Compassion: April 2022

~ Chocolaterunsjudy

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen. — Ernest Hemingway

It’s easy to nod your head and say um-hmm while just thinking about what you want to say next — or eat next, LOL — right? Especially when you may have been involved in something when the person spoke.

This is a reminder I definitely need. Although I think I’m a good listener, I know sometimes I’m not. What does listening have to do with compassion?

Everything

Everyone wants to be heard, to have their lives matter.

So how did April go? Let’s see!

Getting in scheduled runs
I struggled a bit as my energy seemed to ebb and flow this month, but I also had some very strong runs.

Grade Earned:  A

Dynamic Warmup
It’s always a lot easier to warm up when it’s warmer outside! I got in a lovely, long warmup before my race this month.

Grade Earned: A

Foam Rolling
I’ve mostly settled into a routine of a short foam roll session the morning of a run (see my short routine here), and a longer one the day after a run.

Grade Earned: A

Nutrition
Not as many special occasions in April; that always helps. I’m still struggling with wanting to actually cook some days! Part of it continues to be what I want to eat, and what Mr. Judy will eat, although he’s good about eating most things and/or making himself something (usually not quite so nutritious). There was a slight uptick at the end of the month, but I think that had to do with a few too many frozen foods (which usually contain too much sodium).

Grade Earned: A–

Hiking + stair climbing

Cross Training
Short hikes have returned! Some are more walks than hikes, but it’s all good, it’s all movement. And sometimes those walks actually came with some major hills. Yoga goes without saying, some ST, cycle WUs, dabbling in Somatics at present, too.

Grade Earned: A

Notice how few runners are actually looking up the hill

April 2022  gets  . . . 
. . . an A. I indulged more than I should have at times, but I’ve really tried to balance that out with healthy eating. I just need a bit more energy to get in more cooking and more mileage.

April Goals:

  • Run 3 x week. Y. I thought I’d get 4 runs in one week, but am happy with my 3 runs.
  • ST 3 x week. Y/N.  Mostly. One or two weeks it was only two times.
  • Cardio/ST before 10 am on non-running days. Y/N.  Just like last month, sometimes yes, sometimes no.
  • Work on some future Yoga projects. Y. I’ve thought about them. Does that count? I need to take action!
  • At least one real rest day a week Y. I have started to actually note in bold my rest days. I think that’s helping me to be more mindful.
  • Begin planning the next getaway. Y. Well, I have continued to plan. A bit undecided if May is the right time for it. Stay tuned.
  • A race? Y. The stars really aligned to give me a great racing opportunity and I showed up (you can read about it here).
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. Y. I think that the higher number on the scale had a lot more to do with sodium (maybe a little sugar). I don’t weigh myself often anymore, usually once a month.

Which leads me to May Goals:

  • Run 3 x week. I personally believe that 3 x week will keep you in decent running shape. I think I’ll be taking a week off running if we go away.
  • ST 3 x week. I will settle for 2 x week if necessary. Hoping I can get to 3 x week in April consistently!
  • Cardio/ST before 10am on non-running days. Most of the time I do something, but there’s been a few days I just wanted to rest, so I did. I’m keeping it as a goal — but not a requirement.
  • Work on some future Yoga projects. Like a Summer Solstice practice, even trying to decide what I might want to offer at the beginning of 2023.
  • At least one real rest day a week. I’ve been doing well with rest days. Still a bit more time than usual at moms the beginning of the month, but should even out towards the end hopefully.
  • A race? I have a few in mind. Still sticking with 5ks. Why do they all seem to start so late? Summer racing isn’t really my favorite thing, but for now we’re still in Spring and it feels good to push. A little.
  • A vacation. We have a plan, let’s see if it can be safely executed.
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. Maybe someday I’ll take this off the list, but good nutrition is really important to me. I don’t necessarily want to live longer than my parents, but I do want to live better.
btuesdaytopics

Linking up with Zenaida Arroyo and Kim @ Kookyrunner

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

Runners_Roundup_Logo-640x640

23 thoughts on “Compassion: April 2022”

  1. Great month for you!!! It’s nice to see you finding your stride again, pun intended. I have been indulging too much this month and I am working on cutting back on the sweets. I think this never-ending bad weather makes me crave chocolate.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Wendy! I didn’t really over indulge too much this month, but reached for frozen foods more than usual. All that sodium ain’t good!

      You need a reason to crave chocolate? 😉

      Like

      Reply

  2. Well done on April, Judy, especially that you managed to do a race!
    Of all the people in that race photo, you seem to be the only one who isn’t dying and actually enjoying herself, haha!

    I need to up my game with cooking as well. I mostly just eat things that I can prepare without much cooking – avocado and eggs, fruit with yoghurt, etc. I’ve become lazy!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Another good month. You set goals and you accomplished them. So Congrats!!

    Luckily I’m type A enough to get it all done without any goals and I’ve been able to run 4x each week and go to the gym 3x.

    Speaking of the gym, ST before 10am made me laugh. I’m sure its because you do yogas first. I’m out of the house by 6 am usually.

    Hope you are able to get away if you want. I’m looking forward to my girls vacation. I do plan to run everyday since what I love about vacations is running in a new place.

    May will be my month of over eating – Mother’s day, my birthday, vacation, hubby’s b-day, memorial day – OMG!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. I love that Hemingway quote. I just read it somewhere else yesterday, and now here it is on your blog! Must be some sort of sign… I’ll focus on listening today.
    Sounds like you had a great month. You met your goals and ran a race! I agree that race photo is funny- apparently people weren’t aware that the photographer was there??? Either that or they were too miserable to care.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Great month for you, Judy! I go back and forth on the 3 vs. 4 runs per week. I kind of alternate, but I’m definitely more consistent with doing four runs during the summer.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. My boss’s daughter once told him “Dad, listen to me with your eyes!” – He always shares this when discussing active listening – truly engaging and understanding the other person as opposed to doing it half heartedly. A nice reminder for me too.

    What a solid month including a race too! Wishing you the best of luck for May!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  10. It looks like April was an awesome month for you! I know exactly how you feel about not cooking or knowing what you want to eat. I kind of feel like I’m in a food rut where I’m not really inspired to try cooking new things, but I’m sick of the same meals, lol.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s