So it's close to the new year! How did I do?
I plan on competing in a tournament for HEMA and I will go to at least 1 practice a week as much as possible. --- I have not only done this, exceeded it entirely. I go to at least 2 practices a week, been to 3 tournaments/events. I'm a far better fighter than I was in January. I also obtained proper gear this year--still a huge work in progress but definitely getting there.
I am aiming to complete 2 8-week programs for Fitness Blender. I will try my best to complete each week, but I am giving myself a minimum of 3 days of working out for sure during the program.. I need a rest day somewhere and they run 6/7 days a week and HEMA will already be one of those days and I'll be running soon soo... At least a legs day, upper body day, and cardio/abs day. --- This however I failed miserably at. I did do some 3 and 4 week programs (1 each) but not even for each day. I think I need to build a custom program with my own calendar and arrange things together in a way that fits my schedule. A 10 minute burn-out work out after practice days and at least 1 cardio endurance day.
I will drink a cup of water when I wake up in the morning, and I will drink 2 cups of water each day I get onto shift and again halfway through shift. Right now I've been halfway towards this. My water drinking tended to be done at night (so I'd wake up a bit shy of continuous sleep and have to pee... so I'm trying to structure things so I don't wake up from needing to pee vs on my own from the alarm.) --- Can't say I have this down yet, but I have been drinking more water at work which I think has helped me out, and now that it's cold hot tea in the mornings with breakfast hasn't hurt. It's still not a habit, but a work in progress for sure.
I will try to get 6-7 continuous hours of sleep depending on what my body is feeling, but try not to over sleep as I've had a problem with that the past year. --- My sleep has been fine really. I don't feel tired on my work days, nor after my work days anymore. I get 7-9 hours, sometimes 10 but not as often as before. Part time naturally helped with this, the night shifts were taking their toll. When I do wake up I'm not dead or trying to shake off fog, but opening my eyes wide and sometimes waking up before my alarm set.
I will try to eat vegetables of some sort with every single dish I cook (lately I've been a bit lazy.. but this has become easier with the markets being open again and new products out in the frozen sections of the grocery store), and I aim to make 3 Japanese-style dishes a week. They can be the same dish. This month has been a variety of experiments.. but rice, pickled vegetables, enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon, miso soup, and curry were among the last month.. so this month, a different pickling technique, boiled shrimp, sushi with shrimp on top, curry, miso soup, steamed vegetables, calamari salad, and matcha pancakes are on the menu. Jan-Mar I'll be cooking at least 1 dish a week... by the summer work my way into eating an entire breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a Japanese style of cooking. Mostly because I learn new cooking techniques and have fun with healthy foods. --- I DO cook more asian than I used to for sure. Poke bowls, soups, rice dishes, and some other flares thrown in... Japanese inspired dishes that aren't Japanese, Indian cooking like tikka masala.. I can't say I eat Japanese food for breakfast all the time, but the STYLE of it--lots of small dishes put together with a variety of savory, sweet, and healthy? I am more in tuned with that. The holiday season always fucks with peoples' eating habits and I'm not exception, but overall I did a pretty good job with this.
Finally, when the weather is warmer out, I aim to go running. I want to get back to running 2 miles like it's another day at the job... so I'll be using a couple flat trails I found near water sources here to do that. I'll start going 1-2x a week and work my way up from there. --- HAH!! I did go running a handful of times.. Nothing NEAR what I hoped to be doing. I think hashing is my only real ticket into running outside. I need to up my ante on that. I do go on a hash once a month. It doesn't help we got an indoor space at my school, I had a good flat trail to run on after hema school. I think hashing twice a month instead of once a month is a good way to go, and now that it's winter I may very well be stuck as far as running.. I can't go too far by myself in case my auto immune issues flare up and I get stuck. But I can go hiking in the woods with my SO more, and I might just have to do indoor cardio + that until the cold breaks.
Overall? I'm pretty happy with how the year turned out, and I aim to do even better next year!