Don’t Hurry!: April 2021

~ Chocolaterunsjudy
A rainbow of bulbs

If you’re racing, you probably do want to hurry! If you’re not, there is enough hurry in our world already. Slowing down can have great benefits, too.

All things will be clear to the man who does not hurry; haste is blind and improvident
— Livy

I made sure not to hurry my fitness after my second vaccine. Even though the reaction was short, I continued to be tired for several days. My body was clear: it wanted to take things easy for a little while.

I hadn’t planed to take a whole week off of running, but I’m glad that I did. My first run back wasn’t too bad. My body made it clear after the first vaccine that it would have been better to take more rest, but I didn’t know it would happen so not much I could do about that.

This time I knew the right thing for me was to take it easy. I’m glad I did!

It wasn’t all flowers in April. OK, I didn’t run in snow, but I did run in rain!

Getting in scheduled runs
I’ve continued to run 3 x week, with the exception of the week I got my second vaccine. I only got in two runs that week. I’ve actually run in the rain, too. Although there were a couple of treadmill runs (hello, snow!) — what can I say, I don’t love my treadmill, but I don’t mind it, and I notice my body seems to like when I run on it. Not that I plan to be running on it a lot!

I’ve been on Peloton maybe a year now — and I just hit 50 runs, LOL!

Grade Earned:  A 

Recording my runs
I have veered off course here again . . .

Grade Earned: C

Dynamic Warmup
My dynamic warmup is pretty short and sweet, which doesn’t mean that I’m tempted to skip — and have been known to skip it sometimes. I usually just remind myself it really doesn’t add much time and I’m better off if I do it.

Grade Earned: A

Foam Rolling
Still rolling along here (sorry, couldn’t resist that). I find it really helps my body!

Grade Earned: A++

Despite a little ice cream, it was a better month nutrition wise

Nutrition
I was already inching my way down before the vaccine, but a few days with no appetite didn’t hurt, of course. We got ice cream twice this month when we went on a road trip. The second time Mr. Judy didn’t really want it, but I urged him to do it. Oops.

Grade Earned: A-

Some light hiking for cross training — chasing the waterfalls

Cross Training
Yoga, running, a little hiking, walking, a little bit of indoor cycling. I have been slowly working short ST in there, too.

Grade Earned: A+

April 2021  gets  . . . 
. . . an A. I worked my way up to 7 miles pre-vaccine, but I’ll probably drop it back down and work up again. Not sure where I want my long runs to be. This time I know that I need to ease back in more slowly. I’m happy that I’ve been able to add back in more strength training.

April Goals:

  • Continue to lengthen out my long run. Y. While my endurance took a hit after that first vaccine, I did eventually make my way up to 7 miles. With no races in sight, I’m not sure that I want to go longer than that right now. Especially as it gets warmer! We shall see.
  • Do some longer ST. Y/N.  Y. I did better than I did in March, but it still really seemed to be a struggle to get it all in. I did really try to work it in!
  • Flexibility Challenge. N. I just haven’t had the time to work this one up yet. However, I did revisit my 21 Days of Yoga Challenge from last year, and I adjusted the audio on all my videos, which required changing the links on everything. It was quite the job to tackle!
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up.. Y. I have made just a tiny bit of progress here, with things trending down just a bit. 

Which leads me to May Goals:

  • Add in another running day (when I can). I am not sure how this will look for me, but I’m thinking just a mile or two — maybe recovery miles after a long run? This would be a way to increase my mileage just a little without increasing my long run. Probably not in the beginning of the month.
  • Do some longer ST. I am only shooting for 2 x week, but life has been very busy lately, and the beginning of May I know will be busy. Goals are good, but I’m not going to beat myself up if it doesn’t happen.
  • Strength for Wheel Pose. Wheel pose continues to elude me. I don’t know if it’s physiology, emotional, or just lack of upper body strength. I do have a program for it, and I already started this in April. We’ll see where this leads.
  • Flexibility Challenge. I am guessing this may not happen until June, actually, but creating the challenge will probably start in May.
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. Always a goal. Over the years I’ve gotten much better at it, but it’s always a work in progress.

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Linking up with Zenaida Arroyo and Kim @ Kookyrunner

This week I am also joining up with the new Runners’ Roundup linkup.

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27 thoughts on “Don’t Hurry!: April 2021”

  1. Well done on the April goals, Judy!
    I agree that foam rolling is important.
    Yesterday I thought of you because I had my first massage in 14 months. The massage therapist asked me whether I foam roll and I was happy I could say yes. He said I should continue to do it and recommended including rolling the hips with a tennis ball.

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  2. Yay, foam rolling for the win! I recently acquired a Theragun Mini, and whoa! That little toy is a nice addition to my recovery arsenal 😉 You probably know I’ve been doing 10 flights of stairs as part of my warm-up before. I wish I’d though of that sooner…it hits most of the necessary muscles and gets the heart revved up!

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  3. I love the bulbs. Are they from your yard? Looks like you did a great job on your goals. I too have trouble recording my runs. I just read about how it can help figure out what works well for fuel, rest, hydration, etc.

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  6. Love the flowers! You did great on your April goals! Intuitive eating is something I wish I could do, but I tend to eat way too much when I try. Keeping track helps me be more mindful of what I am putting in my mouth.

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      2. I never thought I’d be able to. Tracking is good — and I did it a long time (decades). I truly never had a goal not to track, it worked for me. There’s a lot of freedom in not tracking (if you’re ready for it) & all the years of tracking really train you. But things are constantly changing, too.

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  9. You did great with your goals in April, especially with getting the vaccine! It sounds like it was smart to take it slow coming back to running. Hope May is an even better month for you!

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  10. Everyone deserves a little ice cream sometimes! I would bump that nutrition grade up to an A. Sounds like you’re really good at listening to your body. And you’re absolutely right- what are we hurrying toward, anyway? Good luck with your May goals!

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  11. Great job on your goals this month! I was nervous about how I’d feel after getting the 2nd shot but thankfully I seemed to have a minimal reaction! I think having the recovery run the day after your long run makes a lot fo sense, I used to enjoy that when I was running 4 days a week.

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