I just modified the song slightly (I, instead of we) to fit my love songs for 2019 theme. No, I am not broken, I’m well, although over the last few months it kind of felt like I was a little broken. It’s sort of going to be a theme this week, I think.

Normally I’d share my race recap from the weekend, but I like having my monthly recaps to look back on, so I’ll share my recap from Freihofers Run for Women for that next week.

Getting in scheduled runs
Nope, no scheduled runs. Just listening to my body and running when it says it’s the right time — with the exception of my commitment to mentoring, which ended the week before Memorial Day (the race was last Saturday). I definitely ran on days I wouldn’t have chosen to! Easing back in with running 3 x week.

Grade Earned:  A

Recording my runs
Still going strong with recording runs, although previously I had recorded what I did before/after runs — what I ate, if I foam rolled, etc. I’ve been getting away from that. It’s really useful to try to determine what worked well for my run . . . and what didn’t.

Grade Earned: A-

Dynamic Warmup
Doing better on dynamic warmups in May. Maybe because it slowly got warmer. We still had some pretty darn cool days, and way too much rain, but I didn’t have to worry as much about freezing my butt off while warming up; again, mostly (there were some really cold mornings for mentoring this month)! There were a few where I didn’t do my full warmup, choosing to warm up on the stationary bike but skipping things like lunges, etc.

Grade Earned: B

Foam Rolling
Going strong with foam rolling. What can I say — it helps me.

Grade Earned: A

Nutrition
Of course nutrtion was all over the place in May. For 10 days I could barely eat (including the one day when I ate nothing). Then it was mostly bone broth and white rice. Yes, I lost some weight.

Then one day the appetite came back, but somehow I was able to reign myself in and hold onto that weight loss. Not only that, I managed to lose a few more. I’m back to a much happier weight for me, one I haven’t seen in almost three years.

Now I’m back to normal eating. It’s healthy most of the time, but obviously I enjoy an indulgence here and there — even without a long run.

Grade Earned: B+

Support

• Massage? Nope.
• Chiropractor Appointment? I really do need one, I just keep procrastinating about booking it.
• Do I need a hair appointment? Got a haircut before Mother’s Day so I wouldn’t scare people. So can stretch that out a bit more.

Grade Earned: B-

Cross Training
Pilates, Yoga, and strength training, oh my — once I was feeling better! More time on the stationary bike. Unfortunately my shoulder started to complain towards the end of the month, so I wasn’t able to progress my strength training as much as I wanted to.

Grade Earned: A+

May 2019  gets  . . . 
. . . a A-. Recreational running. Yoga, Pilates, and some strength training. Better nutrition, trying to discover the foods that really work for me, a slight weight loss. Some spring like weather — finally! Of course we can’t control the weather, but I can’t tell you how desperately I needed some sunshine (too bad it went away again at the end of the month).

May Goals:

• • Continue to Prehab. Y. As long as my foot is happy, I’m happy to do my PT exercises. I don’t do them every day, although I strive for that. I can now wear a lot of shoes that used to cause me foot pain, which makes me happy!
  • Strength train 2 – 3x week. Y/N. As I felt better I started strength training again just a little at a time. Then my shoulder started to bother me.
  • Continue practicing yoga.Y. I found several yoga routines for shoulder pain that helped a lot. The shoulder would hurt again after just using resistance bands. There’s always core and legs . . . I also found that doing some routines for recovering from illness helpful after I was sick.
    
  • Plan out meals the day before. N. See “Start Lifestyle Phase” below.
  • Foam roll almost daily.Y. Like PT, it makes me feel better, so I do it. 
  • Start the Lifestyle Phase of the ELT Diet. N. Obviously that was a bust due to my illness. I had one last food (corn) to test when I started eating again, and I needed to take a few days to eliminate the toast & rice again — for testing purposes (see my review of Eat Live Thrive Diet for a little more info here). So I tested corn, and haven’t quite gotten around to the Lifestyle Phase, although I am also not presently tracking my food. Intuitive eating is a big buzzword, and something I’ve always wanted to strive for — at the moment I’m doing well without tracking, so I’ll just see where that goes. After June it’s time to give my body a rest from trying to lose weight & just maintain for a while.
  • Meal plan on the weekends! Y. I may not be tracking, but meal planning is still important. Too easy to make bad choices if you don’t have a plan. 
  • A short race? N. I was never able to find a race that either: called to me or didn’t interfere with mentoring, plus I really just did not feel the need to push myself this month — for obvious reasons.

Which leads me to June Goals:

• • Continue to Prehab. Let’s keep the feet happy (and me happy with my cute shoes).
  • Strength train 2 – 3x week. Would definitely like to get a little toning in there again. Despite a “happy weight”, I’m also a little fluffy due to not much strength training. Nothing crazy.
  • Start extending my weekend runs. I finally got back to a couple of 4 mile runs at the end of May (although those weren’t on the weekend). I’d like to work back up to 6 miles. Or 7, maybe.
  • Continue practicing Yoga. Yoga just makes me feel good. And there are so many different ways to practice yoga! It actually has helped in my last two illnesses.
  • Foam roll almost daily. I’d really like to say daily, but I just know that won’t happen. 
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. Not tracking has never been a hard goal for me. If I have to track the rest of my life to maintain my weight, I’m cool with it. Life is definitely simpler if you don’t have to track every meal, though.
  • Meal plan on the weekends! Much easier to shop and eat well when I have a plan. 
  • A short race? There are a few short trail races in June. OTOH, because of all the rain, it’s also incredibly buggy. Stay tuned.

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