Will May be the best month of 2018 (so far)?

I'm afraid I blinked and April was OVER. How do some months seem to go by so quickly?! Wasn't I just writing down my April goals? Work was busy. Life was busy. Blogging was busy. I guess that all makes time speed up a bit. Here's hoping that May moves at a normal pace, so I can savor the springtime.

Goal-wise, I'd say my month overall was so-so. I had some great wins - including my longest run of the year (3 miles), consistent yoga, and 10 new blog posts. But some of my goals were barely checked off and others were barely missed. I'm not disappointed. I'd definitely say it was better than March.

Click here to skip the April Recap and go straight to May's goals.

Quick recap of April's goals

I only totally missed 1 goal in April. Woot woot!! And that was because my ankle decided to make other plans. I didn't excel at all the others but nothing to be to broken up about. 😉

1  Transition to Forefoot Running

Run outside 3x per week 😐
I only made it out for 7 runs in April. Things were moving along all right and then my ankle starting in with some stabbing pain when I stepped. I took about 2 weeks off running to let it calm down. While I didn't exactly meet this goal, I did manage a 3-mile run on 4/29 - my longest run of the year. I'm pleased. :)

Add Forefoot Running Drills to My Routine ☑
It didn't happen until my final run of the month, but I did add in some running drills (a.k.a A Warm-up). I'm pretty excited about them!

Yoga 3x per week ☑
I love me some yoga and I'm happy that I was able to get in 3 sessions each week in April - including one live session out in the world.

Monthly Fitness Challenges 😞
The month started out so well with these two challenges, but honestly, it was a bit too much. I blame my ankle pain a bit on the 80-240 jumping jacks I was doing every day. That's a lot of jumping when you're not really used to it. When my ankle really started acting up, I stopped the Quick Hit challenge altogether. I tried to keep up with the triceps dips, push-ups, jump squats challenge (with standard squats), but that died in the final week as well.

Meal prep each week 😐
This is still a bit of a work in progress, but I did do at least some meal prepping each weekend. Nestled into this goal was a goal of drinking at least 72-oz of water a day. Unfortunately, I didn't do a very good job tracking this throughout the month. I'd guess I finished about 50/50 with this goal.

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2  Improve my Blog

Write 10 new posts ☑ I actually ended up with 11.

Weekly Wrap - Apr 1 | April Goals | April Coffee Date | Weekly Wrap - Apr 8 | Workout Hair Hacks | Weekly Wrap - Apr 15 | 90s Playlist | Weekly Wrap - Apr 22 | Running Drills | Say No to Plastic | Weekly Wrap - Apr 29

Complete Social Media Checklist for each new post ☑
I didn't always do it right away but I did complete my sharing checklist for each post.

Spend at least 1 hour blogging 3-4 nights a week 😐
I didn't start this very strong but nailed it toward the end of the month. Some of those hours were done before work if I knew I had plans in the evening.

Schedule social shares from my archives 😐
I had hoped to schedule some posts at least weekly. I only ended up doing it twice throughout the month.

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Since one of my goals is to improve my blog, some blog stats:

Keep in mind my blog is pretty small, but I'm hoping to see some real growth this year.

In April compared to the previous 30-day period, my:

• Users increased by 12.68% (462 vs 410)
• Pageviews increased by 16.41% (965 vs 829)
• Sessions increased by 14.36% (661 vs 578)

40.6% of my traffic is coming directly to my site and 30.4% find me on social media. My most popular post of the month was the same as March - How to: Sun and Moon Salutations.

This is encouraging! I'm liking those increases. Makes me feel a little validated and more excited for my May blogging gals. Actually sharing my new posts must have helped, right?! I was a little nervous to check out my stats after being so disappointed in March's. Don't mind me over here doing a little happy dance. 💃

How did @EnjoytheCourse do with her April #goals? Read all about it and get a look at her new goals for May!

New Goals for May

1  Transition to Forefoot Running

• Run 3x per week
• Research & Add Forefoot Running Strength Exercises to My Routine
• Stick to the Tone It Up Bikini Series workout plan

I wasn't sure if I was going to do the Bikini Series again this year, but the TIUVegas group is strong! So encouraging and friendly that I'm going to give it ago. The fun begins on May 7th. Come back next week to see my specific goals for that challenge.

With the Bikini Series, I'm still planning on 3 runs each week. I just hope that my ankle cooperates. I just need to be smart about the workouts and the runs and take a step back if things start to feel a little wonky.

The forefoot running adventure will also continue as I research and add some strength exercises to my daily routine. Hoping they will fit in nicely with the Bikini Series. 😜

2  Improve my Blog

• New posts 3x per week
• Clean up my social channels
• Spend 15 minutes per social channel per day interacting with my followers

I'm switching up my posting goal from 10/month to 3/week I'm hoping that maybe some posting consistency will help with growth. I'm not including it in my goals but I do plan to continue with 1 hour blog sessions most evenings after work as well as the sharing checklist.

If no one reads your blog post, does it even exist? Sometimes I'm not so great at promoting my own content. 

The sharing checklist is helpful, but I've been really slacking on interacting with all of YOU on my various social channels. It's hard to keep up with everything/everyone, but I'm going to try to devote some time to cleaning up my channels as well as interacting a little bit every day.
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How was your April? Any goals for May? What are your tips for keeping up with social media? Any favorite apps?