Injury.. ugh

Well, I mentioned in my last post that I was beginning to feel like an athlete again. This week, that has remained true, but in a different way. This week an old, chronic injury visited me again.

Background: I played volleyball and ran track and cross country in high school- and loved it. When I was finishing my sophomore year, I began to feel a popping noise in my hip on occasion. I thought it might be a problem, but since I experienced little pain with it, I left it alone. This came back to bite me at Biola. My 2nd year, I trained and ran a half-marathon. It was wonderful! It also aggravated the problem in my hips. By the time I saw a doctor about it, it was full-blown bursitis.
Since I ran sooo much in training, I overused the joint. Since I did not treat it early, it is probably something that will be a chronic problem for the rest of my life.

I have learned to manage it during the past 5 or so years so that it doesn't affect my daily life (besides the no running thing). All the new exercises and my increased intensity brought it back to life this week.

It is frustrating, but I have been working around it. I have been focusing on arms and abs, and have been doing things like working out in the yard. So far so good. I never know how long the bursitis will act up, but hopefully I will be mostly back to my normal routine in a few weeks.

Responses:

Jessica- Thanks for the DVD reviews! I think I need the No More Trouble Zones

Wow, you use use heavy weights. My standard set is 3, 5, and 10lbs. The food journaling sounds interesting. How much time would you say that it takes?

Katie P.- I am continually amazed by your reflections. Thanks for sharing! I have thought about the water trick often and have used it successfully once this week.

Emily- Your alternative workout :) sounds like a lot of fun. I think it is something like what Wiggledancing is for me. Glad that you are hanging in there during the kitchen remodel! I keep looking at our aging tiled backsplash and cracked tiles.... :)

Kelly- I hope that you are having a great time on your vacation. It looks like you are getting some "fun" exercise in. Yellowstone is so amazing- we went there as part of our honeymoon. :)

More about Jillian

It has been fun to read about everyone's workouts. :) I hope the weather cools down a bit for you all. I forget how so many homes in CA don't have air conditioning!

I have completed the Banish Fat/ Boost Metabolism work out 2 times in the last 3 days. In between, I did the Prevention DVD. (It has been raining or over 100 by heat index the last week or so, so outdoor workouts are not possible) I used to love the Prevention DVD and think it was SO HARD! Now, Prevention has become my easy day workout and I look forward to it.

I LOVE the BFBM workout. Unlike the Shred, I feel like I can just make it through each of the circuits. It is more of a long run, rather than a sprint- consequently, it takes more time to complete.

I have been doing BFBM during Luke's nap time and it has worked out well. Actually, I think that I may need to switch my schedule a bit and try to workout at nap time, instead of first thing in the morning. I am more vulnerable to feeling depressed and wanting to eat too much (since no one is watching) during nap time. When do you all work out? Do you like to work out first thing? How about in the evening? I haven't tried the evening because I am wiped out by then.

Finally Feeling Glad for All Those Mountain Climbers Jillian Made Me Do

So I was really excited about running today... and then Naomi had a horrible night last night. Woke up about 10 times, and two of the times she was up for about an hour, including lots of loud crying. Thankfully I have a very kind husband who has agreed to tend to her in the night since I can't go back to sleep for at least an hour (if not two) when I'm woken up, even if it's just to put a pacifier back in a certain someone's mouth. But last night at 2 am, I guess it was getting pretty bad and she was not to be comforted, so he brought her to me in desperation for a feeding. I fed her and then she was just ... awake. For over an hour. Yeah, lots of unhappy complaining and crying from her in that hour. Finally around 3, she fell asleep (only to wake back up at 5 and then again at 6...).

So our run happened a little later than planned, but I got to sleep in a little. But it happened - And it was fun! I just did the 2-mile loop on my block, and ran about 1.75 of it. It felt great! Cardiovascularly I felt really good, and that was encouraging since the last time I tried running a bit after a huge break I could really feel it in my heart/lungs. I must say this is probably because of those darn mountain climbers in the Shred, and this morning as I cruised along I was really grateful to Jillian for that!

Since I haven't run in so long my main concern will be shin splints (or other injuries) and not doing too much too quickly. I don't know how my body'll do with 2 miles 3 x's/wk, but I guess I'll find out. I think I'll probably stick to the 2-mile loop but can turn more of it into walking if need be, until I can build back up to it.

So now my personal challenge is to try to nap at least once today... which means right now since Naomi is down for a nap. Ugh. I hate napping. But I feel I should at least try, since my sleep was so disrupted last night.

No run tomorrow, but I'll be starting back at Workout 1 of the 30-Day Shred and am curious to see how that feels after going through the whole thing.

Emily - yes, the cardio in DDR would be a killer ... assuming I could get my feet to actually move that quickly! That boy is amazing. And YES! I would so love to have you over for some DDR! It's always more fun with someone else. :)

Jess - I usually struggle a lot to get back into the normal life after a trip too. And that stinks that your remote went in on the conspiracy and hid himself... Good for you for getting creative and still working on the pull ups and walk :)

Katie - I love the walkout push ups! I'm always surprised when she says they are over. That's cool to be more able to do your housework because of your strength. I am similar with how I've always thought of workouts = calories burned / lots of cardio. But I'm actually usually more pleased when I do more strength stuff too.

Random Group Question: What is your most despised household chore, and how do you deal with it? Mine is scrubbing the bathtub/shower and I deal with it by not doing it for far too long until I am motivated by how yucky it is. No I'm not proud of that.

Almost done with the 30 days...

... and getting excited at the prospect of possibly running. I say "possibly" because I want to really let myself NOT run if it turns out to be too much and edges me away from doing it regularly. Kelly, I like your idea of alternating: I think I'm going to try it. I've liked having one routine to fall into each day (feed baby, do wkt video, put baby down for nap, shower, eat breakfast), and going outside for the workout means I actually have to wear something decent, which puts a wrench in the current routine. But if I can slip into a new routine, it could work, so we'll see how it goes.

I did Workout 3 again today. Getting sick of it, to be honest. I didn't really think that would happen, but it is. Guess it's a good thing that tomorrow is my last day! I think doing it every other day will be good, because it won't be the only thing I'm doing anymore.

Also, I want to note to myself for later: I HATE HATE HATE doing the plank rows with leg raises in the full-blown position!! Blech! Definitely the worst part of the whole workout for me. The only thing that kept me doing the full-blown position for the first set today (I cannot do it for both sets, nor the push ups), was that I did not want to have to confess on here that I'd gone backwards and done fewer. And the knowledge that if my body is physically able to do it, that means that *I* am able to do it, even if my brain says I can't. Ok. End of tantrum.

Amie (and other La Mirada play-daters) - Thanks for the info! I am hoping I can make it, but not sure if I'll get there in time. Naomi had crummy naps yesterday and Sunday, and this is right at the end of her napping window. If she's awake in time we'll head over and see if anyone is still around. It would be fun to see you and meet your kids.

Yolanda - I am probably not the one to ask about expectations for meeting goals, because after years of being a super goal-oriented person, I am currently in a season of literally setting all outward goals to the wayside because it was putting too much pressure on me. (With postpartum hormones and lack of sleep, I couldn't handle it and the littlest thing could set me over the edge.) Hence the current plan, which is NOT to try to fit into (or try on!) any old clothes that aren't already fitting, nor worry about losing any weight. This was reinspired by Sunday morning's getting-ready-for-church, when I felt like wearing a summery dress and remembered a few in the "don't fit yet" box of pre-pregnancy clothes. Since I'd been feeling so good from working out, I figured they'd probably fit. Um, NO. It was really frustrating - I tried on 3, and even the looser one didn't fit. I think it's mostly that my figure has changed, since my weight isn't that different, but it was really discouraging. The one that did work was a sundress that had doubled as a maternity dress (since it was flow-y), and it cheered me up to wear something cute. But the whole experience sealed the deal that I will not try to fit into old clothes for the foreseeable future, but simply enjoy feeling good and fitting well in the clothes I'm currently wearing. That's partly where the "30 days" thing is coming in for me: I'm planning to try something new each 30 days, which gives me a goal other than weight loss or outward results. I'm not sure what will come after running/shred, but I guess I have another 32 days to figure that out... :)

Christa - I loved/hated hearing about your new "resident(s)." Ew! An Australian accent would get me to try a workout - that is one of my favorite accents. I think Boston accents and UK accents are just below that. I don't have tons of experience with yoga/pilates, but I do know there is a wide variation among the different forms. If it's a really relaxing form of yoga, it would probably even help with falling asleep; but there are also forms of yoga that are more vigorous and that might make it harder? Pilates seems overall more vigorous to me, so that may not work. Don't know. In high school I did a high-impact aerobics video every night before bed and never had trouble sleeping. But I was 17. Maybe try the video midday and see if you feel relaxed afterwards or not before trying it at night? I do think alternating workouts is a great idea - which is why I'm going to try it myself. I think it might help me to mix things up a bit.

Kelly - You could look on Craigslist. And, this is definitely not under $30, but if you want a really good powerful blender the least expensive, good-quality one I've found is the Magic Bullet (technically a food processor but works like a blender with one of the blades). I love mine, although I think all their techniques for chopping are ridiculous and don't work (ie. chopping fruit just produces mush). But if you want something completely blended (like a smoothie), it's great. It's $100 at Costco.

Katie - I love that you poured water on your head before heading out for your walk - smart! Last summer Daniel and I took a hiking trip along the coast of Italy and although you'd think coast = cooler, it was so humid I felt at times like I couldn't breathe! I was concerned about Naomi (I was 6 mos pregnant), but I found that frequently dumping water over my belly kept me from getting heat rash. :)

Humor and Questions

Everyone's talk about yoga, pilates, and alternating workout types/dvds reminded me that I have a yoga and pilates dvd (Louise Solomon's Yoga & Pilates Total Body Toner--complete with Australian accent) that I bought about a month before getting pregnant the first time. So, I pulled it out this evening, and discovered that an insect had crafted a 1.5 inch long, white, filmy nest on the underside of my DVD. As you can see, it's been a while since it's been in use.

Being inexperienced in the realm of yoga or pilates, I have a few questions. If I do this DVD in the evenings will these forms of exercise energize me and keep me from sleeping? If this is a good evening option, would this DVD be a good companion to alternate with the Shred? I have both the most time and desire to exercise in the evenings, but usually when I exercise in the evening I have a difficult time falling asleep.