May Goals

Let’s be clear here: May 2021

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 29 Comments

bgrademay21

I love this quote below:

Sometimes things aren’t clear right away. That’s where you need to be patient and persevere and see where things lead.
— Mary Pierce

Often times things aren’t clear. We don’t always know why things happen the way they do — maybe not in the moment, and maybe not ever.

Setting goals helps me to be clear on the things I need to work on. Maybe I work on them, maybe I don’t get around to them, but they’re a compass for where I need to go.

Collection of May flowers: as seen on the run, hike & walk

Getting in scheduled runs
Still running 3 x week. I knew I’d be too busy the first half of May to add in an extra run. Then the third week I added in a hike instead of that extra run. The final week I did manage a fourth (short) run!

Grade Earned:  A 

Recording my runs
I have veered off course here again . . . seriously, I need to start using my planner again because it helps me to keep focused.

Grade Earned: C

Dynamic Warmup
I have been doing my short dynamic warmups right before a run. What I’ve stopped doing is the warm up walk. At least I’ve been consistent with the cool down walk after the run — often picking up Bandit for his walk then. The previous is what I wrote in April. It’s still true. I always seem to be in a rush to get out there.

Grade Earned: A

Foam Rolling
I pretty much foam roll (or some variation of foam rolling) every morning. It helps tremendously!

Grade Earned: A++

Nutrition
I was doing really well, slowly feeling more comfortable in my clothes. I don’t really feel as though I started to eat terribly, but I haven’t made as much effort to cook and we’ve eaten out a bit more, and things have started to creep up again — a lot due to too much sodium, I think.  We actually didn’t have ice cream this month I think.

Grade Earned: B

The sometimes cooler weather was perfect for hiking

Cross Training
Yoga, running, a little more hiking, walking, not so much indoor cycling. I have been doing a bit more strength training.

Grade Earned: A+

May 2021  gets  . . . 
. . . an A. I was at a 7 mile long run last month, and only made it back up to 6 miles this month. Running is going well, my body mostly feels good, and I try my best to eat healthy (with varying results).

May Goals:

  • Add in another running day (when I can). N. I kind of had a feeling this might be hard to work in, especially with travel. I added in an extra day of hiking one week, though, and that counts for me! One week had four runs.
  • Do some longer ST. Y/N.  I did better than I did in April, so slowly building back up here, too.
  • Strength for Wheel Pose. Y/N. I started out strong at the beginning of the month, but petered out trying to get everything in towards the end. No time limit on this one!
  • Flexibility Challenge. Y/N. I seem to have a mental block on putting myself out there with this. Not quite sure why. Tired? Lack of time? More likely not feeling good enough, even though I know I can lead what I’m planning on (in my head — the planning that is). 
  • 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 — well, they were trending down but took an upswing toward the end of the month. Not quite sure why. 

Which leads me to June Goals:

  • Add in some stationary cycling/hiking. I would definitely hike more if I could get Mr. Judy to do it more. I know it can be tiring for him though. I need something else than just running. Garmin says hiking gets me into the moderate range for intensity.
  • ST 3 x week. Somehow this seems challenging for me with getting in runs and lots of Yoga time. Even though I know it’s said to keep your easy days easy — in other words, don’t do strength training on days you’re running easy — it just doesn’t seem to work for me. Still working on this one! I think part of the problem is I’m really trying to get in one real rest day per week. 
  • Strength for Wheel Pose. I am definitely not even close. Again not sure whether that’s a mental block, lack of strength, or my particular physiology. My bodyweight exercises to work towards this are great exercises for runners — so it’s a matter of balancing this with everything else, which so far I haven’t been great at.
  • Flexibility Challenge Practices. I need to carve out some time and actually write out some practices. I have an idea of what I want to do in my mind, so now it’s time to plan it out and get it out there.
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. Always a goal. I just want my clothes to feel good on my body! And I don’t want to buy new clothes because I have to, only because I want to.

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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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Don’t Hurry!: April 2021

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 27 Comments

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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Getting Strong Now: May 2020

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 30 Comments

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Mother Nature sure seemed confused in May

May blew in with very unwanted snow, but it went out with some lovely Summer weather.

Practicing Yoga on the Yoga platform in a skirt & with dogs

From strong to stronger and the iconic Rocky song “Gonna Fly Now”:

Getting strong now
Won’t be long now
Getting strong now

Gonna fly now
Flying high now
Gonna fly, fly, fly

Running takes a back burner for now, and hopefully I can focus on getting stronger. Now is the time to do those things you always say you’d do if only you had more time.

Getting in scheduled runs
I’m settling into 3 x week for the forseeable future. Unless maybe I decide to try a Peloton Bootcmp. 3 x week gives me lots of flexibility to move runs around!

Grade Earned:  A

Recording my runs
Still not journaling. Maybe I don’t want to remember this year next year! Seriously, though, the tough times are what help us to grow.

Grade Earned: F

Dynamic Warmup
I signed up for the Peloton App back when it was free for 90 days. I’ve been checking out their dynamic warmups. At some point I’ll write a review of the app, although seriously, I feel like I’m the last person to try it. 🙂

Grade Earned: A+

Foam Rolling
I slacked off a bit in the foam rolling department. I’m still rolling, but not quite as often. Probably because I’ve had to start filming stuff for my YouTube channel again!

Grade Earned: A-

Nutrition
Nutrition has been ok. I’m maintaining; no really, I’m plateauing, bouncing back and forth between small gains and losses. Which is fine. Except I would like to lose just a few pounds. I guess I don’t want to badly enough yet.

Grade Earned: B

Support

  • Massage? Nope. We all know why.
  • Chiropractor Appointment? See massage.
  • Do I need a hair appointment? Again, see above. I suppose I should take this section out, it ain’t happening in the near future (although the chiropractor is open). And the salon should open soon. I don’t think I can go a whole year without a haircut!

Grade Earned: F

Yoga everywhere

Cross Training
I’ve continued to mix things up with plenty of Yoga, short Peloton rides (except not on a Peloton bike of course — I wish!!!), and strength training.

Grade Earned: A

I was able to cherry pick a day with great weather for my virtual race

May 2020  gets  . . . 
. . . an A. Despite 2 Fs, and not meeting a couple of goals, all in all May was a pretty good month, including one virtual race (my first).

May Goals:

  • Add in Lean & Lovely once a week. Y. It’s a Kettlebell program I’ve used before with good results.
  • Continue running 3 x week, adding in more mileage. Y/N. I ran 3 x week (except one week when I didn’t feel good), but haven’t really upped the mileage. By the time I wanted to, Summer had arrived!
  • Strength train 2-3 x week. Y. A no brainer since I started a Kettlebell program.
  • Continue almost daily foam rolling. Y/N. Not as much as in April, although more than just running days.
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. Y. Weight is basically in maintenance mode, and that’s okay.
  • Explore a Backbend Course N. Backbends are actually really good for my Dosha (Kapha), but I didn’t get around to it in May. I worked on some other courses, one of which actually had to do with less intense backbends. So kind of a Y, except I didn’t do that with this goal in mind. Glad I made the goal. I’ll get to it!
  • Take the tests for the online Reiki course I’m taking. N. I began to study more, but never quite got around to the tests. Yet.

Which leads me to June Goals:

  • Continue exploring Peloton App. I have a feeling I’ll keep the Peloton App. There’s a lot I like about it (but some things not so much). While it’s free, though, I’m definitely going to take advantage of it.
  • Continue running 3 x week. Still just maintaining a running base.
  • Set an intention for each run. Everything in life should be done with intention (it’s called mindfulness!).
  • Explore a backbend course in one of the Yoga memberships I have. I looked last weekend and couldn’t find a specific course, but I did download a lot of classes on backbends from a couple of Yoga apps I use. Backbends are definitely good for me, so I’m going to work a bit more on them! I also need to focus on arms and core, because one of my goals is to do Wheel — I think it’s a combination of not enough strength (there’s that strong thing again) and fear — of failure? Of hitting my head? — that has been holding me back from doing wheel.
  • Continue almost daily foam rolling. It’s amazing how much of a difference this makes for me.
  • Continue to try to eat intuitively — unless the weight starts to creep up. It’s hard to believe, but it’s actually been a year since I stopped tracking what I eat. I never thought I’d get to that point in my life!
  • Take the tests for the online Reiki course I’m doing. Okay, I admit Reiki is a bit woo-woo even for me. I do believe that there’s a lot more to life than just our physical bodies, though, and I have actually found the course really fascinating. I’m not so sure I’ll get to it in June, either, but it’s a good goal and we’ll see.

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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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“I Can’t”: What Does it Mean?

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 20 Comments

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“I Can’t” has many meanings. Can’t simply means can not. According to Merriam Webster, can is defined as:

be physically or mentally able to

That is just one of the many definitions of the verb can; so can’t means that you are not physically or mentally able to. We say can’t all the time. We often believe that we are physically unable to, but usually there’s a deeper meaning there – a mental reason we believe we cannot.

I’m looking at a couple of translations of can’t.

Fairytales and Fitness

I don’t want to
How many times have you heard from people that they can’t run? Either they tried, and it’s too hard, or they can’t because they’re too old, too heavy, too busy, and so on.

What they really mean is they don’t want to look foolish, they don’t want to give up something to invest the time in learning to run, they don’t want other people to be laughing at them.

Turn can’t into can: if you want something badly enough, you will prioritize it. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks of you — besides, most people are far too busy worrying about how you are thinking about them to pay you much mind. Don’t ever say can’t until you’ve actually tried something — if you truly can’t, or you find out you truly don’t want to — there’s no shame in that. The shame is in the not trying.

judy_1812_f_43565190654_o
Was I afraid to tackle something longer than 13.1? Especially with a time limit? In summer? A really hot & humid summer? Of course I was. But I never thought I can’t — and guess what — I could!

I’m afraid to
It’s so easy to ignore that fearful voice inside by simply saying you can’t. What are you truly afraid of? Hurting yourself? Join a beginner runner group or hire yourself a trainer/coach. Being last? It’s possible, of course, but chances are pretty good you won’t be (spoiler alert: in most races the walkers are the last people, and they’re usually having a pretty good time). Looking foolish? Read a few blogs, books, and magazines about running. You might still look foolish, but at least you’re unlikely to make as many rookie mistakes.

Turn can’t into can: as Nike says so wisely: Just do it. Feel the fear, and just do it anyway. I guarantee you you will feel so empowered by conquering your fears.

Can’t crops up in all areas of life
Of course this advice applies to all life, not just running. Changing careers. Moving. Starting a family. Losing weight. If you believe you can’t? Guess what: you probably won’t. But what if you stopped listening to the stories you tell yourself and believe you can?

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.
— Walt Disney

When in your life have you used “I can’t”?

How did that work out for you? Do you regret it?

What will you start telling yourself you can do?

I found love in the broken places: May 2019

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 24 Comments

bmay19

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

Fresh Freggies makes it easier to eat a little healthier

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-

Lots of Bandit supervised Yoga

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.

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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

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Love Will Keep Us Together: April 2019

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 21 Comments

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Yup, had this post *almost* ready to go last week, but not quite ready. So I’m wrapping up April today. Technically I only missed running those last couple of days in April.

No real plans for any big goal races any time soon. Heck, at this rate the 5k the beginning of June will be my big goal race! It’s been a tough couple of months. So why do I keep returning to running?

Because most days I still love the way I feel after a run. I’m a much happier person. And yes, I was a huge Captain & Tenille fan back in the day.

Getting in scheduled runs
Still no scheduled runs. Thankfully no longer any snow, unlike March. I am still running without a real goal. I had just pretty much gotten a good base back — until last week. May will be another month of rebuilding that base slowly.

Grade Earned:  A

Recording my runs
It must be easier when I’m not actually training for something and the mileage is low, because I’ve been good about recording my runs..

Grade Earned: A

Hey, it takes time to braid your hair!

Dynamic Warmup
Still skimping on this one. I can’t blame it too much on cold. Time and/or procrastination . . . that’s a different story.

Grade Earned: B

Foam Rolling
Every once in a while I get too busy to foam roll. My body tells me the next day I’ve been a bad girl.

Grade Earned: B+

It’s not just the matcha that makes this smoothie green!

Nutrition
Nutrition has definitely been tightened up. Still going through the discovery phase from Eat Live Thrive — read about it here, and at some point you can expect a follow up post. Of course the last week I’ve mostly been eating eggs, white rice, and drinking bone broth (but hey, that’s May, not April, anyway).

Grade Earned: B+

Support

  • Massage? A short massage after the Delmar Dash.
  • Chiropractor Appointment? Still not much going on, but it’s probably time for a maintenance appointment.
  • Do I need a hair appointment? I had already made one for tomorrow. Gotta look decent for Mother’s Day.

Grade Earned: B+

A little yoga fun on the deck (when it was still spring-like)

Cross Training
There has been a lot of yoga, a lot of Pilates, and strength training is slowly being reintroduced. I get my best results as far as how I look if I’m lifting some — not to mention it’s really important as we age to keep those muscles strong! I get on the stationary bike as a warm up for workouts frequently. Well, that was all before I got sick, of course.

Grade Earned: A+

April 2019  gets  . . . 
. . . a A-. One race. 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 need some sunshine (too bad it went away again at the end of the month).

April Goals:

    • Continue to Prehab. Y. The foot is feeling better. Coincidence? Nope!
    • Continue practicing yoga.Y. 
    • Restart PITT28 Modified. N. Decided to just stick with Yoga + Pilates for now.
    • Plan out meals the day before. Y. Most of the time. It helps.
    • Foam roll almost daily.Y. Most of the time — although I will admit I’ve fallen back to foam rolling only when I run, and I do personally see a benefit from it on non-running days too. 
    • Start an Elimination Diet. Y. To me it’s been fascinating (see my review of Eat Live Thrive Diet for a little more info here).
    • Meal plan on the weekends! Y. Most of the time. It’s always a fluid practice, as it should be — but having some kind of plan helps you to stay on track. 
    • A short race? I went into the Delmar Dash undertrained (read about it here) and unsure of whether or not it was really the best idea. Glad I ultimately decided to do it.

Which leads me to May Goals:

    • Continue to Prehab. As always, something is always better than nothing.
    • Strength train 2 – 3x week. I did start a little strength training again in April. I don’t want to go crazy with it — I have a tendency to think I must always squeeze it in and push when I probably shouldn’t — but I would like to push just a little bit more. Stronger person = stronger runner. Except of course I need to ease back into it again.
    • 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. 
    • Start the Lifestyle Phase of the ELT Diet. As I write this I am almost done with the Discovery Phase. I only had 2 foods left to test! I should still be able to start Discovery this month. It’s time to move on to figure out just how many carbs my body really needs.
    • Meal plan on the weekends! Much easier to shop and eat well when I have a plan. 
    • Plan out meals the day before. I have definitely found that doing my planning in an afternoon break works well, but I still do have days where I don’t have that afternoon break. Progress, not perfection, and consistency are the keys.
    • A short race? Hmm, do I want to do a 5k that isn’t far from my house this Thursday evening? Maybe. Again, stay tuned! Yeah, well, obviously that didn’t happen. It wasn’t meant to be.

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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

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June 2017: Did I pass?

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 37 Comments

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It seems a little unfair, really, that as we reach the peak of our race training, many of the things that keep us in shape tend to fall by the wayside: good nutrition, prehab, cross training. Did that happen to me in June?

You be the judge!

Getting in scheduled runs
I stuck to my training schedule, for the most part, until race week (which happened to coincide with the beginning of June). I’m definitely giving myself props for getting in that last long run the day after arriving in UT.

I skipped several runs on the schedule in favor of hiking in National Parks. The one run I managed to squeeze in was shortened because I was running at 8000 ft (thankfully the race was only at 5000 ft). But I picked up where I left off when I got home with no problems.

Grade Earned:  B+

Recording my runs
I’m doing a little better getting those runs recorded in a reasonable time frame now that life isn’t quite so hectic.

Grade Earned: A

Dynamic Warmup
I know how important it is to warm up. And yet . . . it seems like I always want to get out there and just get it done. Generally because I’ve got other stuff to get to.

And my warmup before the race was definitely lackadaisical.

Grade Earned: A-

Foam Rolling
Boy when you slide, you slide big. I had my worm with me in UT. I think I used it once. Even when I got back home, I kept skipping the foam rolling . . . I’m back at it (for now, anyway).

Grade Earned: B

Respecting my body
I think this was one area where I did good. I could’ve run in 97 degree heat. I could’ve run after hiking all day. It wasn’t in my best interest.

Grade Earned: A

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A little too much sugar . . .

 

Nutrition
I must say that the food in Bryce wasn’t terribly exciting. I managed, somehow, to get plenty of veggies in while in UT — not always easy while traveling. But there was also Garret’s popcorn — I did impress myself with saving some for post race — I bought that on the way to UT! And there were pretzel sticks, pie, ice cream, a large dark chocolate peanut butter cup, lots of fries . . .

So really kind of a mixed bag there.

Grade Earned: B

Support
I had a chiropractor appointment, a massage, and I visited the Salt Den again before leaving.

Grade Earned: A

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. . . but a whole lotta hiking!

Cross Training
There was all that hiking, of course. And I’m riding my stationary bike again and swimming. We even got in a hike last weekend!

Grade Earned: A

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It’s always a good month with a PR in it — but I could have done better, as usual!

May 2017 gets  . . . 
. . . a B+. I definitely see (and feel) the lack of strength training in my body. I thought I ate fairly well in UT, but when I really think about it . . . maybe not so much. Don’t get me wrong — I’m okay with indulging sometimes. And you could say “but you were on vacation”. Except it was my second vacation in three months. It doesn’t take long to put on the pounds, but it sure takes longer to take them back off.

And I just kept blowing off all the stuff I know keeps me running pain free. Usually because I just didn’t want to do it.

Yes, I had an awesome PR (you can read about that here), but I had that PR partially because I put in the work. The year isn’t over and I have one more big goal race and probably a few shorter races too. Which leads me to:

How’s 2017 treating me?
On a personal level, the first half of the year was definitely rough. It wasn’t easy to see my parents so unhappy. My mom has realized they are better off where they are, although it still doesn’t make her happy. My dad will never really accept it, but he’s not going anywhere. Moving them and getting them to give up the car were really major victories. I wonder, sometimes, though, if they are now declining more rapidly because of the move. I also know they truly couldn’t remain where they were.

Sometimes aging really sucks.

Going back and forth almost every week to work on their house — not to mention the stress of actually sifting through most of their belongings — well, the only thing good I can think of about that is at least they are actually still alive. Although in some ways that made it even more difficult, trying to decide what was important for them to keep. It was both physically and emotionally draining.

Never having time to get together with friends and rarely being able to do anything fun wasn’t a lot of fun, either. But I knew it would pass, and my life is more or less back to normal. For now. I hope for a good long while!

But of course we’re talking running. Running was good. I’ve run 3 half marathons in 2017, and technically every single one was a PR. I was shocked to have a PR in a very steamy NOLA half (read about it here). I ran my first trail half — read about that here — (that was the “technically” a PR — because it was a first trail half, I suppose you could claim it was a PR, even if it was my slowest half ever). And I ran my first half at elevation (read about that here).

I’ve had little aches and pains, but nothing major. I’ve managed to stay healthy, knock on wood.

I started out the year by giving Rachel @ Runningonhappy a month trial as my coach, after which I continued to follow her coaching — and I have no doubt that she is definitely part of the reason I’ve had such a successful season racing in 2017 — so far!

It’s time to dial things down a little, and yet ramp them up, too, as I begin to train for my fall half marathon.

Goals for July:

  • Continue keeping my journal up to date.
  • Swim once a week.
  • Run on trails occasionally — an easy run once a week would be great, but something is always better than nothing.
  • Continue to hike occasionally — if the weather doesn’t get too humid and buggy for it.
  • Get back into regular (2-3 x week) strength training.

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

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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

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May 2017: Did I pass?

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 31 Comments

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The toll of three halfs in as many months began to make itself known in May. I am in awe of people who run marathons every month or a gazillion halfs a month. That’s not me.

Let’s get into it.

Getting in scheduled runs
Cold, rainy long runs. Sudden 90 degree heat. Windy. May wasn’t a run/walk in the park (see what I did there?). Every once in a while we caught a beautiful day to run, but they were few and far between.

I was able to run recovery runs the week following my half at the end of April (read about it here), but I had to skip one tempo run when my hamstring complained. Which was the right call.

Grade Earned:  A-

Recording my runs
I’m doing pretty good journaling. Which is a good thing, as I needed that journal to see what I ran the last time I was forced to do a tempo run on my treadmill. But there were definitely a few times where it took a few days to get around to recording a run.

Grade Earned: A-

Dynamic Warmup
I won’t lie, some days my dynamic warmup was very abbreviated. And some days I added in a few extra exercises to keep my glutes and hamstrings happy.

Grade Earned: A

Foam Rolling
I was “rolling” right along, until one night after a long run when I just chose rest over getting my foam rolling in. I really need to make more of an effort to do it as soon after a run as possible!

Grade Earned: A-

Respecting my body
I skipped a run when it became clear that my body was rebelling for whatever reason. I was tired much of this month, but I actually felt more recovered than I did after NOLA.

Grade Earned: A

Nutrition
I made a few poor choices food-wise in May, but usually each time I did so, I learned something from it. Buttered popcorn at the movies and an Auntie Anne’s Pretzel for dinner one night in the same week really wasn’t the best idea. I don’t get Auntie Anne’s often at all, though, and I’d been craving one for long time. Sometimes it’s a good idea to get those cravings out of the way.

I was getting into the sweets a bit too much — even healthy sweets aren’t healthy when eaten all the time.

I began to slowly clean up my eating (although you’d never know it from my weekly wrap a little while ago which you can drool over here!), and my pants began to fit a little better.

Grade Earned: B

Support
I made my chiropractor appointment ahead of time. Although my left hip was really bothering after my last appointment — and continued to bother me afterward, too. Sometimes I’ll be a little sore after an adjustment and then it goes away. This was weird.

In fact, I runfess (see more runfessions here, if you missed them) that it was really killing me right before the Mud & Chocolate Half — but I knew I’d be okay to race, and I was.

I should have gotten back in there, but life was busy. Eventually it calmed down.

Grade Earned: A-

Cross Training
I fell off the stationary bike but back into the pool. And the sauna was fixed, which made me so happy. But swimming was only once a week.

Grade Earned: B

May 2017 gets  . . . 
. . . a B. Or maybe a B+. I did meet most of my May goals, except the meeting up with friends to run. My schedule just doesn’t seem to jive with my friends’ lately. I did run with Jan once.

Goals for June:

  • Continue keeping my journal up to date.
  • Swim.
  • Listen carefully to my body again after my next half.
  • Hopefully Rachel @ Runningonhappy will be dialing back my mileage now that my next half isn’t until October. I’m ready for a small break.
  • Get back into the stationary bike habit.
  • Get new trail shoes so I can hopefully run trails again occasionally before it gets too buggy!

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

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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

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April 2017: Did I pass?

~ Chocolaterunsjudy ~ 24 Comments

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The great thing about running two halfs a month a part is that you really don’t have to work as hard. Especially when you decide that the second half is just a training run (we’ll see how that works).

Let’s dive right into how April went down.

A beauftul day to say goodbye to running around Vassar College
Getting in scheduled runs
I had hoped to run a couple of races this month, but I had to continue working on my parents’ house and it was easiest to go down on the weekends when I didn’t have to pay someone to watch the dogs — because it’s an all day thing. So no races for me until my half.

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Ran a lot of hilly trails

Running trails meant driving to run half the time. Thankfully it’s only about a 15 minute drive.

It took a while for Spring to bust out

Now I did skip a few scheduled recovery runs when I got back from my last half. It seemed to take me a really long time to recover for whatever reason. I knew it was the right decision for me and that I could get back at it in enough time to train for the next half — and I did.

Grade Earned:  A

Recording my runs
My journal is getting filled again. Occasionally I forgot to record a run for a few days, but mostly I get it down the day of or the next day.

Grade Earned: A-

Dynamic Warmup
While there were still a few chilly runs, there was no mind numbingly cold runs. I may have abbreviated my warmup a few times, but I don’t think I ever skipped it. I received the book Hit Reset (Amazon Affiliate link) to review, so I started throwing in little bits of yoga when I ran from home — which wasn’t often!

Grade Earned: A

Foam Rolling
Nailed it. Yeah, no sooner did I write that, before the end of the month, then I had a very busy few nights and totally forgot to foam roll one night.

Grade Earned: A-

Respecting my body
I took the rest I needed at the beginning of the month. It seemed to take me a really long time to bounce back from NOLA, for whatever reason. The payoff was never getting really sick and feeling strong by the end of the month.

Grade Earned: A

Nutrition
It’s been a difficult month of going back and forth to my parents. I relied on frozen foods a little more than I really like to. I didn’t have as much time to make my own food as I’d like to.

I’d like to say that I left all those delicious treats from NOLA behind me in March, only then there was a full weekend working on my parents’ home, and that humongous brownie sundae. After I hadn’t been running too much (because we’d just come back from NOLA that week!). However, I didn’t order it, my niece did, and we shared it between about four people.

And I am now looking forward to eating all the chocolate after my half. Because the spread is supposed to be awesome.

Grade Earned: A- (or is that a B?)

Support
Only one chiropractor appointment, but that’s because that’s all I felt I needed.

I got one massage — and even booked it ahead of time! Usually I’m booking last minute.

And I tried out Halotherapy (more on that at a future date).

Grade Earned: A

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Got back at it!
Cross Training
I got back on my stationary bike on a pretty frequent basis. Pilates and yoga became more frequent.

I still haven’t made time for the pool . . . maybe now that I don’t have to spend every weekend down at my parents’ and the weather is getting nicer I’ll find some time. Except there’s Mother’s Day, there’s a graduation . . . I miss swimming and the peaceful feeling it gives me!

Grade Earned: A

April 2017 gets  . . . 
. . . an A-. I don’t think there’s ever a perfect month, but I rested my body when it needed it, I got back at it as soon as I could, I started to cross train a bit more, and I spent a fair amount of time on prehab.

Goals for May:

  • Continue keeping my journal up to date.
  • Swim.
  • Listen carefully to my body again — if I need some recovery time after my half, take it; even though I have another half in a month, I’ll be okay
  • Hills. Hills. Hills. I spent a lot of time on hills in April — my April half will be hilly — in May it’s time to continue focusing on downhill repeats in prep for UT.
  • Try to meet up with a friend for a run more often — shouldn’t be too difficult since I only did it once in April!
  • I’m in a vegetable rut — asparagus, bell peppers, carrots. I’ve been trying to mix it up a bit more, I’ve done baby bok choy, but it’s time to do make sure I’m getting more variety.

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

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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

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