July Goals Recap and August Goals

So I totally forgot I even made this post. Hah. Well, I remembered the goals part but not the posting part. 

July Goals

1.) Boot camp x 12. 

I didn't realize this when posting, but Mr. Trainer took a week off over the 4th. I would like to say I still did a lot of weights and circuit training...but I didn't. I think I ran 3x that week. Oops! Otherwise, I went to each class that was offered : ) So I'm counting this one a success! 

2.) 2.) Running 2 x per week on non-boot camp days. 

Um, no. It is more like 1x/week. I pretty much only run so that I can run at bootcamp! I'm a pretty crappy runner to be honest, but it is a thousand times worse after say doing 30 mins of burpees/squats/push-ups. I have nothing left! I will never, ever be fast but I'm still out there trying. 

3.) More water. Less Diet Coke.

Yeah, not even a little. I drank more water, but I don't think I actually drank less Coke. 

4.) More focus on diet.

Somewhat successful, but I could do loads better. 

August Goals

Goals 1-4 are still on my list. I think these are kind of on-going goals. 

5.) Related to diet: more fruits and vegetables, less processed food. I'm a snacker. I like convenience foods, unfortunately. Oh processed carbs, you had me at hello. I'm making a bigger effort to eat real, whole foods. Just like a proper dietitian!

6.) Blog about things other than boot camp! 

I like to post more 'academic' things that are educational, but then I think no one actually reads them. 

I think I may be one of the few blog readers who wants more words, fewer pictures. That said, I do need to actually take some pictures b/c it is looking boring around here, and I know  y'all are desperate to see more pictures of my adorable self. 

7.) Work more on strengthening my back/pelvis/core 

We do some of this at boot camp, but I need to do more of it on my own. I have terrible, awful ligaments that barely hold my joints together, so I need those kind of supporting muscles to be stronger. 

 

 

I also need to go see my back doctor which I have been putting off for ages. 

Do you  have any goals for August? Or just in general? Have any ideas for blog topics?!?

Happy Happy

I hope everyone had a good Easter. We had a very low key one-church at night and then Mexican food outside since it was so nice. Weird part-we sat on the patio and there was this random dude singing. He looked like my dad, if my dad was a high school biology teacher. He was signing so earnestly that it was kind of hilarious. It was so random and awkward. There were several kids who were rocking out though.

Good Stuff
I ran on Saturday!! With minimal pain : ) I haven't even tried to run or even walk a long distance in 3 weeks. I thought I would try a very slow, very short run focusing extremely on form. I ran on the treadmill so that I could pace and regulate my steps a little better. I took longer strides and made sure I was lifting more with my knees than my hips. Let me tell you: IT WAS MUCH HARDER. I kind of feel like for me to run longer distances I need to shuffle and expend as little effort as possible with each step so I can run longer. I was running faster--from the longer steps--and lifting my legs more. I was huffing and puffing especially after 5ish weeks off! How does cardiovascular endurance just disappear so quickly? I know I will have to build up the miles super slowly so I don't hurt myself more. My PT also recommended NOT running daily and to take 1 or 2 days off b/t runs. I can do low impact, but no running. I feel pretty good today though my legs are a bit sore from different muscles being used.

I will be eating amazing Chicago pizza this time next weekend!

 

Happy puppies in the sunshine! 

Did  you have a good Easter weekend? Do any running off of Cadbury eggs and jelly beans?

It's always the knees

I went to PT today! I was supposed to go yesterday, but wrote down my appt time for 30 mins later. Oops.

I'm going to go ahead and share my results and exercises in case anyone else has these problems. Plus, the therapist said these are great exercises for anyone who runs.

So like the internet told me, it is my hip flexor and ab-ductor muscles. I did kind of expect b/c I know I use my hip to lift my leg more than my knees (b/c they are weak and painful. My knees were the first part of my body to start failing. In fourth grade. I started regularly dislocating my knee caps at that age. I luckily haven't had this happen in 11 years. It is indescribably painful and more than a little gross.) So imagine me running with my foot turned about 30 degrees out. I'm sure I look totally crazy.

She said she could see the weakness in my knees and that hip flexor pain is often tied to weak knees and hips. She recommended I focus on making sure my knee is pointing forward at all times, and lengthening my stride. Apparently this kind of pain is relatively common in runners. To be honest, I laughed every time she called me a runner. I don't think my like 12-15 miles per week every single day at a super slow pace really qualifies me as a runner.

She had me stand on one foot than the other and just checked my balance. Then she had me squat on one foot. And by "squat" I mean bend my knee about 10 degrees.

Here is what she saw in me (besides my squishy white legs):

The weak side. See how far my knee goes towards median and how my hip kind of has to pop out wide to balance? Apparently that is bad. Also, in taking these pictures it became very obvious how much weaker this side was. I would turn on the auto timer and then wobble and flop trying to hold myself up for the camera. Most of the first tries showed my hands all out to the side trying to balance.

"Good" side. Ok, so it looks like my knee is pointing out.  Bad self photography. But I can get several inches lower and then don't wobble.






Please ignore the towel in my hallway. My dogs had a crazy time in the wet yard today.

Also, I love these shorts b/c they have full tight shorts underneath instead of the built in underoos. They are just the generic bcg from Academy ($13!) and good for PT so the entire gym doesn't have to see my downstairs.

My exercises
1) Standing side leg lifts with a resistance bands
2) Standing back leg lifts with lifted foot rotated out to perpendicular and standing foot straight ahead
3) Clamshell: lie on your side with resistance band around knees. Keep feet together but lift knee, rotating at   the hip.
4. Bridges: lie on your back, knees bent and up, and just lift your butt. I usually do these on a ball. 

Plus hip flexor and ITB stetches. Good times.

Fix it

I'm hoping for a miraculous and curative session of physical therapy tomorrow. Now, I've never had one go that way. So it would be a fun surprise. This hip thing is not going away and it hurts to walk, every single step. I had a ridiculous dr appointment on Friday which took, no lie, THREE FRICKING HOURS. In crazy tornado weather. The worst part is the appt wasn't even for anything but a PT referral (in AL you have to have a physician referral monthly to go to PT.) I got to wait 3 hrs to tell him he can't fix what is wrong with me, could he please send me to someone who can.

Also, WHY DO THE PAIN DOCTORS ALWAYS MAKE YOU WAIT THE LONGEST IN THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE CHAIRS???? My back was flared up for 2 days after waiting so long in those God awful chairs.

It is full on beautiful Spring here...well, summer almost. Temps in the 80s. I want to go outside and at least walk around, but I can't. Why couldn't I get injured in February? I would've happily not run in February.

So I'm going to the PT tomorrow and they will hopefully teach me how to run like less of a gimp. Fingers crossed!

RUNNERS. I NEED YOUR HELP!

So this might get a little long and pitiful, but please bear with me. I will try to do a Cliff's notes version.

--My body is totally effed up. It doesn't work right, isn't built right, and is all floppy. My ligaments don't hold me together, so my muscles try to do the job and then they both hurt. 

--Specifically challenging: my kneecaps dislocate and don't have much cartilage. They don't bother me too much unless I'm doing like weighted lunges or sitting with them bent for long periods of time. Knees were my first problem and the first indicator my ligaments sucked. I d/l the first one in 4th grade. They have remained relatively stable for about 10 years (praise the Lord, though I would take the old knee stuff for my current crap.)

--My pelvis is...askew in numerous fun ways. One side tilts forward, the other backwards. If your pelvis is supposed to be a bowl, mine is more like a towel being wrung. One iliac crest is about an inch higher than the others and a leg length discrepancy is either the cause or the symptom, idk.

--My chief complaint is my SI joint. A tiny little joint where your sacrum connects with your pelvis. it should move just a bit. Mine is permanently posteriorly rotated. It is an evil whore. It is never going to not hurt for me. No trauma, no injury. Just started hurting 6 years ago and hasn't stopped. Again: evil whore.

So I've had, and this is not an exaggeration, probably 2-3 years worth of physical therapy in the past 6. I do my exercises to stabilize my pelvis, strengthen my core, blah blah blah. I do it. I stretch. I ice. I do my exercises. I manage. There is a magic spot b/t not enough activity and too much that I try to find daily.

I've been trying to safely work on running. This means "running" so slowly and for very short periods of time. I warm up. I stretch. I focus on each step. I even wear my dorky back brace. Usually the first half mile to mile hurts. I'm thinking about each step, feel it in my back/hip/pelvis and want to stop. If I can get past that, I usually feel pretty good. Sometimes it just doesn't wear off. Like tonight.

Anyway, frequently when I walk/run my front upper thigh-hip area starts to hurt. Like if you took a really long step forward, it would stretch the top of your back leg. Only every single time I lift my leg, it hurts like hell. That little muscle or tendon or whatever that you feel when you lift your leg...as in flex knee to chest/pull knee upwards. Huuuuurts.

I don't know if it is the iliopsoas or what. I'm leaning towards that as part of my hip flexors. My PT used to squish her fingers UNDERNEATH the little ledge created by your iliac crest. You want to talk about painful! I do know that my back muscles are too tight and my abs are too weak, so I do tend to kind of lean back on my pelvis or arch my back.

Usually I just stretch the crap out of it and it is generally ok. Lately, that hasn't been cutting it. Tonight I just couldn't. It felt fine all day and then it hurt so so badly when I tried to run. Like hobbling, limping, crying hurt. I quit and am currently icing the crap out of it while popping nsaids. I took yesterday completely off, so I don't know if I have to run daily for it not to hurt or what.

Anyone have any advice? I'm googling, but can't find anything definitive.

IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, EXPERIENCE, HELP, OPINIONS, ETC PLEASE LET ME HAVE THEM. IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO HAS EXPERIENCE, PLEASE PLEASE SEND THEM MY WAY. IF ANYONE SUGGESTS SOMETHING THAT WORKS, I WILL SEND YOU A PRIZE FULL OF ALL GOOD THINGS, I PROMISE. SHORT OF GOING BACK TO PT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT. 

Long winded talking about myself

Good afternoon, kids!

Here are some random thoughts and pictures. Likely in no rational or logical order.

Lets start with dog pictures because you know they are cuter than I am.

This is Mabel (or MayBelle as my husband likes to call her. It is catching on, and now I say it with my ridiculous southern accent.) We have a big couch and then a big love seat. The love seat is where everyone sleeps. I have so many pictures of M and the dogs sleeping in crazy positions on this couch. I call it the napping couch. All living things are knocked out within minutes.

This is Bean. My dogs need haircuts badly. This is why it can be difficult to stretch or do 30DS with dogs. They think if I'm sitting on the floor than I must want to play. I can't tell you how many times they have dive bombed me from the ottoman to my belly as I got down to do crunches. They are tiny, but it still hurts! They are both silly and insane and I love them a ridiculous amount.




So yesterday was beautiful, so I decided to haul it around outside. I'm really kind of fascinated and confused as to why running outside is SO MUCH HARDER than the treadmill. I am not a good runner. But, I can't stand to walk on the tm so I try to run on it. I'm getting better at running on the tm and can actually run for a decent amount of time continuously (for me, that is. I'm sure others would laugh b/c it isn't good at all!) Outside, however, I feel immediately like I'm dying. My form feels spazzy, my legs barely work, my knees hurt, and I'm gasping for breath. I need a new word for outside running. At first I thought of slogging-sloooow jogging. But that doesn't really convey how slow I'm going or how difficult it appears to others or how lethargic and slothful I feel. So then I came up with slothing. But that just sounds like me slothing around the house (i.e. the other 23 hrs of the day.) Finally I decided on slogothing. Which doesn't seem as awesome when written. It makes sense when you are talking to yourself in your head while trudging around. Slow+jog+sloth+ing. Slogothing. (slogathing? slogithing? I don't know.)

But it was beautiful and there were many puppies in the park. About a mile from me there is a little community park with a soccer field and a track. It is pretty rundown and sketchy. But, it is close to a main street and there are usually people around during the day. I live in a...transitional neighborhood, let's say. I don't like to walk around by myself. Two women were attacked while running alone over the hill from me in the safest, and by far the richest area of the town. Both were running alone early in the morning and were attacked by the same person. I won't go into the specifics, but they are pretty horrifying. So I try to stay around other people, even though I'm embarrassed to have people see me slogothing. Plus, it is paved, not in danger from traffic (a local runner was struck and killed a few weeks ago while training for our marathon), and relatively flat. Of course, that means it is kind of a boring little run.

I used my new Runkeeper app from Android and it worked well! Told me how far and how fast I'd gone even with me just going in a circle. Yay for free stuff!

My little park. There are some adorable little kid soccer and teeny football games they play in the middle. Mostly people just let their dogs run around in it. Watching the dogs is the best part about going to the park.

You can see the main road on the top/left part. I figure no one can steal me away if I'm close to a main road. I wear headphones, but I'm still watchful. Plus, and I think this is probably from like an epi of Oprah from 1997, but I always look people in the eye and say hello as I see them. My thinking is "yeah buddy, I see you. I'm memorizing your face to tell the cops later. And I'm not shy or scared of you. I am totally badass. Please ignore the copious sweating, red face, and obvious exhaustion from the slogothing. I could still totally take you. In like an hour or so, if I can sit down for a bit. Be afraid."

See what I mean? Attractive! I am not one of those people that exercises and looks great. I sweat. My face gets bright red. I immediately need a shower. There isn't a possibility of me running and then going on about my day without a shower.


(I should cut the bench out. I was done for the day! No sitting for me!)










AND THEN I CAME HOME AND DID 30 DAY EVIL. AM SO HARD CORE AND FIT. BE IMPRESSED PEOPLE. IT SUCKED, I CAN'T EVEN PRETEND.

I have more stories to tell, but I've been typing forever and this thing is kind of ridiculously long. I will be impressed if anyone reads the whole thing.

So help a girl out! How can I get better at outside running? Just practice and pushing myself? C25K? work on the treadmill hard and hope it translates to outside? I am not a natural runner (obviously) so I will take any advice!

Also: slogothing? -athing? -ithing? Which makes more sense...if any?