I have to admit I didn’t realize what song this was from the title, but when I clicked on the link, yup, I knew it. Who here hasn’t done an early morning run in the sunshine — maybe a bit too much sunshine?

I’m with you my love
The light’s shinin’ through on you
Yes, I’m with you my love
It’s the morning and just we two

July held a race, lots of fun stuff off the road, and yes, plenty of sunshine and early morning runs.

Getting in scheduled runs
Slowly beginning to think about running goals for later in 2019, but still nothing big on the horizon, so still maintaining my base with occasional hills and speed work. You’ll notice there are no tempos!

Grade Earned:  A

Recording my runs
I’ve been pretty good with recording runs. I like having that to look back at! Those Thursday night trail runs — they keep me up until almost my bedtime! Most of them are at least a half hour drive from my home, some further. Sometimes I just gotta go to sleep not long after I get back home, so yeah, I get to those when I get to those.

Grade Earned: A-

Dynamic Warmup
I’ve been a bit better at getting out there earlier, but it’s still not always easy. It’s not the greatest idea to just run, even in the warm summer, but hey, I’m as human as the next gal. Sometimes that’s exactly what happens.

Grade Earned: B

Foam Rolling
I’m still in “love” (see what I did there?) with foam rolling. Well, love might be a strong word. Any time I skip it, I feel it, and that’s what keeps me rolling.

Grade Earned: A

 

Nutrition
As I mentioned last month, I took a break from actively trying to lose weight to simply maintain where I am. I am definitely maintaining. That isn’t a bad thing.

Grade Earned: B+

Support

• Massage? I had plans to make an appointment, I truly did, but July ended up with a few unexpected expenses. Hopefully it will work into the budget in August.
• Chiropractor Appointment? I do every other month unless something’s wrong, so there was no need in July.
• Do I need a hair appointment? I think I tipped over on that one — it’s time!

Grade Earned: B+

 

Cross Training
Yoga (for obvious reasons) and strength training are going pretty strong. Pilates has been harder to fit in. At the beginning of the month I realized that strength training had been a bit lacking, so I’ve been doing a lot of Pahla Bower’s shorter workouts on Youtube here, with one or two of the slightly longer ones. The body feels pretty good in general.

Grade Earned: A+

 

July 2019  gets  . . . 
. . . an A. 1 race. More fun with friends. A concert. Short hike. Maintaining my weight. No injuries.

July Goals:

• • Continue to Prehab. Y. A little less often, but the foot still feels pretty good.
  • Strength train 2 – 3x week. Y. Nailed this in July.
  • Start extending my weekend runs. Y. I maintained at 6 miles for my long runs, with one 7 miler. Pretty good in a hot, humid summer (most of the time).
  • Continue practicing Yoga. Y. Obviously YTT requires some Yoga practice.
  • Foam roll almost daily. Y. Towards the end of the month it actually did get to daily; I bought a deal from Lauren Roxburgh (her Website is here, but you can find some free videos on Youtube) which includes 3 foam rolling routines that are only 10 minutes or less. They’re quite different so I’ve been doing them daily — in addition to my usual pre-run foam rolling.
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. Y. It definitely feels freeing to not be tracking what I put in my mouth, and so far I’m still maintaining my weight without tracking. Always a work in progress.
  • Meal plan on the weekends! Y/N. It’s been harder with the classes/videos I have to watch, the live calls, working on my practicum (already!). Does thinking about what I’ll eat in the coming week count? Well, I guess it does. I know that I’ll get back to it.
  • Annual Fourth of July race. Y. Indeed, and you can read about it here.

Which leads me to August Goals:

• • Continue to Prehab. My feet have been doing pretty good. Sometimes I only do my PT exercises a couple of times a week. As long as my feet aren’t bothering me it’s working for me.
  • Strength train 2 – 3x week. You may not have noticed, but I’ve actually begun to strength train more frequently — but often for just a little bit. I shoot for two longer sessions (about 30 min) 2 times a week, and short (often just 10 min) about 3 times a week. I like the results I’m getting from that. I might bail on a busy day if I’m looking at 30 minutes or more, but you can always squeeze in 10 minutes.
  • Keep long runs about 6-7 miles. I could be ready for a half in a month with my base, but the reality would be I’d prefer a couple of months to feel well trained and safe.
  • Lots of yoga & studying. I have my written test and my practicum for my YTT in September. I’ve learned a lot, but I haven’t been able to actually study as much as I’d like to because just the course itself is so time consuming!
  • Foam roll almost daily. Continue using my Lauren Roxburgh foam rolling and regular pre-run foam rolling.
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. I had planned another short detox this month, or as I prefer to call it, a reset. I decided to push that off until September. I’ve been maintaining my weight at a good place (which doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to lose a few pounds, but then most of us would).
  • Meal plan on the weekends! I’ll keep putting this in until I get back to it. I at least have a plan in my mind, but having written down is much more helpful.
  • Trail race at the end of the month. Depends on the weather.

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