Healthy living, happier outlook!

Lord do I love to run! Now, I'm not very fast, and I can't go very far. Yet. I will get there, though, because I choose to! I did my third run today with my IT strap...about 15 minutes, about 1.12 miles. ZERO pain!!

I've also been harping on Steve about how I want to include a lot more veggies in our diet. In the past we've failed at this, I think, because we try to buy all fresh veggies & they go bad. But from what I've been reading, the frozen are just as good, if not better sometimes, because they're flash frozen at their peak. So we're making a casserole tonight chocked full of carrots, broccoli, cauliflower & onions...with chicken & brown rice. Om nom nom!  We also had a snack after our run of baby carrots w/french onion dip. And I'm drinking nothing but water and iced tea (no sweetener!).

It's amazing what good food & exercise do for your attitude. I feel infinitely happier & more energetic. And we're going to sign up for our FIRST RACE EVER!! We're going to do the Ringing in Spring 5k in Valpo on April 2nd. I'm soooooo stoked! w00t!!

Bring it on, world!!

The glass is half full :)

w00t w00t! First, Nikki worked on my legs & butt a couple weeks ago to get rid of the irritation and everything. Then I got the IT strap in the mail. I signed up for Cardinal Fitness because the sidewalks are just too shitty to run on. On Wednesday (the 19th), I ran ten minutes!! And today I ran 13!! With 100% NO PAIN!!! Fingers crossed this is the turning point. You will never see me without that strap on my leg! :)

Well shit.

Well, I made it 3 minutes. I've now ordered an IT band strap that's supposed to stabilize it and stop it from getting so irritated. We shall see...

Happy New Year!

Okay, so it's not *quite* the new year yet...we still have about 11 hours to go. But Steve and I are getting a head start on things. In about an hour we're going to try and run a bit. We'll see how it goes...my knee was hurting yesterday even though I hadn't done anything! We're only going to do 4 minutes at a time...two, maybe three intervals depending on how we feel. It's frustrating to have fallen back that far, but I just hope to do it with no pain in my knee.  It rained all night, and it's in the 40s, so the sidewalks should be free of ice and snow now. I have no illusions we'll be able to run consistently through the winter, but anytime we get lucky like this we'll take advantage of it...gotta remind our bodies what it feels like!

Looking forward to celebrating tonight. For the second year in a row we're going to Great Oaks for a dinner/open bar/DJ NYE party. It's a really fun time, and not too far from home! Bring it on, 2011!!

New Year, Better Knee?

Let's hope so anyway. Today it's been over 2 weeks since I ran...I ran one more time after my last post. We did 7-minute intervals times 6...but I only did 3 and 1/2 of those intervals, if I remember correctly. Steve on the other hand, did all of it and then some without many breaks.  He then proceeded to run on his own & do 4 miles, then 6 miles...without any walking whatsoever.

Then the snow descended upon us! So Steve hasn't run for 2 weeks either. The timing worked out pretty well since I was just nearing the crazy end of the semester, in addition to my holiday concert with Illumination. Now that things are winding down, I created a cross-training plan for now to strengthen my everything and keep me in shape. Once it's decent enough to run again, we'll have quite a setback but hopefully I'll still have maintained some semblance of fitness.  I'm alternating days of arms, legs & yoga/abs...once I add running back in, it'll go on the same days as yoga/abs, because that doesn't work the legs too much.

I'm just desperately clinging to the hope that once I get back to running my knee will be stronger and looser and I won't have pain. If I do, I guess I'll just have to become a yoga addict lol. But seriously, nothing was as inspiring and as exciting as the thought of running in races & running farther every week & just being in such great shape. That is my goal & I will do whatever it takes to get my knee to the place it needs to be to do that!

Ugh.

I could not be more depressed right now. Our 10-minute run on Wednesday was fine. My knee felt pretty good...toward the very end I started feeling like if I had gone much further it might have started hurting, but it didn't hurt from 10 minutes. We didn't get to do our 15-minute run on Friday because we decided last-minute to take a trip to Cincy to see Steve's grandma, because she probably won't be with us much longer. So we did our 15-minute run today (Saturday). Just as I had suspected on Wednesday, those 5 minutes past 10 started to hurt. It wasn't excruciating pain like last week when I first felt it, just a real ache. So when we got home I did a good amount of stretching for the IT band, and did some strengthening exercises too. No good...the more I walk around on it the more it's hurting. I just went to the basement for something and felt the same old pain doing the stairs. There's no way I can do 7-minute intervals x 6 tomorrow.

I'm so frustrated I want to cry. In fact, I have been crying. Times are really tough for us right now, and running is the one thing I have to look forward to and to feel good about. I just want to feel sorry for myself that the one thing that brings me joy right now may be taken from me. I don't know what to do...

Fingers crossed!!

Well, I'm placing my trust in Internet information! Lol. I am 95% positive the issue with my knee was coming from the iliotibial band, which is a big band of fibers that runs from your butt down the outside of your thigh & attaches just below the knee to the tibia.  The symptoms described were mine to a T: pain on the outside of the knee, especially when going up & down stairs. Anyway, we decided to push our runs this week to Wed Fri Sun to give my knee a few days off to heal. In the meantime I've also been learning stretching & strengthening exercisese to prevent that from happening again. So...fingers crossed that solves the problem!  I have no pain at all anymore & I've been doing the stretching. I'm also going to improve our warmup before we run.  Up to now we've just been walking a couple blocks to a certain point & then starting to run...I'm going to start doing a good little stretching & calisthenics-type warmup before we leave the house so my legs are more ready to go. Then I'm going to stretch really well when we get home. No more half-assing the non-running stuff!

So tomorrow we run 10 minutes straight...shouldn't be bad as long as my knee behaves. Gotta fit the workout in amidst a flurry of house cleaning to prepare for Thanksgiving! I am so excited to have my family over!! It's going to be a great day :)