinds. So, while there was plenty of learnings for me about email, I really loved hearing how other big brands are creating awesome digital retail experiences using everything from influencers and bloggers to augmented reality technology. The content was a mix of high-level thought leadership conversations, digital trends, and more nitty gritty “here’s what we achieved and how we did it” presentations, which I found to be the most applicable to what I do.

Being in the middle of migraine recovery meant that at times I wasn’t feeling quite as sharp or attentive as usual and couldn’t attend the evening events for as long as hoped. Nevertheless I still came away with tons of notes and new ideas. If I could do the whole thing over again, I’d also try to get on a slightly later flight home so I could attend some of the last presentations which sounded really interesting.

2. Launch the new eat-spin-run-repeat.com by the end of September – B

Obviously this hasn’t happened yet, but it will be going live this coming weekend! When you come back here on Monday you should be seeing the shiny new Eat Spin Run Repeat that I’ve been building for the past couple of months. With that said, there may be a few site interruptions over the weekend so if you’re trying to access recipes or workouts, things might be a little slow.

3. Do 90 assisted pull-ups each week – A

Oh yes I did – and more in some cases. The adductor injury that has had me not running for the entire month may have been a bit of a blessing in disguise, because it’s forced me to work my body in very different ways to my usual cardio-heavy routine. I’m still not at the stage of being able to do unassisted pull-ups yet, but I’ve managed to decrease the amount of supported weight I need for 3 sets of 10 from about 45% to 34% of my body weight. Yesterday I was playing with being able to do a few completely unassisted ones but let’s just say there’s still lots of room for improvement there.

Moving right along…

3 goals for October 2016

1. Challenge myself to lift heavier

Following up from my pull-up comments, I’m expecting to be able to get back to running as soon as my physio says it’s ok – hopefully tomorrow! However, the whole idea of working to improve on things I’m bad at has been a theme for me this year, and recently it’s been about getting stronger. I don’t think anyone really likes to feel weak at things, and crushing a few sets of heavy squats – well, makes me feel kind of badass.

Normally strength training is secondary to whatever I decide to put myself through on the treadmill, but my plan for October is to continue to make it a priority. I used to be able to squat a barbell loaded with the equivalent of my bodyweight and right now I definitely can’t do that with good form. I’m 20lbs shy, so let’s see how much that gap can be narrowed this month. Watching the recent changes happen to my body with more time spent lifting has been fascinating, so I’m curious to see what a continued focus does.

2. Get into a better groove with my Academy of Culinary Nutrition course work

As I mentioned last month, I’m currently working on becoming a certified Culinary Nutritionist and am now almost a month into the Culinary Nutritionist Expert program. So far I’ve been really loving the content, but really feel that I need to clear more time in my schedule to properly take it all in.

Over the weekend I went into super-organized-student-mode and made a great big calendar of assignment deadlines, blocked off time to do reading/video watching, and otherwise just got myself in a clearer mental space. Most content is released on Thursdays but because my brainpower is usually consumed by work during the week, I’m going to try designating Saturdays for watching/reading everything in each new module and doing my recipe assignments. There are also written assignments, and I’m allocating Monday nights for those.

3. Create an anti-inflammatory meal plan to share with you!

Remember earlier this year when I asked you guys if you’d be interested in an anti-inflammatory meal plan, and tons of you said yes, and then…… I didn’t do it? WELL. I’m going to fix that. By avoiding gluten and dairy, the majority of recipes here on the blog are indeed anti-inflammatory in nature, but my goal is to create something for those of you who want to really focus on reducing inflammation caused by diet. Stay tuned – this is coming!

Right, your turn! Let’s hear…

• What were your September highlights? Anything exciting to share?
• What are you working on this month?