Goals and Believing

believe i am journal with cherry wood cover

I just received my second Believe I Am Training Journal and have been excitedly flipping through the pages and planning out the steps to achieve my goals over the next year. In case you don’t know, these journals are much more than training logs. They were created by professional women athletes – USA Champion Lauren Fleshman and Irish Olympian Roisin McGettigan. These ladies created the journals to be used as a “training tool” that easily helps you plan and set goals, record your training, use visual cues, and work on your mental game all in one simple journal.

believe i am journal snippet

If you know me, or my blog, you know my number one piece of advice for performing your best in life is BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. In my About Me section, you can read about my mental journey and how it took me 28 years and one child to begin to truly believe in myself and my running. “Believe in yourself” was my first bullet in my Secrets to Success post. I wrote another piece on confidence and how it has changed my running in this ME Monday post. In my mind, BELIEVING is by far the most important aspect of training. Many of us work hard. Few of us truly believe we can do it. It’s something we have to practice daily.

believe i am journal

This is where the journal comes in. I got the first version of the Believe I Am journal right when they first came out and I’m ready to get after it again with my other Sisters in Sport bloggers and go after my goals! I have an end goal of a super speedy marathon and an Olympic Trials qualifier.

believe i am journal snippet

No, my end goal isn’t “super speedy marathon” although it might look that way based on the little preview I gave you here!

I’m going to get there and I’m working on all the little steps I need to take to make it happen. I’ll share the little pieces with you at the end of each month. I hope you will share your goals, successes (and even failures) with me too!

believe i am journal snippet

My current goal is to work on my strength so I can keep all the normal “hot spots” happy, allowing me to train the way I want without downtime from injury. Specifically for me, this means hip/glute/hamstring strength. All of my running problems stem from these areas and I need to get strong if I want to perform well. I’m really good at hitting all my RUNNING workouts in a training cycle. I’m not so good at all the “extras”. Let’s change that.

Believe I am training journal

Yes, got 120 total lunges done, 60 on each leg, in the hallway outside Currie’s dance class. Starting off October in a strong way!

So there we go. I’m ready to get started! Will you join me in setting some goals, friends?

 

14 thoughts on “Goals and Believing

  1. Thanks for this post. I really enjoyed it. I am going to get one of these journals. I decided that I am going to make some changes in my running so I can try to achieve some of my lofty goals. I have been working on creating some core/hamstring/glute videos for work. If you need some new exercises, I can send you the youtube link.

  2. Great post! I have also just learned that the more I believe in myself, the more I succeed. Where can I get one of those journals? I love it!

  3. C’mon Jen — we know the top of that really said “super speedy marathon” – haha jk!

    Love this post. Sometimes the whole “believe in yourself” thing can seem so simple and trite, but, in reality, it is so important in terms of performance. It can be really hard sometimes, too — the easier route is to think of reasons why you can’t do something, to give yourself an out in case it doesn’t go well. It is far harder (at least for me) to say “no, this should go well because of x, y, and z and I believe that I can do it.”

    Goal (long, short, and everywhere in between) = marathon I’m proud of in Nov (a PR would be nice, but I’d rather enjoy it unlike my other marathons); sub-21 min 5K; sub-45 min 10K, sub-1:45 half (think I’m pretty close to this last one)

  4. That journal is such a cool concept. I’ve seen it mentioned on a couple blogs recently and I might check it out. Right now I just have a regular journal/diary that I tend to write my workouts in–usually, but not always. I’m trying to be more organized about it; maybe I should look into this!

    My main goal for the next couple months is to get my 5K under 24. I actually think I already have that in me, but I’m still trying to learn how to pace myself on such a short race.

    • I really recommend keeping a training journal. It has helped my running tremendously! I used to just run whatever every day and didn’t track anything. It’s so nice to look back at the same time a year ago and see how I was doing, and how far I’ve come. It’s fun for me in the similar way as looking through old photo albums. It also gives me confidence when it comes to race day. Good luck on your 5k goal! In my mind, 5ks are all about being aggressive. You CAN do it!

  5. The BIA part deux journal is swag! I need to order mine soon, I only have a month left on my original! I’m with you on the extra stuff.. never been good at it unless I had a coach to force me into it. I’m definitely with you on setting some fun goals for this year!

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