Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Podiatrist and PT

I had my follow-up visit with the podiatrist and they did a gait study while I ran.  I am still having trouble with the neuroma on my right foot and it was not happy today.  Apparently I have a leg length discrepancy ( which I already knew ) that is pretty significant and which is probably causing a majority of my issues.  They recommend a slight heel lift and continue working in PT to strengthen my core and left side.  They doctor also said that because of my knee laceration I have been compensating on my right side with the way I run and walk.  The doctor is optimistic I will recover quickly as long as I do not over do it.  I am the worst patient ever!!

I had PT right after my appointment and spilled my emotions to my therapist.  I got a ton of laser and stim to help with the neuroma.



I also did a ton of core work and lower leg massage and stretching!

After PT I needed to burn off some energy and was allowed to bike.  So I did 18.2 miles on the expresso bike and felt so much more at ease when I was finished.

Anyone ever have a neuroma?

Happy Running!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day Weekend

My parents have a great little place at the beach where my uncle is their neighbor!  So we headed down friday night to beat the traffic.  Saturday was my Mom's birthday so we celebrated by hanging out on the beach from 9am to 3pm...the kids had a blast swimming, crabbing and playing with friends while mom and I read our books.  After the fun in the sun we went out for a beach staple food and drink:



I felt like a got a little too much sun today despite the 50 spf and reapplying..



We finished the day with a delicious birthday ice cream treat.  Happy Birthday to the world's greatest mom!  I love you Mom!

Sunday it was time to test out the legs/feet.  I absolutely love early morning beach running.  My hubby went with me so I was forced to go slow and not over do it.



8 pain-free miles completed!  Happy me.  Then it was time to hit the beach.

How was everybody's holiday weekend?

Happy Running!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Alter-G

After working my midnight shift and getting my butt kicked at work I headed over to PT.  I was super excited when my therapist said "are you ready to run?"!!  I was grinning from ear to ear and almost cried I was so happy but also nervous.  I was afraid my legs forgot how to run.  So he zipped me into the Alter-G (antigravity) treadmill set my percentage and speed and I was running!  I was allowed run for 30 minutes and loved every second.  This machine makes running feel like it should...light footfalls,quick turnover and amazing!  I was so overwhelmed with emotion I forgot to get a picture of me running on my new BFF!  I followed up with my PT routine and I am already noticing a difference in my strength and flexibility.  Fingers crossed.

Happy Running!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Expresso!

Today started off rough.  A good friend of mine lost his father...It truly makes you put things into prospective and look at life differently.  This really breaks my heart and makes me appreciate my parents even more than I already do!

Today is also our 9 year wedding anniversary!!  It is so hard to believe that it has been 9 years...I really do look forward to spending many more years with my hubby!  Love you Danny!

So after an emotional morning I made it to the gym to work off some of those emotions.  I decided to try the Expresso Bike today.  Wow am I glad I did.  I got a great workout.  It was like playing a video game while working out.  I chose a 20 mile ride that had HUGE hills.  A guy got on next to me and picked the same ride...he kept looking over at my screen and checking my speed!!  So of course the competitor in me came out and I dusted him.



A screen shot of my ride.  Check out those hills.

Have you ever tried out this bike?

It will definitely become part of my cross training routine!

Happy Running!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Where has the time gone...

The past few days have been crazy busy around our household!  The end of the school year is quickly approaching and we have had tons to do.  Today was a special day because my little guy graduated pre-school...



He has grown so much over the year and I absolutely love his teachers and the dedication they have to the kids.

I have to tell you I am liking how my body is responding to all the weight training I have been doing the past week.  It takes a lot to motivate me to get there but once I start I find myself enjoying it.  Thank goodness I have an amazing gym and tons of supportive friends there!



This group of girls are so fabulous!  They have helped me look at the bright side and see that I will come back stronger then I was before.  Thanks girls!

I have moved my focus to my core, glutes, and ankles since I apparently have NO strength in these areas!  Tons of core work will hopefully give me the "pelvic girdle" I am lacking.  I also got cleared to do the elliptical and octane machine!  This was such a huge joy for me...Usually I avoid these machines like the plague.  I have totally shifted my mindset and am now really excited to see what my future training holds.

Today I was allowed to do the Stairmonster and got my sweat on...



Boy I look mean!  I swear I was elated to sweat like a man.  I did 70 minutes and loved every second.  My legs were shaky when I was done and it felt great.

I followed this up with Physical Therapy...I feel so weak in PT because he makes me do all the exercises I never do!  Hence the injuries.  I totally got worked today in PT for 1 hour 30 minutes.  But now that it is over I have to say I love it.  He knows exactly where my deficits are and forces me to strengthen them. I also had laser therapy and some stim!

Hope everyone is training smart!

Happy Running!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Fortune cookie and Feet.

I met my mom, brother and my little guy for lunch today and this is what my fortune cookie said!



So the "Running" part I feel like the cookie was either rubbing it in or letting me know I will be ok!!  My brother's said "Relationships" which is perfect for him!  I am taking this sign as a positive and looking at the bright side.

Since my physical therapist will be seeing and touching my feet I treated myself to a pedicure!



I always feel I have to explain to the pedicure girl way my feet are so gnarly!  Do you do this too?? The good thing about having gross stitches in my knee is she hardly noticed how ugly my feet are!!

Happy Running!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Fantastic Friends..

I am so touched with the amount of support and caring that my many friends and family have shown to me.  Since I cannot bend my knee until the stitches are removed I have to modify my workouts BIG TIME!!  I am very lucky to have many personal trainer friends who have given me "WOD" (workout of the day) to do that are really kicking my butt!  I am planning on having rock solid abs and sculpted arms just in time for summer!

Big thanks to Angel who has truly been my "Angel" through everything.  She really keeps me sane!  Mama Dawn is totally my voice of reason and always makes me see the big picture!!  Josh and Tony are saviors for making my workouts hard and helping me work on my imbalances!

I started Physical Therapy yesterday and the therapist could not get over my lack of luck since Boston.  He was awesome and took a ton of measurements of strength and flexibility.  I was surprised by how weak my left side is...Apparently I have a weak core, glutes, and ankles!  Lots of work to do but my therapist thinks I will come back a much stronger runner and get my PR # that I want!  This gave me a ton of hope and was exactly what I needed to hear.  My PT said he thinks by having stitches this is the best thing that happened at this moment because now I am forced to focus on my recovery!

So if anyone has a favorite WOD please share!

Happy Running!

Ouch!!!!!!

Images my be graphic in this post!

Today I ran 6 progression miles and I am trying to ease back into running after taking almost 4 weeks off recovering.  I started at an 8:19 pace and ended at 7:13.  I felt pretty good but was paying close attention to my body.  I have to remind myself that I cannot go "balls to the wall" just yet!

We had our final lacrosse game today which is sad but also a relief because now I can get back into my normal flow!  My team was such a blast this year and I was extremely lucky to have coached them.  I can honestly say the are the nicest girls I have ever coached!!



After the game we met up with the family to grab a bite to eat with our traditional "Mexican Food Monday"!  Mmmmmm it was delish.

Then this occurred:

 

So my hubby left an unprotected box cutter/scraper thing in the driver side door and when I got out my knee landed right on the blade!  I am soooooooooooooo frustrated right now because I have just started running again and now I cannot bend my knee for 10-14 days!!!  The ER doctor must think I am cray cray because I asked him 7x about exercising!!  This makes cross training difficult too because I cannot do the bike or aqua jog or squat!  And to top it all off it ripped my favorite khakis!!  Thank God for my Aunt Ora who is an ER nurse because I was in and out in less than an hour!



Still smiling through the pain and madness!

Anyone know any great workouts that don't bend you knee??

I may go insane if I cannot release my sweat!

Happy Running!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day, My Birthday and Delaware Marathon!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there!  I was planning on running the Delaware Half Marathon today but due to my injury after Boston I decided to work at my running clubs water-stop.  This was a blast!  My hubby, my boys, Angel and her oldest son, and I all worked the stop at mile 20-21.  It was a hot day for a marathon and I can totally sympathize with the runners!  It was amazing to see my little guys out there supporting the runners and giving back to the community!  I love being a mom.



1st female!! She finished in 3:08.  Great job girl!



Love this guy...Pink tutu!

  

My boys hard at work!!



This was such an awesome opportunity and I will definitely do it again when I am recovering from running a marathon!

After we finished up we all went to Trail Creek outfitter!!  I am in love with this store.  It has everything I like...great clothing for running, working out and yoga as well as everyday where!  They also carry a ton of outdoor/trail shoes and kids stuff!  Since it is my birthday I snagged a pair of trail running shoes:



Can you say BRIGHT!  We went to dinner with my Mom, Dad, and brother to celebrate my birthday and mother's day.  I truly have the best mom in the world and she deserves more than just a day special for her!  Love you mom!



We followed up dinner with these beauties!  Thank you Lauren they are heavenly.  I had one of the best birthdays ever this year and am so thankful for my amazing support system.

Did anyone do the Delaware Marathon, Half, or Relay out there?

How did you do?

Happy Running!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Trail Running

My runner girls and I decided to hit the trails this morning and it was amazing!!  This run was exactly what I needed especially after the past few weeks I have had.  We did a total of 9 miles and never looked at our paces.  We walked when we needed to and just chatted the whole time.  These are the type of runs that make me so grateful for my runner girlfriends!!  Thanks for sharing my "birthday run" with me Dawn and Angel!

Happy Running!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Mother's Day Tea!

These are the moments when I am overcome with joy!!  I had my Mother's Day tea with my little guy today and he made these for me....



Note in the picture he wrote that I have yellow eyes and gray hair!!  I can honestly say I do not have gray hair..yet!  I love that he thinks I am 9 years old but "knows I am a teenager"!!

After the tea we went to the gym and I did a variety of cross training...the ARC trainer, the stairmonster, and the Octane machine!

Happy Running!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Unhappy feet!

Tuesday I ran 4 miles at an 8:00 mile pace with 1% incline.  I stopped after 4 because my feet just did not feel right.  I did a few biceps and triceps then called it a day.  I had a Podiatrist appointment this afternoon which with the way I was feeling was perfect timing.  I hobbled into the office and felt like I was being stabbed in the top of my right foot! I meet with Dr. Paskey and loved her!  She took all kinds of measurements and watched me walk, run and stand.  She pressed on every single inch of my feet and ankles.  She also did a tuning fork test to rule out stress fractures...Thank god this was negative!   She also looked at my x-rays and bone scan and obtained another set of x-rays since the pain in my right foot was a new thing.

So after an hour and a half of hands on assessment and talking, I have Peroneal Tendonitis of my left foot ( which I already knew ) and a Neuroma/ Metatarsalgia of my right foot.  I also learned that I supinate when I run which is putting pressure on my tendons!  I left the doctors feeling so much more reassured knowing for sure that what I have and a plan of action to correct it.  I will be taking an anti-inflammatory med for a few days, following the anti-inflammatory diet, strength training, stretching, icing, and starting PT!  I use to think PT was awful but I am a firm believer if you have the right therapist it can benefit you greatly.  The Dr also suggested not running more than 30 miles a week and start back with run/walk and water running!!  Oh no this is the part that sucks!  I need to feel the "burn" of working out and I just hope that by doing this I can still get a great workout.

So until I am back to my long runner self I will be focusing on my imbalances and improving them so I can come back a stronger runner!

Happy Running!

Meeting Dean Karnazes

Monday was my first day back to running and I was super excited to see how I was going to make out.  I started very cautiously and kept my pace around 8:15 - 8:19 for the first mile...things felt great so I increased my pace every half mile or so and ended with a 6:40 mile and felt like I could have kept going.  I finished up with 30 minutes on the stairmonster and some stretching and foam rolling.

I was in heaven and felt "normal" again.  A friend of mine had 2 extra tickets to go see Dean Karnazes speak tonight so I was thrilled to be able to go with her!!  My hubby and I grabbed a quick bite to eat before the speaker series at Iron Hill Brewery.



Oatmeal cookie beer and grilled chicken quinoa salad...Yummy!

We had front row seats to hear Dean speak..He has been one of my running idols since I started distance running and I have read his books.  I find him so amazing and inspirational.  He truly is such a nice, down to earth person and his message is so powerful.  That fact that he can run so many miles and continually challenges himself and his body is amazing.  One question that was asked was how does he stay injury free.  He stated that he has great biomechanics and that he is able to recover quickly.  One study that they preformed on him showed that his lactic acid levels actually decreased with increased exertion!! He also stated that he "Never Sits Still"...he has his office at home step up so he is standing and he cross trains religiously.  Lots of leg work and core work as well as trail running.



My hero!!  I have been really wanting to do an Ultramarathon and after meeting Dean I am hooked.

Happy Running!!!

 

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Tabata workout and Happy Nurse's Day!!

So I am still sore from my friday workout.  I was asked to help "push" one of my friends training clients by doing a Tabata workout with him.  I warmed up on the stairmonster for 15 minutes at an intense pace then it was game on.

The workout consisted of 5 moves in a 20:10 seconds ratio (20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest) x 8 reps per move.  I have great lower body strength but my upper body def needs some work!  We started with inverted pull ups...Wow these got to be hard by the 5 set.  It is only 20 seconds of work but 8 sets is killer.  We then moved on to squats...bottoms had to hit a medicine ball for rep to count.  Then we did push-ups...at this point my whole body was shaking and I could barely get 6 push-ups per 20 seconds.  Then we did sit ups ( full sit ups hands touching shins/ankles to count).  I cannot for the love of god remember the 5th move!  I think I mentally blocked it out!  Well I have to say this was HARD!!!!!!!!!!  it was only about 25 minutes of work but it was all hard heart rate raising work.  I finished up with another 20 minutes on the stairs and left the gym a sweaty shaky mess.  I couldn't get over how depleted I felt after this workout but in a good way.  My muscles were still shaking 2 hours later and I was starving at this point.  I fueled right after the workout with a protein shake too.

It is now sunday and I still feel like I just ran a marathon.  I will definitely be incorporating more of these types of workouts into my training.  On of my biggest obstacles is giving up mu "running time" to lift weights but this workout was only 25 minutes long and HARD!

I worked this weekend and we got SUPERMOONED last night at work!  We had a baby boom and were crazy busy.  My cute parents stopped by to give me a nurse's day gift:



I love this card!  And an emergency chocolate bar...In the box is a ton of fruit slices candy which are my favorite!!!!

Happy Nurse's Day and Happy Running!

Friday, May 4, 2012

New Newtons....



I am so excited for my new running shoes!!!

I will be trying them out this Monday and cannot wait.  They are very bright and colorful but also they feel great on my feet.  My mom went with me and almost walked out of Bike Line with this beauty....



I got sucked into doing a KILLER workout today and I will write about it in my next post.  Hope everyone has an amazing weekend.

Happy Running!

A HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISH to my RUNNING BFF ANGEL!!!!  Hope you have the greatest birthday because you truly deserve it!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Gobs of Sweat!



My new love affair!



This shirt was light gray but after my sweatfest it was dripping wet!  I can run for hours and barely sweat but 75 minutes on this machine makes me sweat like a man and makes my muscles shake!

Great Thursday workout and I got the chat it up with Angel.

Happy Running!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Bye Bye Boot..

So I have been boot free since Friday but still haven't returned to running just yet.  I am in the clear for a stress fracture but not completely back to 100%.  After speaking to my Dr. they suggested that I take another 5-7 days of rest then resume slowly back into running since I do not have a race scheduled until Sept.  Although I have been cross training a lot lately I am missing my running and that fantastic feeling I get from a run!  I have been doing the stairmonster and Octane machine for 60 minutes and lifting weight these past 2 weeks.  It is hard work lifting weight!!!!  I find myself getting stronger but while I am doing the lifting I feel like a weakling!

My main focus right now is working out my imbalances and correcting my weaknesses.  For me I feel like I have a strong upper core/abs but my lower abs and pelvis are a little weaker ( this could be from childbirth ).  I find that when I get into a marathon training cycle I always forget about the cross training and lifting then I develop some weaknesses.  My goal for this next cycle is to focus more on speed and maybe even doing a few track workouts.  I am doing the Disneyland Half in September and really want to try to PR in the half.

This week has been super busy for me with lots of lacrosse games as well as my boys soccer and baseball games.  I am so proud of my boys and their athletic abilities.  They make me so proud in everything that they do.





This crazy kid!!

I have also been working on cleaning up my diet and eating more clean and natural foods as well as increasing my protein intake.  We eat pretty healthy in our household already with a few splurges here and there.  Luckily my kids are adventurous eaters and will try many different foods thank goodness.  So these are 3 new products/foods I have tried this week...





This Core Power protein drink is quite tasty!  In 11.5 fl oz it has 240 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, and 26 grams of protein.  It is all natural and made with real milk.  It taste like a "good for you" milkshake.  I pick this up in Boston and love them.  I chose the honey flavor but they also had strawberry banana, chocolate, and vanilla.



I picked these up in boston also and I needed something quick before practice the other day so I grabbed on of these.  It was yummy!  I really liked this cookies and cream flavor.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Happy Running!