Now that we are a few days into August, it’s time for me to reflect on how I did with my goals during the month of July. Due to this foot injury, I really didn’t work towards most of my goals. I still think it’s worth looking back on the month anyway. I feel like this whole spring and summer I have just been “waiting” for things….like for the weather to warm up (which eventually it did), for my foot to heal (which is taking much longer than I would like) and for my deck to be finished (we thought it would be done weeks ago and is finally complete now!) Playing the waiting game is no way to enjoy the summer, so it’s important to recognize all the good things that are going on and try to appreciate the summer before it passes by. 
You can read my other 2016 updates here:
January
February
March
April
May
June
Summary of July:
When I think back on the month what stands out is last week’s vacation and spending time with family. Other than that I am not exactly sure what happened. There was the 4th of July weekend, a day trip to NJ for a Baptism, and a busy few weeks at work. I saw a PT to have my gait analyzed and started really focusing on hip strengthening exercises. My foot made a lot of improvement, then there were some set backs. To say this has been frustrating is an understatement.
I can’t even say I have regrets about doing something to cause/delay this injury. It truly seemed to come out of the blue and I have been as smart as possible with my return to running. Some days it flares up and I just can’t figure out why. I guess I just need to keep in mind that our bodies are capable of healing if we let them, so by continuing to rest as needed, taking it easy, and continuing to work on imbalances I will be doing the best I can. One of the reasons it’s been even more frustrating is that I don’t have any way to do cardio other than running. I have considered trying to get access to a gym but it’s just not practical with one car. I’ll continue thinking about it and see how the next few weeks go but I have a feeling I’ll just be doing a lot of strength training and yoga if I can’t run.
A few other posts from this month:
5 Things I’ve Been Doing While I Haven’t Been Running
5 Running Shoe Myths (Guest Post)
Running and Anxiety (Guest Post)
FITNESS GOALS:
- Continue to work on staying strong and healthy As I said, I am still trying to recovery from a foot injury. I had about 2 weeks of zero pain and started to ease back into running. Then it started to flare up again every few days, leading to some more time off. I have been good about my PT exercises but it’s hard to stay motivated when I don’t even know if they are helping.
- Run/Walk 2016 miles I haven’t really been tracking mileage this month. I have been running based on time, and if I had to guess I would say I probably ran about 15-20 miles this month. My Vivofit died a few weeks ago so I haven’t been tracking my steps either. I may just give an estimate so I can continue tracking for the year, but I haven’t gotten around to that yet.
- Work towards a BQ No comment.
- Work towards sub 1:40 half I am signed up for the Annapolis half on November 19th (you can save 10% using the code RUNNINGOUTOFWINE16!) but I guess I will have to see how my foot is doing when it’s time to train.
- Do at least 10 push-ups 3 days per week I managed to do this throughout July. In general I had more of a focus on strength training which isn’t a bad thing.
OTHER GOALS:
- Improve posture I definitely ignored this one while I was on vacation. At work, it’s been ok. Always room for improvement though.
- Move more There were times when I wanted to move less just to minimize time on my feet. But in general I think there was a pretty good balance with this.
- Focus on saving money This month went pretty well. There were no major expenses so that helped. My biggest expense was groceries (which really adds up some months!)
- Get back in the habit of weekly meal prep I’ve been keeping things minimal but still getting enough done to make for easy meals throughout the week.
- Make time to unplug I did pretty well unplugging when I was away. Now that our deck is done I hope to be spending more time outside and less on the laptop!
How did you do with your goals in July?
What are you looking forward to in August?
Do you ever feel like you are just waiting for things to happen meanwhile time is just passing you by?
time is just flying! I am so not ready for the fall and the school routine yet everything is passing so quickly in a blur. and it’s darker already in the morning! I was thinking of you, knowing how we can’t stand when it’s darker in the morning. ugh!
I feel like I missed the whole time of year when it gets light really early! Very frustrating. I’m not ready for dark mornings again yet.
You have been working towards a BQ by healing your foot. Believe me, that BQ isn’t going to happen if your feet don’t work!
Exactly. Patience is key with this.
I totally understand the waiting on things to happen…I have been going through the process of foot issues for almost 9 months and I still am trying to figure out exactly how much load my tissue can handle without pushing myself back into time off.
I know it isn’t easy for you.
I am slacking at my strength training, which I have no excuse for.
Have you felt like just walking some? When I first started back I walked a lot. I tend to not walk much at all lately trying to save the feet to run, but honestly I am still not sure if walking really “hurts”
I do know it was good for my frame of mind 🙂
I’ve been trying to do some walking. I feel like my foot pain is all or nothing- When it starts hurting, I feel it when I walk so figure its better to stay off my feet. I’m sorry you had been dealing with your injury for 9 months. That’s way too long and I hope it clears up for good really soon!
That must be such a relief that your deck is finally done – yay! In August, I’m looking forward to Vacation and some back to school nutrition talks. I’m hoping the weather will start to cool down, but that probably won’t be until September. I’ve been slacking in strength training lately!
Thats really cool that you get to do back to school nutrition talks!
I hope your foot heals up! It’s so frustrating and at times disheartening how many injuries seem like two steps forward, one step back. But like Susie said, even by focusing on getting your foot better, you are working towards all your goals!
It really does feel like 2 steps forward and 1 step back. I learned some new exercises at PT last night and I am very hopeful that they will help me to really get better.
I feel your frustration! My foot injury was a big reason why I ended up keeping my gym membership, so I could have access to the bike and elliptical. It’s so annoying when everything feels fine and then all of a sudden you get tweaks and have no reason why!
Yep! My PT wants me to try to notice whenever it hurts and think back on that I have done in the past 48 hours that could have caused it (certain shoes, alot of time on my feet, running, etc). Maybe tracking that way will help me to figure it out a little bit better. I’m glad you have a gym membership so you can at least cross train!
It’s hard to believe we’re already into August. This year has been such a blur for me and while I haven’t made goals, the one thing I wanted to achieve was moving to Boston. I’m sorry your foot is taking so long to heal! One of my good friends who is an ironman has told me before that our bodies will heal when mentally they don’t feel the pressure to jump back into training. When I finally let go of any future races or rushing to get back into running, that’s when I saw the biggest improvement. Fingers crossed for you!
I remember when you wrote about that and thank you for the reminder! Thats such a good point. I was thinking about how you got into yoga when you were injured and I wish I could just find something accessible that I enjoyed to help fill the void a bit. I just lack motivation when I am doing all my workouts in my basement.
Glad to hear that your foot is feeling better. I cannot believe it is August already. Where did July go? I haven’t been running as much due to the heat. Unfortunately I don’t thk it is gonna be any better this mth. Fingers crossed that it is. My vivofit didn’t break but I lost mine. I think it slipped off my wrist at work and into a trashe can when I threw something away. I feel like I haven’t been getting my steps in either. It is something about that accountability. Maybe I will get another one.
Thats too bad that you lost your vivofit! Im also less motivated to get in steps without it.
I feel like my life is so chaotic that I’m unable to be much of a goal-setter and more of a reactive-to-chaos person. I think if I listed off all the things I wanted to accomplish in a month then I’d end up getting discouraged and depressed. Ha ha! I’m glad your foot is getting better although I wish it wouldn’t act up! Hopefully it completely settles down for you.
Thanks! I made all these goals at the beginning of the year so I have felt like there is plenty of time to work towards them. Sometimes I think about making monthly goals but I think that would feel like too much pressure.
I’m on my second Vivofit. The first one died in 17 days. The replacement one made it about a month and is headed back to Garmin. What’s the deal with those things?
Wow, I cant believe it died in 17 days! The battery just died in mine and I have had it for a year and a half and I think this is only the second time Ive had to replace the battery. Overall I have had a lot more success with the vivofit than Rob has had with the 2 fitbits he has had.
I didn’t do a lot of running either. I’m trying to track each run, but I haven’t added up my mileage yet. Sometimes it’s nice not to know and just do (or not do).
Exactly, especially when Im not training theres really no reason to worry about mileage.
I so look forward to running in the summer and yes, I feel like summer is just passing me by while I recover from my foot issue! Grrrrr. Life circumstances have also prevented me from doing all the cross training and strengthening work I need to do.
For me, this summer is kind of a bust! I’m done fighting it and am just kind of rolling with things…
Thats how I feel. I will enjoy running any time of year so the priority is just getting healthy.
I can’t believe it is August already!
Can you maybe find a cheap stationary bike on Craigslist or something? I bought one last year when I was dealing with ITB issues as I still needed to get my body moving and my blood flowing thanks to circulation issues and I LOVE it! I bought a relatively cheap one from the store but I’m sure you can find them secondhand too!
Thats a good idea. I may need to price that out and see what Rob thinks. We just put so much money into our deck that we agreed to not really buy anything big for awhile.