Well, hello April! What's Happening?

How did April get here so quickly?

It's no surprise that March is one of the longer months....not just in terms of those 31 days, but especially due to the less-than-desirable weather (aka #wind). Don't forget, I'm in Iowa. Once that winter wind starts blowing (like in October), it does not lighten up until late April.

Anyways, a new month means some new goals and objectives are in order. Shall we discus?

Early morning cardio before the sunrise.

For several months, I have been getting up at 5:30 on most mornings, and I usually don't need an alarm. Some of those mornings have me waking up even earlier for my #5at5 runs (5 miles at 05:00). On the mornings when I'm not running, I either go for a quick 20-30 minute walk or do some other form of cardio. For me, getting my heart pumping wakes me up far more effectively than caffeine. There's also the benefit of a brief fat-burn because my body is still in a fasted state. This routine has worked well for me, so I'm committing to keeping the streak alive in April.

A return to (moderate) speed work.

Granted, I have never been a fan of speed work. I'm not a natural-born sprinter, and I have long (awkward) legs that aren't always up for moving faster than what feels "normal." But, I'd like to possibly scratch the surface of my 13.1 PR. Although my finish times have not been drastically slow (or even that much slower than in the past), I have been riding a pretty mundane plateau. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to pinpoint a blatant lack of speed work as a probable cause....so I'm gonna mix things up a bit for April and see if that makes a difference. I'm not hoping to smash my current PR, but I'd like to get a little closer to it without risking injury or burnout.

Bringing back the daily leg lifts.
Remember back to July of last year? I had returned home from my surgery and was not allowed to do anything strenuous (or sweat-inducing) for several weeks? I also had to do daily IV antibiotic infusions to polish off the last of that staph infection. Well, during July, I got in the routine of doing leg lifts (50 on each leg) during those IV infusions (3X/day). It wasn't really any "extra" work, but after a few weeks, my teen daughter commented that my legs looked more toned. If a teen daughter is noticing results on her "old mom's" legs, something must be working, right?

Let's do a little ab work as well. 

Who doesn't want their abs to be a little more toned and tight? I'm thinking  100 Russian twists, maybe 2-3 times a week. Nothing crazy or grandiose, but if I don't document doing them, they will probably be forgotten.

So, that's my plan of action for April. I'm also taking part in Rachel's Triceps, Push-Ups, Squats Challenge, so there will be some daily stuff happening as well as prepping for my next half marathon (Drake Relays Road Races Half Marathon, April 22nd) and my first-ever 1-mile race (Drake Relays Grand Blue Mile, April 24th). Oh, and let's not forget my 7th Fight for Air Climb this coming weekend in Des Moines. There's all kinds of fun stuff on my April roster!

Have you set any specific goals for April?  Do you prefer daily, weekly, or monthly challenges...or a combination? Speed work - yay or nay?

 **I'm  linking up with Marcia and Patty and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run.  

**I'm also linking this with Debbie and Rachel and Lora for the Running Coaches' Corner.

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