Slowly Getting Back There and The Greatest Find

The weather around these parts (Washington, DC) has been CRAZY! Seriously. 2 weeks ago we had the biggest snow storm of the year and today, it’s over 90 degrees. While most runners detest the high
temperatures, I yearn for them. I don’t want an overcast, 50 degreeday. I want it sunny and 75 when I lace up those shoes.

This was exactly what the weather was when I left my desk at 9:45 AM to take my “lunch” break early and go for a jog.

Anybody who has read my blog before knows that January was the last time I set out for a run. I was deep into marathon training and diagnosed with a stress fracture… My second fracture in 6 months…Many x-rays and doctors appointments later I was cleared! But not to run, to walk, to slooooowly
incorporate jogging, and to slowly build up my base.

Since I'm tired of my bones being made out of glass, I am going to take the doctor’s words seriously.

Today was my 5th time running since I was told that I could. What I’ve been doing is a mix of walking and jogging, using my music to let me know when to switch, since I’m determined not to time myself for at least a couple of months. Until today, I’ve been walking one song, jogging one song, and repeating until I hit 4 miles. Today, I bummed it up to jogging 2 songs and walking 1.

It was amazing:-)

I don’t even care how fast I was running. I’m just happy to be out there doing it and promise myself to NOT overdo it and truly listen to my body!!

After my run, I hit the weights and tackled an arm and shoulder workout:
Bicep Curls - 15 lbs
Upward Row - 15 lbs
Tricep Extension - 20 lbs
Lateral Raises - 10 lbs
12 reps, 4 circuits.

I am going to try focusing on one body part a day, lifting 3x a week and see how it goes. Recently, I've been doing full-body weight workouts 3-4x a week and I just don't think that's my jam.

In other news, I have found the.BEST.SNACK.EVER.

Angie’s “Sweet and Spicy” Popcorn. It’s kettle corn with paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper on it, and it’s perfect. I am a HUGE fan of popcorn, so really fantastic popcorns are my weakness. I thought freshly-made kettle corn was the best but this just brought it up a level!

I have plans to venture out into the city on Friday with some friends and find what is said to be THE BEST popcorn ever though, so we'll see were we stand after that:-)

What do you prefer for your weight routine?

Do you LOVE popcorn like me?

Where is the weather where you are?

Race Envy

First and foremost, I want to send a huge "congratulations" to my twin sister, Becca. She totally killed the Rock N' Roll DC Marathon on Saturday! PRed by over half and hour!!

Now to the bitching portion of this post.

I have serious race envy. Everybody around me is running races! Marathons, 1/2 marathons, 10 milers. You name it. I know somebody running it.

The weather is just beginning to get warm yet we're months away from the summer heat waves. It's the perfect time of year to lace up my Brooks and de-stress with a run. But I'm not. I'm not even allowed to walk for long distances.

So as much as I love talking about running with my peers and cheering my friends (and family) during their races, I want to be out there with them. I want to feel the adrenaline rush as I pass people and conquer courses, I want to feel the pride that comes from saying that I completed something that I have a passion for. I want to run.

I have an appointment with my podiatrist on Thursday. Even if the xrays come back ok, I know that my foot isn't. I know that even walking for an extended period of time makes it ache and that I shouldn't rush back into running, or I'm going to end up in the same predicament that I am now.

I know that I can still say in decent shape without running in my life. I've had great workouts and I'm taking this time to get stronger and focus on different areas of my fitness and when the time is right, running will be there. It's not an end all.

But right now, I just want to bitch.

Stability Workouts and The Bosu Ball

Who has tried the Bosu ball?? Stability ball? I'm sure the majority of people reading this post have, as I had to before last week. However, this week I cranked up the intensity!

Inspiration for my stability packed workouts? My NASM knowledge being put to work! (and I'm only on the third chapter!) The idea behind NASM's personal trainer certification is whats called an Optimized Performace Training Model, or OPT Model. I'm not going to go in depth too much but one of the key concepts is that people must first teach their bodies to use their stabilizing muscles and to strengthen them before they can reach their fitness goals.

How many people actually start working out like this? We all know that our "core" is important but to what extent really? It's not just about flat abs (that's just an added bonus). It's about adequately preparing our bodies. If we skip this step, injuries are bound to occur. I know many have for me!

When I first started working out I dove head first into cardio. I walked and I ran and I ellipticized my little heart out. I could literally run for hours but you ask me to do a plank? HA. Something is wrong here....

Since I have a stress fracture and can't run right now I am taking advantage of this new little nugget of information and focusing on my stability muscles.

Workouts this week have looked a lot like this:
 

10 minute elliptical warm-up
20 1-Legged Squats
Back Extension - 15, Jump Squats - 15, push-up on bosu ball - 10 (3x)
20 1-Legged Squats
Squat to press on bosu ball - 15, Pull down (80lbs) - 10, Ro... read more

10 minute elliptical warm-up
Circuit 1: Back Extension - 15, Jump Squats - 15, push-up on bosu ball - 10
Circuit 2: Squat to press on bosu ball - 15, Pull down (80lbs) - 10, Row on stability ball - 15
Circuit 3: Lateral lunges on bosu ball - 20, Step ups w/knee on bosu ball - 20, Crunches on stability ball - 30

I did each circuit three times. I also added 10 one-legged squats on each side between them, just for fun:-)

and just because I love food and I love sharing my food with others. Tonight's dinner....

 

Brown rice with black beans, chickpeas and chicken. Topped with cucumber, garlic & supremely spicy hummus, Siracha and avocado.

 

Food baby.

Personal Trainer Certification and an AWESOME Circuit Workout

Wednesdays are typically really hard for me to get through with a smile on my face the entire time. The week is half way over but the weekend seems SO far away.

 

This wasn't the case today!

 

One of the things that I love most about blogs is that they give me so many ideas for healthy living and fitness that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. One of my favorite things to try is a new workout. As I was reading She Rocks Fitness today I got some great inspiration. (This is a great site and the woman who writes is it amazingly strong and beautiful)

 

I warmed up on the bike for 10 minutes then jumped right into this circuit workout.



 

 

I wasn't sure that I'd be able to complete all of those burpees and mountain climbers with my stress fracture but I felt no pain or discomfort at all.

 

This workout is intense! I was a sweaty mess by the end, which is an awesome thing!

 

The only change that I made was 15 push ups instead of 20 because my upper body strength just isn't there yet and overhead tricep extensions with a 10 lb weight instead of tricep dips because there was no bench in that area of the gym. I really love that I was able to complete the entire workout (in 34 minutes) but that there is potential to make the moves more intense as you build up your fitness and strength. I'll definitely be bookmarking this one!

 

My workout left me in such a great mood that I decided to do something that I've been wanting to do for a LONG time. I decided to pursue my Personal Trainer Certification!! I am so anxious to get my materials and begin studying.

 

I decided to go with NASM. After reading great things about them on Peanut Butter Fingers and doing some extra research I decided that they were the best choice.

 

Even if I don't use this certification for employment purposes, I'm excited to become more knowledgeable about a topic I'm extremely passionate and benefit myself.

 

Wish me luck!!

 

PS - I have my follow up with the podiatrist on my foot tomorrow! As excited as I am to see what he says it definitely isn't feeling 100%. Sometimes I have a weird feeling/discomfort, similar to the feeling I had when I came back from my full fracture this summer.

My Favorite Workout DVDs

This weekend was one of those weekends that you never want to end. It was too perfect. I had no set plans (especially since I'm not doing any long runs at the moment) so everything was relaxed and chill.

 

Friday night my boyfriend's son, being the sweets fiend that he is, asked if I could make bake him some cupcakes. I happily obliged and dedicated my Saturday afternoon to some time in the kitchen. 

 

 

These cupcakes are by far my most requested. They are a dark chocolate cupcake with a semi-sweet ganache filling and a white chocolate buttercream frosting. These can pretty much do these with any frosting. My personal favorite is cream cheese (because cream cheese icing is by FAR the best thing EVER) and my boyfriend leans toward the peanut butter. Mocha is pretty damn good too.

 

That bread next to them is Honey Beer Bread. I can thank my friend Courtney for that delicious addition. She brought me some to work on Friday and I knew that I had to make a loaf. This bread is SO good and seriously one of the most easy recipes ever. I made mine with Blue Moon.

 

When those were done it was time to make the main course.

 

Barbecued pork chops, baked potatoes and salad. Damn that was a good a meal. I cannot wait until warmer weather rolls around so this can be the norm. Luckily, I have a boyfriend who loves food as much as I do and is willing to light the grill during pretty much any weather.

 

Since I'm obviously still harboring a runner's appetite, you'd better believe I've been getting some workouts in to offset it:-)

 

I have been doing a variety of different DVDs and at home workouts. This week I've done:

 

1. Ab Ripper X

2. Brazilian Booty Lift - Sculpt

3. P90X Legs and Back

4. My ankle weight routine

5. The Fitsugar Full Body Workout

6. Insanity Cardio Recovery

7. 30-60 minute bike workouts

 

Along with maxing out on wall sits and push-ups. I'm up to a 3:00 wall sit and 23 push ups. I'm going to try and get those up to a 4:00 wall sit and 30 straight push ups by the end of the month!

 

Yesterday I also tried this Jillian Michael's Workout for the first time.

 

She is seriously amazing. I have loved every single DVD of hers that I've done. They range from 20-35 minutes and leave me sweaty and exhausted. I'm hoping to be able to try her Body Revolution soon but that one cost some serious dollars.

 

One more quick thing, I'm making homemade granola right now. You should try it. It's SO easy and my house smells amazing right now.

I loosely follow this recipe. I didn't have any honey this time so I used molasses and cut the brown sugar in half. I use 1/2 a cup of almonds, sunflower seeds, cashews and unsweetened coconut.

 

Do you have a "most requested" item that you cook or bake?

 

What's your favorite thing to BBQ?

 

What's your favorite workout DVD? Have you tried Jillian Michael's Body Revolution?

I'm always looking for more to add to rotation!

 

 

Back to the Boot

I have some good news and I have some bad news. Let's start with the bad news because I would rather end on a happy note.

The bad news is I won't be running anytime soon. I especially won't be running a marathon. I had my podiatrist appointment yesterday. The diagnosis, stress fracture.

If you aren't aware, last year during the Marine Corp Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, VA I snapped my 2nd metetarsal in half. Not only did I do that but I continued to run on it for 10 miles. Bones grinding and displaced. Needless to say, a bone with that amount of trauma isn't going to heal straight. The word used most commonly used by my doctors has been "deformed".

 

You can read about that story here.

Me and my deformed metetarsal were doing fine though. We were golden, ready to go! What I wasn't aware of is that this deformity was causing extra pressure to be added it places of my feet that weren't used to it. (ie. my 4th metetarsal). Long story short, when you run long distances your feet muscles become fatigued and stop adequately absorbing shock, causing stress fractures.

Add a deformed metarsal and fatigued muscles due to long runs and you've got a recipe for a brand new stress fracture. 2 weeks in a walking cast and around the clock Motrin 800 (which I've yet to actually get)

Shitty.

Despite that bad news, yesterday was a really good day. I was really excited for my little girl to come home and tell me about her day at school. I remember that when I was in elementary school Valentines Day was one of my favorite days of the years! The activities, the candy, the cards....such a blast.

 

In the afternoon we went to have dinner at my mom's.

 

 

She made chicken, rice, lentils and green beans.

 

I love me some lentils (along with my mother's cooking!), especially smothered in Cholula which was poured all over the plate right after this picture was snapped:-)

 

 

After dinner we got down to business. The Valentine's Day cookie decorating.

 

 

My nephew.

 

My ridiculously, crazy neice.

 

and of course my little girl....tasting some of her creations!

 

I put a lot of frosing on my cookie! <----My daughter just wrote that. She wanted to blog:-)

 

All in all a great night:-)

Benefits of Strength Training and Breakfast in the Crockpot

Tomorrow is the day.

I have my podiatrist appointment in the afternoon. I'm extremely anxious to find out what is going on with this pesky foot of mine.

To be honest though, not running hasn't been as bad as I thought it was going to be. Yes, I am bummed about the marathon training. I was doing SO well and just know that I was going to PR.

However, this new found freedom has allowed me to rekindle my love for strength training. Strength training has some seriously AMAZING benefits:

1. You will become physically stronger.
2. You will lose body fat. (Building muscle raises your RMR! Score!!)
3. You will gain strength without bulk.
4. You will decrease your risk of osteroperosis.
5. You will improve your athletic performance.
6. You will decrease your risk of injury, back pain, and arthritis.
7. You will reduce your risk of heart disease.
8. You will reduce your risk of diabetes.
9. It's never too late to benefit.
10. You can improve your attitude and fight depression.
Source

Not only that, but it's MUCH more convenient than running. I can't run in the mornings because I get up at 4:30 (so I don't have much time) and I'm a single mother (so I can't just leave my child at home in bed...). For the past couple weeks though, I have been taking 20-30 minutes after breakfast and doing some sort of strength training. Mostly my beloved ankle weight routine but also wall squats, push-ups, core work, etc. It gives me a nice shot of endorphins to start the day off right.

Plus, even if you only have 20 minutes, you can get some serious results! Especially if you break your workout up into 2-3 different times of the day.

My body has been more sore in the past week than it was running 55 miles a week. I LOVE a good sore.

Another thing that I want to share if a great breakfast I cooked up last night. Yes, last night. Breakfast in the crockpot?? Effing perfect. Especially for somebody trying to squeeze a workout into their morning routine.

I had a bunch of coconut milk left over from making this amazing dessert, so I was looking for a recipe to use it in.....when I found one for Overnight, Slow Cooker, Banana Coconut Milk Steel Cut Oats.

Source: The Yummy Life

I've had some steel cut oats in my pantry that have needed to be used, so I decided to try it out.

I was a little nervous because because I sleep 8-9 hours and the recipe only called for it to cook for a maximum time of 7 hours but it came out perfect!!

I didn't get the caramelized coating that they did on the website, but I think that's because I left out the butter. (Who cooks oatmeal with butter in it anyways!!).

I topped mine with some toasted coconut, some Almond Milk and a dollopof Sun Butter. I can't wait to have it ready for the rest of the week as well:-)