Making Love Out of Nothing At all

~ Chocolaterunsjudy

bmarch2019 (2)

March’s earworm is Air Supply. Yes, I was actually a fan back in the day and even saw them in concert many decades ago. March is a big birthday month in my family, and there was a lot of celebrating going on. Almost had the entire family together Sunday, but were missing my brother & nephew.

There was very little running in March — let’s just say my running came in like a lion as I tried to rebuild but out like a lamb with almost none due to illness. I wasn’t training for anything so I never planned for there to be much, but March kicked my booty in a bad way.

Most people have a time of year that they often get sick, and for me it tends to be around Feb-April. So why I always feel like this is a good time to really go hard with exercise (not necessarily running) is beyond me. You’d think I’d learn!

March was cold & snowy as usual, but there are occasional Spring-like days to keep us hoping

Getting in scheduled runs
There are no scheduled runs, but there are runs I’d like to do to maintain my base, but yeah, just as I was rebuilding I was out for the count again.

Grade Earned:  B-

Recording my runs
I did do a good job on recording the few runs I ran.

Grade Earned: A

Dynamic Warmup
There were still a lot of treadmill runs. Mostly treadmill runs, actually. Just so over being cold! I didn’t really do a lot of dynamic stretching — I foam rolled and then I’d hop on the stationary bike to warm up. Good or bad? You decide.

Grade Earned: B-

Foam Rolling
I got back into a regular foam rolling routine — until I got sick.

Grade Earned: B-

There was soup. Lots and lots of soup.

Nutrition
Nutrition, with no vacation, was better. 2 birthday celebrations in 2 weeks didn’t help, but oddly enough being sick helped me eat better. I made better choices, knowing it would help me heal sooner rather than later.

Grade Earned: B

Support

  • Massage? No.
  • Chiropractor Appointment? No. But not much going on, and typically I do one every other month to maintain alignment anyway.
  • Do I need a hair appointment? Not quite there yet  . . .

Grade Earned: B

Cross Training
I hit cross training hard in the beginning, since running is taking a backseat right now. I committed to PITT28 — and maybe that was actually my downfall. It’s only bodyweight exercises, but it’s intense. Or maybe it felt like it was intense because I was coming down with something? Or I came down with something because I pushed myself too hard?

Grade Earned: A+?

March 2019  gets  . . . 
. . . a B. When it comes to activity, obviously it wasn’t a great month. On the other hand, I listened to my body — there was no reason to push hard, but as I felt better, I also slowly added back in gentle exercise. Eating improved, and hopefully with the slow coming of Spring, it will continue to improve. The longer days — and sunshine occasionally — always puts me in a better mood.

March Goals:

    • Continue to Prehab. Y. Until I got sick.
    • Strength training 2-3 x week.Y. Again, until I got sick. 
    • Continue practicing Yoga & Pilates.Y. When I felt better I actually tried out some gentle yoga for Cold/Flu. I’ve never tried that before. While I mostly needed rest, some gentle movement was beneficial. PITT28 (see below) uses some Pilates moves.
    • Plan out meals the day before. Y/N. Again, until I got sick. Then I was eating less so mostly I was able to plan out a healthy day either in the morning or as the day went on.
    • Foam roll almost daily.Y. Again, until I got sick. 
    • Play around with savory snacks (and report back on them!).N. For the most part no. Maybe I just need to give up on this goal and call it good with Green Smoothies!
    • Meal plan on the weekends! Y. Much easier to shop and eat well when I have a plan. 

Which leads me to April Goals:

    • Continue to Prehab. As always, something is always better than nothing.
    • Restart PITT28 — Modified. It’s a great program that alternates HIIT cardio and Pilates moves. Many of these moves are great for runners: jumping lunges (or just lunges), Burpees, Mountain Climbers, fire hydrants . . . the list goes on and on. But it’s actually fairly intense — for me, anyway, apparently — on top of running. It’s meant to be done 6 days a week, and maybe that was just too much (even though I never did 6 days). Shoot for a couple of days a week, and maybe one day of ST with weights. 
    • Continue practicing Yoga. Yoga just makes me feel good. And there are so many different ways to practice yoga!
    • Foam roll almost daily. I’d really like to say daily, but I just know that won’t happen. 
    • Start an Elimination Diet. I am reading a book to review, and it starts off with an Elimination Diet — there are several different levels, and the first level isn’t really that hard. I didn’t actually completely start it last week, but I incorporated some of its ideas and I had my first good weight loss (much needed) in weeks. I’ll write more about it when I review the book, of course.
    • Meal plan on the weekends! Much easier to shop and eat well when I have a plan. 
    • Plan out meals the day before. I made strides on this in March, but sort of got off track when I was sick (I was still tracking). Hopefully April’s gonna be a healthy month and it’s time to lose those few extra pounds that joined me in 2019.
    • A short race? Normally I start April off with a 5 mile race. Of course there wasn’t much running in March, but it’s not the first time I’ve done this race in similar circumstances. Depends on the weather and how I feel.

btuesdaytopics

Linking up with Zenaida Arroyo and Kim @ Kookyrunner

This week I am also joining up with Running on Happy, Suzlyfe, Crazy Running Girl, and Coach Debbie Runs each week for the Coaches’ Corner linkup

coachescorner

27 thoughts on “Making Love Out of Nothing At all”

  1. Yes getting sick does wreck things. I have been lucky in that regard. Getting injured is worse though.

    Hope we are both healthy for the rest of the year. (though my calf is far from normal)

    I did sign up for a 5 miler this Sunday and next. Delmar Dash is a maybe because it is the week before my half & I really should run long. We’ll see.

    An elimination diet? Ugh. Sounds awful to me. But so do all diets. I am just trying eat better every day and not so many desserts (and ice cream). Bathing suit season will be here before we know it (I hope anyway).

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    1. This one is a rather gentle one, but I’ll write more on it later.

      I already limit dairy, and once gave it up completely for 3 weeks to see if that was why I had plateau’d. Nope, wasn’t the culprit!

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  3. Great job listening to your body and keeping up with your nutrition when you were feeling sick! I’m sure you’re right and that helped with getting better sooner. I look forward to hearing what you think about the book. I don’t know much about elimination diets.

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  4. I never heard of an elimination diet before, but it makes sense to me. Good luck with yours. I had to go on a low-fat diet after a horrible cholesterol reading from my doctor’s appointment in February. I am trying to limit my saturated fat to under 10 grams/day. It’s harder than I thought it would be.

    So sorry to read that you were under the weather. I hope you can get your fitness activities back on track soon.

    And congrats on all the March celebrations!

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  6. Sorry you were down for the count for much of March. Oh well it’s a break if nothing else and a break is always good. Gosh April. With the way the weather has been April really snuck up.

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  8. I did the 21 Day Elimination Diet. I already eat fairly healthy so it wasn’t too bad. I have a slow functioning thyroid (Hashimoto’s). I found that I feel better without gluten & limited dairy. Be sure to share how it goes for you.

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    1. The weather continues to do its usual back & forth thing.The dogs are very happy for actual grass to pee on now, although Bandit still seeks out the few little remaining snow banks.

      I am grateful that I am not training for anything right now, but I would like to maintain a decent base. Some day . . .

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  11. PITT28 sounds really hard and they surely must mean you build up to 6 days a week. I’m thinking of my 5 minutes of lunges that truly broke me for a few days here! I often get ill around Christmas and I’m hoping to avoid the epic cold of March/April 2018 by not over-running!

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    1. No, it is meant to be done 6 days a week. Just probably not with running, LOL. I figured I’d be ok since I wasn’t running that much or hard. And I never actually did it 6 days a week, either.

      Right now I am not back at it. Still doing yoga & some gentler Pilates instead.

      I hope you have a healthy spring (and summer, and fall, of course).

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  13. Difficult to run with all that snow and when you don’t feel good but …. better times (and weather) are coming. It’s funny to record the runs and making statistics. I have been running since 1985 and reading what I have done in the past is a wonderful “traveling in time”. I am upset because I don’t have any record of my “career” when I was a rugby player.

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    1. That’s too bad that you didn’t keep a journal when you played rugby. I’ve only been running 10 years, but I’ve kept journals for pretty much all of it — and it can definitely be fun to go back & read them!

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