New Year's Resolutions

Well... we are a week into 2014! I know, it may seem late for me to be talking about resolutions, but I really try to think about which areas of my life I would most like to improve upon before committing them to paper. The top things that I'd like to do that didn't make the cut? Committing to folding and putting away my laundry every week and being more diligent in recording my training in my training log. I'd love to keep my room tidier, but with the reality of having either two people living in my thimble of a room (seriously, my desk is in the living room and we have to walk on the bed to get around if we're both getting ready at once) or being away every weekend in combination with training and working during the week, this really isn't that big of a priority. I'd rather take the time to spend with my fiancé or doing a bit more chemistry or cycling. Similarly, meticulously recording my workouts in a training log isn't going to make me faster. The numbers are recorded in TrainingPeaks and the planned workouts are on my training calendar. This is actually a more thorough record than I have of my rowing training leading up to making the national team!

Without further ado, here are my 2014 Resolutions

1. Return of the Core Olympics. Starting in September of 2012, my roommate and I challenged each other to the Core Olympics. Basically, we could earn 10 points per week, one for doing core every day and an additional 3 for doing physical therapy on 3 non-consecutive days. This exercise really helped my core strength, balance, and prevented me from overuse injuries. Towards the end of 2013, I got a little lax with the practice, calculating that I could earn back up to 30 minutes every day! (I had to do knee PT every day for most of the fall after the love of my life accidentally stepped on my kneecap causing it to sublux.) With this new beginning, I will make the commitment to continuing to protect myself from injury in 2014.

2. Go to church every week. I was raised Catholic-- the go to church every Sunday, don't eat meat on Fridays, and teach Sunday school-- type of Catholic. I lost my faith when a good friend died of cancer in 2006 and found it again shortly before my best friend freakishly died of meningitis in 2010. I see so many miracles and beauty in the world that I find it impossible to not to believe in God. However, since 2006, I have had trouble finding a church that feels like it fits. To add to that, my fiancé is atheists, and I only get to see him on weekends, which makes this commitment hard. However, I feel like regularly attending church keeps me grounded which I will really need with all of the challenges and changes ahead.

3. Get my butt to bed by 10pm. Last year I started working in a new lab that is very crowded in the mornings, making it easier for me to get work done if I shifted my work hours to later in the day. I rarely leave work before 8pm but I also rarely arrive before 10am. It's counter productive to get here by 7am, but I'm 28 so it would really be best for me to roll into work before 10am. Getting to bed earlier will allow me to start my rides earlier, get into lab earlier, leave lab earlier and then get into bed earlier... it's all a cycle that gets thrown back later and later by taking too long a ride or working too late one night. It's time to reset the cycle. Perhaps another way to approach this is with the goal to leave work at 8pm. (Although let's be honest: this attempt to better schedule my life won't be very effective until after my interview on 1/22 and 1/23.)

4. No Facebook at work. This should be a no-brainer for someone who's 28 but actually this will be pretty hard for me. I'm pretty social, but also pretty private when it comes to my personal life around my coworkers, so over the years, Facebook has become my "work friend." I work in a great positive environment now, so really I don't need to Facebook during the day. I should be spending the time getting to know my labmates or working on the copious amounts of work that I need to get done.

So that's all for today... I'm excited to see what this new year will bring!

Late afternoon sun over a reservoir in the hills of western Connecticut