Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Free Cheese!

On a completely non-workout matter, I won a cheese basket today from Ile de France! I'm so excited! I never win anything. I signed up on a whim and got lucky. Plus it looks like they are giving them out for the next couple of days so you should sign up too. :) Who knows?! As a warning, I'm not planning on sharing. Well, except with the 20 people coming to Thanksgiving... no one else though!

Tonight I had yoga which was lots of fun. I got about 3/4 up into headstand for a bit (no wall!) and didn't flip over onto my back like last week (that bruise is just fading). Plus, I got to untape my feet afterward. I think that it helped, but by the end of the day, the outside of my right foot was sore. I don't know if that has anything to do with the taping or if I just walked into something though!

Alright, late night for me. Another round of PT exercises and maybe a little more time on this exam before bed. As of Thursday afternoon though, 2/5 classes down! Woohoo!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Laziness, Acorn Squash and Taped Feet

Well, not running has certainly made me lazier about updating. I tend to do my updates after a run to document mileage and progress, but since I do my PT exercises throughout the day and yoga at night.... I get lazy. I'll work on it!

So physical therapy has been going pretty well so far. I try to make sure I do the exercises consistently and my therapist sees some improvement so far. I can now walk downstairs but up is still a little bit difficult. However, rolling my IT bands out feels much less tender now. It was really excruciating before, especially on the left side, so I'd have to do it in shorter sections.

Yesterday, she also taped up my feet to see if that helps with my knee pain (the point is to keep my arches from rolling in). I'm not sure if it helps but I like the pressure on my feet. The bottom of my right foot is super itchy though. I only have to leave them on until tonight, but if they are helpful, then orthotics may help keep my feet more stable.

They look a little silly, but I hope it helps!

I also have been cooking lots! I was in the mood for squash again, so I did a quick internet search and found a recipe for Stuffed Spicy Acorn Squash with Quinoa, Walnuts, and Dried Fruit. I was out of walnuts so I subbed pecans, and also added some raisins and an apple. It was so good! I suggested the quinoa mixture to my mom for Thanksgiving and I think that we are going to make it. Yum. I also made a white bean spinach soup out of my new vegetarian slow cooker book and oatmeal for the week. Anything to put off doing schoolwork!

It made for awesome leftovers too

Besides that, I have just been trying to get through some work. I have an exam due Thursday so I'm hoping to get through a lot of that tonight, before and after yoga. However, I'm going home to New York on Friday morning! Super excited for that. I can't believe how close finals are getting though. I really need to bring some work home with me, even though I definitely do not want to. Oh well. Only a few more weeks of this.

Back to work!

P.S. How fun does this look!? Country Music Half Marathon

Friday, November 13, 2009

Running Blogs

I miss running. To make up for it, I've been reading lots of articles and running blogs. Here are some of my favorites that I read daily...

Runner's Kitchen
I love her blogs about balancing running and healthy eating, in a realistic manner! Plus, she was so kind to answer an email I wrote her about IT band injuries :)

Heather Eats Almond Butter
I've been reading this forever. I love her recipes and yoga stories. Love love love. Plus, it's turned me on to kabocha and a few new things in Nashville!

The Long Run
My friend gave me this link, which chronicles her friend's marathon (and now ultra) training! Eek.

New York Times: Training the Mind to Run Through the Winter

It's been so beautiful out so there are lots of people running out now and it makes me so jealous! Sigh.

PT and New Cookbooks!

I've been rather lax about posting recently. I apoligize!

Physical therapy has been going pretty well. I've been pretty good about keeping up with my exercises at home, I think, as I've been pretty sore every morning. However it's a good sore now! I don't mind muscle soreness as long as it's not causing pain. So this week, I've gone three times and I've got another three scheduled for next week. Unfortunately my insurance isn't covering as much as I'd like, but this is pretty important to me so it's worth it. I can walk normally now (good for Martha!) but I still can't manage stairs. It's amazing how many glares I get taking the elevator at school or the bookstore. I think most people think I'm just being lazy. Judgy.

So I learned a little bit more about my IT band from talking to my physical therapist (love her, really!). It seems that something that I do every day might also be really stressing my IT bands. When ever I'm standing still, I tend to cock my hip to one side, which really stresses the band in that leg. Once I noticed that I do it, I see that I do it ALL the time. While brushing my teeth, washing the dishes, even during pauses while walking the pup. I'm trying to keep my weight evenly distributed on both legs, but I've had few lapses. It looks like this is going to end up being a total re-education in how I walk, stand, run... I usually sit on the couch in a way that stresses it too because I fold my legs under myself in a weird sorta way. I'm trying to be pretty conscious of it so that I can learn new ways to do things that don't stress my legs.

I've been making it to yoga at least! I went on Tuesday and Thursday this week, and I hope to make it to the free class at lululemon tomorrow too. I've been taking it easy and trying to not push it, but so far, no pain from class. I think I've developed a little bit of fear towards re-injury too. It hurt a lot. These past two classes, I've been using my new lululemon yoga mat and I'm shocked to report that I really don't like it! I even switched mats mid-class yesterday because it was so slippery that I can't stay in downward dog. Luckily, the company stands by their products so much that I've heard that they will take it back! I will test that theory out tomorrow and see what happens. Maybe tomorrow if I make it to the class?

I picked up a couple new cookbooks to try out as well! As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not a vegetarian, but I tend to eat a rather plant-based diet so I bought two vegetarian cookbooks. I find that most others revolve around meat as the main part of the dish (i.e meat and a veggie side instead of veggie with a little meat), especially for slow cookers. I'm pretty excited to try both out and if I'm really craving bacon, it looks like it would be pretty easy to toss some in.

First up: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

I really like Bittman's column in the NYT and his food philosophy. I also have his book Food Matters, and while the recipes are really good, it's got a lot more narrative than cookbook. I was especially excited about the section in this book on seitan! I love getting it in restaurants but am clueless as how to handle it in my own kitchen. I'll let you know how it goes!

Second: Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker
I just bought a slow cooker, thinking how wonderful it would be to just toss some ingredients in it in the morning and to have something ready for dinner! However, most slow cooker cookbooks are for roasts and stuff. This one has a great white bean and escarole one that I can't wait to try out. Yum.

One last comment on food before I get back to some physical therapy exercises. I had some Ben and Jerry's light Phish Food Ice Cream last night which is deeeelicious, but I took a gander at the ingredients and almost fell over. Ingredients 2-4 are liquid sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and sugar. ICK. I'm going to finish out the pint (can't waste tasty ice cream), but I'm kinda conflicted at buying it again. That's a lot of sugar and artificial sweeteners, and since I'm so careful about not throwing that into most of my diet, it seems like a bit of a shame to eat it for dessert. Any thoughts on this?

So tasty! But so artificial! What to do!

As I go, I'll leave you with a picture of Martha (who just turned two!). The poor pup has been trying to climb into my lap for the past half hour and has been asking me to hurry up with the update so she can settle in. She says hi. :)

Monday, November 9, 2009

Physical Therapy Round I!

Fantastic! Wonderful! Awesome!

What are: words that describe my first physical therapy session?

:)

I'm really pleasantly surprised at how well that session went. I love the office and the people who work there are so nice and helpful. I was seen right away and the therapist I was working with got a pretty detailed history of the injury and then proceeded to examine me. She looked at my feet, how I walk (limp?), checked strength on both legs.... plus, she said I had very good feet for running! Something on me is natural for running! Her assessment showed that my knees curve a bit inwards, my glutes are a bit weak and the muscles on the insides on my knees aren't responding as quickly as the outside ones... that's my summary in very non-medical terms of course. So she worked on the IT bands on both legs which was about 25% nice massage and 75% ouch pain, but I was shocked when I stood up to walk. My knee was still twinging, but I could walk on it. Amazing. I'm a convert. Finally, she put the e-stim pad thingys on my left leg with some ice and showed me my "homework" exercises. I'm heading back in tomorrow and Thursday!

I'm so excited. She said it will probably be about 2 weeks off of running and then from there we'll start with light runs and she'll watch my stride and see what is causing the injury. She already had a bunch of ideas from inserts to taping my feet to more exercises. I'm so happy to find something that I think is going to work for me. I've still got a whole load of work to do before I can really train again, but that's ok. We're on the right road at least. The idea of running pain free is amazing. I hope I get there. :)

For dinner, I just warmed up some left over frittata and made butternut squash. Delicious for watching House. Now it's time to get some reading done... and do my exercises again!

Race Report of Kneee Disaster

Well, I've been putting off doing this race report because the race did not go nearly as well as I'd hoped... however, I'm sitting in class, enjoy some nice oatmeal with banana and almond butter, so now is as good a time as any I suppose!

I'll start with Friday. I dropped Martha off in the morning to stay with a puppy friend and headed out to Clarksville to pick up my race packet. The "race expo" definitely left much to be desired but it was cute. This year was also the inaugural Clarksville race so there were expected kinks to be worked out for next year. I also checked into our hotel and instead of doing work for a bit there, I just napped in the patch of sun on the bed... ah....

After a bit, I picked my mom up at the Nashville airport. Hurray! I was so happy that she flew in to run with me. We had a pretty good dinner at Cafe Nonna in Nashville, but I was a little disappointed with the lasagna. Not nearly as many tasty fall veggies as I had hoped. We drove back to Clarksville and after some ice cream, called it a night in preparation for the morning race.

We were up and fed and at the starting line by 7:45am the next morning, and the race began at 8. The course and weather were both perfect! The course winds its way by some wineries and farm houses and had a good mix of flat stretches and good hills. It was about 60 degrees when we started and I was actually kinda hot as it warmed up. All in all though, perfect conditions. Plus, the run felt great. My legs felt relaxed, the pace was nice, and my heartrate was comfortable. At about mile 2, my left IT band started twinging, but not too bad. However, by mile 6 it was really starting to hurt. We stopped to walk for about a half mile, hopping that it would give my knee enough of a rest to come back. Between mile 6.5 and 7.5, it hurt but I figured that i could run through it. Only another 6 miles to go at that point! However, between 7.5 and 7.9, it went from uncomfortable to unbearable. We were going around a curve and within 10 steps, I couldn't put any weight on it. With some tears (I'd say half from frustration and half from pain), we got a ride from a really rude cop to the finish line, where the EMTs had to check me out.

Beginning of the race! You can see how beautiful the weather was. :)

Once they determined that I wasn't going to die on the spot and I signed a refusal of treatment form, my mom got the car and picked me up, and off we drove. I didn't want to stick around for the festivities and medal stuff because it would just add to the depressing situation.

After a few days of contemplation, I know that it was the right call to stop and that I probably ran through it for too long in that I still can't really walk on my left leg. I think I kept going because I didn't want to stop and give up and then think back that I hadn't pushed hard enough. I think the lesson is to listen to your body and when it says no, it means no. Also not to take two weeks off with a race coming up!!

So for the future! I'm going to physical therapy today and we'll see how it looks. Hopefully in a few months, I can start really training again and maybe the DPHM is still a possibility. Rehab it and try again! I'm more determined than ever now to finish it because having an unfinished half hanging over my head is going to irk me until I finish one. I hope I can come back stronger and quicker. I also hope that my knee feels well enough for yoga tomorrow!!! I have it in a brace now because it helps keep it stable as I drag myself around. I'm a tad worried that I'm going to throw my right hip out with the awkward way I'm walking but hopefully we'll talk about that at PT today. It felt a whole lot better this morning after icing it lots and elevating yesterday, but it's pretty uncomfortable in class with the angle of the chair and all the stairs I have to hop up to get to my seat. Last class of the day at least! Hopefully someone can give Martha a long walk for me today too... poor puppy.

Here's to hoping that PT goes well today and that I'll have some good news in a few hours!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Frittata Success

My run yesterday was a tad miserable. I got about 2 miles in on the treadmill and the left knee was starting to twinge and by the 2 1/2 mile point, it was downright hurting so I stopped. I'm glad that I got a little bit in but I'd feel better about it if I could've gotten through the whole thing pain free. Right now I'm just focusing on getting the knee swelling down and making it through Saturday in one piece. My mom suggested that I just do the 5k instead of the full half, but I want to try. Hopefully my knees will play along. I wish I had fit more runs in the past two weeks. Sigh. Things to do next time around.

Yoga was pretty theraputic though and felt great. My teacher did lots of corrections on me and it felt great on my knees and back. Plus, I really am starting to get the hang of headstand!! I still have my legs bent but I can hold that for about five breaths. I wish I had more room in my apartment to practice on. Now that I'm not totally relient on the wall maybe I can try the living room? There isn't a whole ton of free floor space! I'm looking forward to Thursday and told her that I might need to opt out of a few warriors so I don't exhaust my legs for this weekend!

Last night, I opted out of going to Zumi because I am both trying to save some money and get more veggies into my diet. Solution: I made this awesome frittata from the Clean Eating website!! I've been considering subscribing to the magazine, mostly for the recipes, and now I think that I definitely will. I found the recipe on their main website, under Menus&Recipes (I can't seem to get a direct link to the recipe), and it was delicious with potatoes, arugula, and cherry tomatoes. I subbed in red potatoes because I like how creamy they are and added onion.

Easy Deliciousness

So amazing. I planned on eating half of it, but could only manage to eat about a third so now I have lunch for today and tomorrow! I'm going to roast some butternut squash to accompany it, if I have the time. I have another class this evening and a presentation to work on for the next couple of hours so I don't know how much time I have to devote to cooking. Unfortunately.

However, when I get home tonight, I'm going to try my hand at this Curried Vegetable Stew, but I think I'll just have a nice chunk of sourdough bread instead of the couscous. Hopefully it goes well! Goodness, what would I do without the internet and its recipe search functions.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Swine flu avoidance at school

So the knees are feeling a bit better today! Hurray! I bought another IT band strap for my left knee yesterday and I'm going to try a 3 mile jog or so this afternoon to see how it goes. I'm hoping it goes well ... or else. I know that the straps are just a temporary fix, but after this weekend, I can work to get to the root of the problem. Eeks, I also have lots of work to do and errands to run as well. Yikes. I can't believe it is already November!

Plus, school right now basically sounds like a swine flu infirmary. On all sides of me, people are coughing and sneezing and looking downright feverish. When I had the swine this summer, I was out of work for almost an entire week so these people must really be suffering trying to get here for class. On the other hand, I am working so hard this semester not to get sick so being surrounded by all this illness really stresses me out. I had bronchitis during both sets of finals last year and got pneumonia this summer. My poor lungs just can't take another round! I'm doing all I can with eating well, exercising, sleeping enough, and taking lots of Airborne. Hopefully I'll make it through the semester unscathed as I definitely do not have time to get sick again. Although I should be immune to swine flu now, I still fear the seasonal flu... and any cold really, as it always goes straight to my lungs.

On a happier note, tonight I have yoga, hopefully after a successful run! I'm working on my schedule for next semester and as of right now, it looks like I'm going to have loooong Tuesdays, with class intermittently from 8am to 5:50pm. Sigh. I was trying to avoid that but the schedule of offered classes for next semester is pretty terrible.

OK, I'm off to get some more reading done and have a snack, of course. Skim cappuccino and cashew cookie lara bar it is! However, before I run off, I have a bone to pick with Starbucks...

Really!? It's the beginning of November! I love the holidays as much as the next person, but this is getting ridiculous. I am officially boycotting all things holly jolly and jingle bell-y until post-Thanksgiving. Call me Scrooge but this is starting to become absurd.

Monday, November 2, 2009

IT Band strikes again. and again.

Well, my running freakout was certainly justified. Unfortunately. However, I did complete my first official 5K on Saturday!! It was just a fun experience in general to get a number and line up and run with lots of people you don't know. Plus, there were some fabulous costumes which provided on course entertainment. :)

Awkward pre-race, sun-in-my-eyes picture.
At least it proves I was there!


Blurry action shot

I'm not sure what my official time is, but the clock said 33:10 when I finished. I'll update when I find out the official time. (UPDATE: Apparently the official time was 33:19... Don't know how that happened but maybe I saw the clock wrong.) My knees were in a world of pain though, and not just the right one. By mile 2 they were both hurting, but it was really the left one that was killer for the duration. It feels like it's the IT band on that side too. Sigh. I think it was caused by a combination of things, mostly that I hadn't run in a while and the entire course was pretty much uphill. They were pretty swollen on Saturday night and when I woke up on Sunday, my left knee was so swollen I couldn't bend it all the way. I iced them on both Saturday night and Sunday morning, but I'm not sure how much it helped. Any kind of motion that involved pivoting was super painful. I cleaned the apartment last night and just vacuuming was pretty painful.

Of course, the swollen knees prevented me from my long run yesterday and now that the half is only 5 days away, I think I just need to focus on getting my knees back to normal and will run it without doing a last long run. I'm definitely looking forward to the race, but I'll be happy when it's done and I can go to a doctor to get my knees checked out again. I think I may pick up an IT band strap for my left knee as well, since the right one seems to give my knee some relief and that knee recovered much quicker.

For some reason, if I have a long run scheduled and I can't fit it in, I just skip it instead of doing a shorter one in its place. With finals coming up, I definitely won't have time for long runs (long being 9+ miles) but I'm really hoping to squeeze in 3 or so 3-5 mile runs a week, focusing on speed. Then when finals end, I can start working on distance again, hopefully to do the DPHM. :)