The Year Ahead – 2015

To begin the new year we thought it would be appropriate to take a look at what happened in 2014 and set new goals for 2015.

2014 was the year when I (Sofi) started cycling further and more often. I bought my new bike in March and then it became even more fun to cycle. I had never cycled before so it has taken me some time to build up strength and endurance. Now when I feel stronger I love cycling and I hope it is something I will continue doing for the rest of my life.

I have always been running as well but, I have now signed up to do the Gothenburg Half Marathon in May 2015, to have a clear goal and something to keep me motivated. I love running and the feeling you get from running is hard to get from anything else. Everyone who is into running will understand what I mean. However, it is difficult to begin if you have taken a longer break but, you just need to decide to go out a few times a week and then you will get into it again.

My goals for 2015 are to set clearer goals for my running. I want to be able to run faster than I do today. I will make sure I go out at least 3 times a week and vary my session more.

Another goal is to keep up the cycling and be able to cycle longer distances without suffering too much 🙂 We are going to Spain, England and Korea (and maybe Germany) where we will cycle and I am really looking forward to seeing new places while on my bike. When we go to Korea in the summer I will make another try to cycle up the mountain on Jeju (an island south of the mainland) which I did not manage to do 2 years ago.

Jeju

Goals for 2015:

• Running at least 3 times a week – distance runs, short runs and intervals.
• Cycling in Korea, Spain, England and maybe Germany.
• Cycling on the weekends.
• Gothenburg Half Marathon.

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And what about me (Jason) then…Well I am going to Spain next week to help with some of my cycling goals 😀 And I have also signed up to do the Gothenburg half marathon.

I do a lot of sports these days: innebandy (floorball), tennis, badminton, running, cycling. My aim is to keep up with all of them, but to set specific goals for running and cycling. I have a specific aim for the half marathon, but I am also intending to start competing in cycling 🙂

Last year I started cycling more seriously, more often, and more intensely. This has improved my cycling a great deal, and I really saw the improvements throughout the season, particularly when climbing mountains in the summer. I am going to Spain next week to cycle with my dad, and me and Sofi are going together in February for some more cycling. I think this will really help get my season going early and motivate me for what is to come.

I had only ever cycled a mountain once before last year (2 years ago on Jeju, although it was 3 times, but it was the same mountain), and with me and dad signed up for the Étape du Tour, we went to Spain in May to get some climbing in our legs. I really felt that helped and showed me my limits, and then when we got to France in July, we enjoyed a lot of climbs and they all felt (somewhat) comfortable and I felt like I could do whatever climb I wanted. (Like on the last day of the holiday when I said to my dad I wanted to put one more climb in and was going to get up a 7 a.m. to do it before we left for England. We both did it, and we both loved it!) This is why I am heading to Spain twice early this year, so that I keep that climbing confidence! 😀

Goals for 2015:

• Run the Gothenburg half marathon sub 1:45.
• Increase my VO2 max, as well as other fitness-limiting things.
• Cycle more every month of the year – this applies mostly to autumn and winter.
• Do yoga and stretching/massage more times a week.
• Cycle some already-cycled mountains quicker (particularly on Jeju).

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What about the blog then???

Well, this blogging thing is still fairly new to both of us, but we love it so far! We like the interaction we get from people, and we really like that it is like this post – we can look back at it and see what we have done, and how far we (and our food) have come. 🙂

We both were fairly busy near the end of the year, so there were less recipes than we had wanted to post. This is something we will work on this year. We have also noticed that many people like our weekend posts and we get a lot of interaction on our posts linked with exercise and lifestyle, so we will probably have more posts about our training and goals. Maybe we should include more recovery foods in that case!

What goals do you have for the year ahead? Please tell us 🙂

/Sofi and Jason