wildwood trail #1

Any of you that read my blog from the very beginning, before I even heard of CrossFit, you may remember how I tried to learn to be a runner. I scoured the internet for advice, bought shoes and supplies, everything I believed that would help me be a runner. At one point I even had a running coach, who to this day I still utilize all of the lessons she taught me. It's been about 6 years now of off and on training, I don't think I classify as a runner but I still try. Most of my running though is done in a CrossFit WOD, which means it's done on the sidewalk or road.

Now that the weather is becoming nicer, Aaron and I decided to start running on the Wildwood Trail again in Forest Park like we've done in past summers. I had no expectations, as I am just looking to restrengthen my ankles and just be consistent in my running. I almost immediately could feel my feet and ankles start yelling at me. Shortly after that my knees expressed their hatred for me too. I only made it 2.5 miles total, walking the majority of the time inward and ran most of the time back to the car. I think my total running mileage was a little over a mile.

I think after a few more running sessions on the trail I will be able to run more, and further. It felt good to on the trail again. I took a few breaks where I stood there and took my headphones off to listen to the birds chirp. I'm so thankful to live in a city with such an abundance of beautiful parks.

running clinic: week one

Today was my first running class with Tony at CrossFit Stumptown. Lucky for me he has a four week (at once a week) class to help members who want to learn how to properly run. After warming up, he recorded us running and than showed us what we did right and what we did wrong. Then he had us run through some drills. I wasn't expecting too much from the first day of class but believe it or not I really noticed a difference in how my body felt as I ran. Joon has been helping me work on my endurance and agility, and I think now is a good time to let Tony mold me into a better runner. I have a bad habit of being a heal striker and I am shuffler. The drills today had me landing differently and picking my feet up. My shins are a little sore, but nothing compared to what I have felt before after a CrossFit WOD. At the end of this month I am hoping with practice I will become a more efficient runner and get started in training again for another 5k. I'll keep you posted!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

a healing knee

I am going to play catch up today and get some posts done of thoughts that have been lingering in my head for some time now. If you recall I have been struggling with my knees for a while, especially the right one. It's been an off and on thing and only became worse when I began doing CrossFit. Now before you naysayers crack a smile and think I am blaming CrossFit for this, keep reading to see that I am not. If anything, CrossFit opened my issues to the underlying issues that I have either not noticed or ignored. When I picked up running in 2009 I had noticed some discomfort in my right knee almost immediately. I shrugged it off as the result of being overweight and that it will go away on its own after a while. And though my knee never experienced actual pain, it never really went away. And with most things that become constant, you become numb to it and forget that it is even bothering you. Fast forward to May of 2013, I start doing CrossFit. That nagging discomfort reared it's ugly head almost immediately. In the beginning everything I did was either modified or light, I wasn't pushing my body to it's limits yet. At first air squats were easy and manageable. I learned to do them wide legged so that I could actually do them. Then when I began doing thrusters, overhead squats, front squats, and especially heavy back squats, everything began to change. That discomfort turned into pain and there would be times I couldn't even do an air squat without my knee feeling like it would explode!

I feel very fortunate to have found the CrossFit box that I did. The coaches there are fantastic and have been very helpful with helping me figure out the causes of my pain and helping me come up with a mobility routine to help rectify the problem. It all came down to my squat. The question was, why wasn't I squatting correctly? Remember, it is not the squat that caused the pain, I had been dealing with knee issues long before I found CrossFit. It all came down to my mobility and flexibility. You'd be amazed how having tight hips and ankles can affect so many things in your life. So almost on a daily basis I go through a routine of stretching and mobility work on my ankles, calves, adductors, knees, hamstrings, quads, glutes, and hips. I don't ignore other areas of my body either, but I do spend a significant amount of time on my lower half. I've been at for 4 or so months now and let me tell you is hasn't been easy. If you've ever been injured at any capacity you know the healing roller coaster, where you begin to feel good for several days and then suddenly you feel like you took a million steps back. Too many people give up and not continue to push forward with their healing because they expect immediate results. Nothing heals over night.

I am happy to say that things have really begun to improve. My squat is looking AND feeling great. I have started to add some light weight on my squats and so far have been successful. I don't expect this to be the end of my knee issues but it is certainly gotten closer to the end. During this journey I have definitely learned some things and am continuously amazed with the human bodies capabilities. If you are having any issues with your squat, or just squatting in general, or maybe you know you have tight hips, check out the 30/30 Squat Challenge on Facebook. I'm not kidding, it will do wonders for you!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

learning to pace myself

This week has been an interesting lesson for myself. In many aspects of my life I have been learning to pace myself. With the process of getting ready to go to school and with running, to name a few. There is always a time in our lives where we need to know when to push ourselves beyond your comfort zone and when to just pace yourself. No one can tell you when this moment is, only you know. The key is paying attention to your body and mind. We too quickly ignore what those two very important elements are trying to tell us. You don't always have to go full speed ahead.

The one part I want to share is my running. As many of you know, I have been at it for a while now. I do and stop, and then do again. It has been a crazy up and down battle that I seem to constantly smack myself right into a ridiculously hard wall. This is normally when I give up for a while before I try again. What I have noticed is that I have a tendency to push myself too hard and too much. I haven't mastered the lesson of pacing. Today that became quite apparent during some of the workouts I participated in. The moment I stopped trying to run fast and hard and just took it at a pace I could handle, I found that I didn't need to stop and my time improved. Oh my! The light bulb went off brightly.

This very lesson can transfer in so many ways though in our daily lives. Sometimes we don't have to do things so fast and hard. Sometimes we just need to pace ourselves. Keep that in mind the next time you find yourself smacking into that invisible wall.

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

my world of change

It has been an eventful week for me, so much is about to change in my life. During this process I want to be sure that I stay on track with my fitness and healthy eating habits. I'll be honest this week has sort of been a bad week with my diet. Had one too many Starbuck's hot chocolates (could you blame me, it's been cold!) and I feel like I have probably had too many unbleached enriched flour products. Not the end of the world, I just want to be sure I don't fall off the wagon for too long. And now with the snowpocalypse we are experiencing here in Portland, I won't be getting much exercise in this weekend. As long as I get back on track, I know I will be fine.

So on to my awesome news… I got into the Fitness Technology program at PCC and begin this Spring! YAY! First obstacle down, second one still to come… financial aid. I think it may actually work out just fine but we shall see. I decided to go on to the 2 year program and get my Associates in Applied Science oppose to the 1 year certificate program. It just makes better sense. Since we all know I am a career student and just might want to go back later down the road, I want to have something I can utilize. I have learned that my work load will be rather intense and my current work schedules won't quite work out with my school schedule. With some thought and conversation with Aaron, and a conversation with one of my employers, I have come to a decision to leave one of my places of employment and increase my hours at the other. It only makes sense as I will have more flexibility with my work schedule and the location is within minutes of the campus. But this decision does leave me sad, as I am leaving an environment of some incredibly talented and strong women! I know I need to focus on my future, and I know this was the right decision for me. Change isn't always easy.

I am currently taking a class through PCC online that will be used towards the Fit Tech program. It's a Health and Physical Education class, which requires me to set up workout plans. One of which is running. I have started to run on a track to work on speed and warm my knees up to it again, and then around the neighborhood. I accomplished something incredible with this, I finally ran my first 1 mile without stopping to walk. It's been one of those challenges I have been dealing with since 2009. It wasn't a fast 1 mile run but I am completely ok with that. Unfortunately my knee has decided to be an ass this whole week and I have had to limit my running and any form of squatting. Even sitting down for long periods of time is painful. I am focusing on mobility work to get myself back into running/squatting shape. And now with all of this snow, I will be taking a forced break in all of my fitness activity. I am hoping to get back out there and running another mile in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

running, again

Today Aaron and I went to Grant High School to utilize their track, which is very nice. I have a goal to run the same 10k I ran in 2010 this coming June. But in order to do that, I have got to get back out there and run again. Last weekend we gave it a try and it was a disaster. My knees weren't happy at the least bit and I could feel a full blown asthma attack coming on. And like the smart person that I am, I left my inhaler at home. I don't know if the cold weather was throwing me off, the bad shoe decision, or a combination of both but it didn't go well.

Getting ready.

I wanted todays go to be a better success, so I did some research on the asthma thing. I don't have a full asthma problem, at least I am not aware that I do. I get seasonal allergies (Spring time) that induces asthma, as many people in Portland do. But as it seems that there are times that I'll get a mild attack throughout the year when I am dealing with congestion or breathing too hard. I had read that if I use my inhaler prior to the run, I shouldn't have any issues. Today I tried that advice, and it worked. My lungs didn't feel like they were going to jump out of my chest and my throat didn't sting at the least. I also know that I have a horrible habit of taking off in full speed when this is suppose to be at a pace that I can handle for a long distance. So I focused pretty damn hard on my speed and intentionally ran slow. I couldn't believe that worked. There were moments when my knee wasn't happy, I'd stop and shake it out and get back to running. I didn't run an entire mile, it was more of an interval sort of thing. My goal is to get to where I can run an entire mile without pain or feeling like I will die any moment. Then I will work up on my speed. Today's mile was accomplished in 15:47, a slow time but I am pleased. We all have to start somewhere!

After completing a total of 2 miles of walking/running.

mobility, my new best friend.

So if you've been keeping up with my posts, you are more than aware that I have been struggling with some knee issues. Pin pointing the cause has been a long process of trial and error, but needless to say I have learned a hell of a lot about mobility and it's importance. We have determined that I do not squat correctly, I have been taking a wide stance with feet pointed outwardly. I took on this stance as I could not squat with a lesser stance and forward facing feet. But why can't I? Ah, and that's the question that needed answering.

So let me back up for a moment and start from the beginning. I first noticed my right knee pain during our big lifts sessions of back squats. For those unfamiliar with this term, it is when someone places a barbell on their shoulders behind their head and squats. I was squatting in the 120's when I began to notice the pain. I tried widening my stance and that helped for a while, but shortly after the pain would come again. I was sure to always roll out my Quads and ITB (IT band) after every class and ice my knees as soon as I got home. After a while none of that was helping and I began to avoid squatting all together. Then one day we had to do some lunges in class and I found out rather quickly that motion was not agreeing with my right knee at all. Now I avoided lunges. Before I knew it, I was not running, jumping, squatting, or doing lunges. This was getting out of hand!

I was getting my knees checked regularly with my chiropractor and staying on top of stretching and using my foam roller. But I knew more needed to be done. After several post class chat sessions with Joon, and on occasion Tony, I learned an immense amount of things about mobility and it's importance. I was referred to look into a book, Becoming a Supple Leopard, by Dr. Kelly Starrett. Within days Aaron and I purchased the book and began reading up on everything we could. Taking everything in that Joon would tell me into daily use on top of what I would learn from the book and from Kelly Starrett's MobilityWOD site and his YouTube channel.

So back to the question, why can't I squat correctly? It's not my knees that stop me from doing it. It's the fact that I have limited ROM (range of motion) in my ankles and my hips aren't fully open. In other words, I have a lot of tight muscles throughout my legs and my flexibility is limited. Am I done for? No. I can regain control and flexibility with a lot of hard work and investing in time for mobility work. Will I? You bet your sweet a** I will. In time I will be able to squat correctly if I am willing to put forth the effort. I have begun to squat again with complete focus on proper technique and no knee pain.

I can not stress how important mobility is, and it's not limited to those who CrossFit. If you are an athlete of any kind, or an active person who swims, bikes, runs, etc, you should really be doing yourself and your body a favor and begin mobility training so that you don't run into similar or worse complications down the road. Be sure to check out Dr. Kelly Starrett's pages, and book. The unfortunate part of becoming adults is that we no longer move the way we did as children. Many of us lose the flexibility and movement we once had. But certainly with determination and focus, I will regain something back.

This was taken from Pinterest.

shamrock run 2011 completed

So I did it! I not only did the Shamrock Run again, but it is my first official race since hurting my ankle last July. I did far better than I anticipated I would, though I don't have the official time yet I do feel it is quite possible that I either met my time from last year or did better. In the off chance that I didn't, that's ok, I'm just happy that I was able to run the race this year. My ankle held up pretty well, only started to feel it at the end and even then it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I am currently icing it and hoping that tomorrow I won't be limping around, fingers crossed. The biggest challenge this year was running in the rain, thankfully it wasn't coming down hard, it was Portland rain, but it was still cold out and the rain didn't help much. My running partners, two amazingly awesome friends- Krystle S. and Ashley G., and I did our best to stay warm by moving around until it was time for us to line up and go. Oddly enough, once we got going on our race the rain felt delicious on my hot sweaty face- so I suppose a thank you is in order to mother nature. I think I could get use to running in the rain, light rain that is. The downfall to this whole event however, was how cold I felt afterwards, it wasn't until I got home and into a hot shower that I warmed up. Between the wetness from the rain and my sweat, cooling off in the cold air isn't pleasant. With all that said, if I had to do this all over again, I would in a heart beat. I don't think I will ever pass up running the Shamrock Run if I can help it! To all of the wonderful people I know that ran the Shamrock Run this year, many congratulations for accomplishing it!

Shout outs...
15k runners: Liesl H., Patricia C., and Micky B.
8k runners: Julie G.
5k runners: Krystle S., Ashley G., and Arran G.

Shamrock Run 2011

In 52 days the 33rd Edition of the Shamrock Run in Portland will commence. I have every intention of doing the 5k with my friends Krystle, Ashley, and maybe Robin. This year I won't be trying for a PR, as I know I'm not ready to push myself to that level. But I think entering into this race will be enough to get me pumped up and ready for June's Drop Top 10k! I'm putting in treadmill time everyday to prepare myself for this race. This year it will be about fun and enjoying the energy around me! If you are looking for a race to do, whether it's your first or for a challenge, consider this race. They have a 5k, 8k, and a 15k...

Photo shared from the Portland Shamrock Run website.

time to start over

I know it has been quite a while since I have posted anything. Unfortunately, I haven't had much to type about and sadly no success in the running department. It turns out what I thought was just a bad rolling of my ankle, was a tear in some tissues. I'm still dealing with inflammation and some discomfort. My walking abilities are fine, jumping and moving around are ok but in no way am I able to run very long or even wear shoes that allow my heel to be higher than the ball of my foot. This has been a very frustrating time for me. The lack of running and exercising has made me lazy, and though I have managed to still eat fairly well and not gain a bunch of weight back, I still feel inadequate! You know that saying, "you have to hit rock bottom"? I think I came pretty close, self-doubt, lack of self-esteem, frustration, etc etc, it all set in. Yesterday I noticed my ex-running coach had posted a success story of one of her clients. There were before and after photos, stats, and the means of how this remarkable lady accomplished her goals. I saw this, and for a moment became very upset because I knew deep down there is NO reason why I can't accomplish what this lady has!

After some deep thinking, and several chats later, I contacted my running coach, Jennifer, and told her I needed her help!! Jennifer is an amazing woman, and talking with her alone is motivation! She does more than coach in running, but is also a personal trainer. I've seen several of her clients success stories, and those of her co-workers, but for some reason this particular client struck a chord with me! Starting in December I will be training with Jennifer twice a week until I reach my goal. Everything in my life will be changing, and for the first time I feel that I'm finally at a place where I know I will reach this goal.

As for running, I still have every intention on getting back into it. According to my Dr. I need to strengthen my ankle and start out slowly, but there is no reason why I can't run again. I know with Jennifer's help, I will be able to sign up for the Shamrock 8k in March of 2011!! And I am determined to do this with accomplishing a personal best! So stay posted, come December, I'm sure I will have lots to post...

sanity still intact

Yup, I'm still sane! I haven't gone for a run in 4 weeks and as frustrating as it is for me, I'm oddly calm. In all honesty there is an important factor to why I'm surviving this, and I really should thank him. I'm going through a learning process of channeling the mental energy I'd use for running, into other aspects of my life. Not as easy as you'd think. Remembering to eat better and cutting back on indulgences is hard to do, I can't run that extra mile to burn off that extra caloric intake. Blah. Running has also become my therapist of sorts, it's my session to work on things that may be weighing on me mentally. I was hit with something a week ago that a good run could have helped me a great deal, but thankfully I have good friends that were a healthy substitute for running. It may not have been exactly the same thing, but I'm still fortunate enough to have that, and I know it. So to my lovely friends, Jen, Krystle, Amanda and Natalie- Thank you for giving me your time when I needed it (even when you didn't realize how helpful you were). And to Ken, while I'm struggling with the inability to run, you have helped keep my spirits up by making me happy. I can't thank you enough for that. You're a wonderful person, and I am utterly thankful to have you in my life. :)

August is a week away, and the Crawfish Crawl is 3 weeks away. Given that I haven't gone on a run in 4 weeks, and it will be at least another week or two before I can even go for a moderately paced walk, I don't think I will be participating in this event. The next event on my schedule is in September, and I am hoping that I will be able to do that but if I were to be completely honest with myself, I don't think that is going to happen either. Ah! So what is a girl to do?! I think my main focus at this point is to get back into core training and upper body weight training this week, next week at the latest. And to keep with the therapy with my ankle so that it is back in working (running) condition. 

I think the most important thing I need to remember is to live, love, laugh...

on the mend

Good news! My ankle is getting better... yay! I still have some lateral swelling, slight pitted edema around the lateral malleolus, very little swelling in the medial side of my foot. Bruising is almost completely gone, and while wrapped and wearing shoes I can walk pretty normal now. Without wrap and barefoot I limp a little, I think it's partly my guarding it and that I have slight discomfort on the lateral bottom of my foot when I walk. Still not ready to go for a walk yet, but I'm hopeful! The downfall of all of this is that I have to be careful with what I eat, cut back, as my physical activity has plummeted! I've been doing so well with losing weight that I refuse to go backwards! So now it's time to veg out on more greens and no sugars. Now I just got to keep thinking positive thoughts, positive thoughts, positive thoughts...

oh the pain! oh the frustration!

So yesterday was my first day back to work since I hurt my ankle. I wrapped it, took some Ibuprofen, and wore supportive shoes. The first half of the day seem to go by just fine, very little limping was going on. At some point I took a moment to sit down and look at my ankle, an area of my heel wasn't wrapped and I noticed that it started to bruise. When lunch time came around I asked one of the chiropractors I work with if he could look at my ankle and give me his professional opinion. When I unwrapped it, I was shocked by how much bruising had occurred in the few hours I had worked! He palpated my ankle and foot, and we discovered that I had pitted edema (a form of swelling), and that my ROM has decreased quite a bit. The majority of the area doesn't hurt to the touch, but in certain areas I could gauge eyes out! He determined that the likeliness that anything is broken is slim, especially since I'm moving about just fine. But he's afraid that I may have a dislocation or two, not the ankle bone itself (the joint where the leg and foot connect) but among the little bones in my foot. He can't do any adjustments until the swelling goes down, and because he's afraid he may loose a limb or two- LOL. So in the meantime, he said that I need to ice it often, keep it elevated as often as I can (and when I sleep) and try not to be on it all that much. He proceeded to adjust my lower back (as that is a whole other mess) and I went home for lunch, iced my ankle, elevated it, and took some Ibuprofen. (I'm blessed with a 2 hour lunch break) After lunch, he had the other CA do therapy on my ankle, she electric/ultrasound therapy, it helps with swelling. This was the first time I had this done and it was quite interesting, the tingling feeling tickled at first but after a while it just numbed the area. My foot felt great for a few hours, but by the end of the day all I wanted to do was get off of my feet. By the end of the any day, my ankle/foot aches, throbs, and my hips are just flat out tired. This is how my foot looked this afternoon:

It's hard to see in the photo, but it's my right ankle, you can barely see the lateral malleolus (ankle bone that sticks out), and what's left of the bruising in the lower part of my foot. There is some swelling still in the medial (inside) part of my foot too but that has decreased quite a bit too. I can wiggle my toes with no problems now, and move my foot around (slowly) with barely any discomfort. Standing for a few minutes is fine, but prolonged weight on that foot is no good. Walking is possible, but with a limp and becomes quite tiresome. As of right now the throbbing has begun, I will need to ice it again before heading to bed. 

So what does all of this mean for my running? Well, I'm told that I should wait at least 2 weeks before attempting it. I think it's silly to even think I would even try at this moment. But once the swelling is gone, and we've adjusted (if need be) the joints that may be dislocated, I can begin walking/running. I will probably need to keep it wrapped for support for about 4 weeks, but afterwards I will need to not keep it wrapped to help strengthen the ligaments again. Thats about 6 to 8 weeks before I'll be back in the game, ugh, far too long for my liking, but I will do what I have to. I will keep you all posted on the progress of my healing. If anyone got any tips, feel free to throw them my way...

out of order

Went on my first camping trip with friends for my 32nd birthday. Wasn't sure exactly what to expect, I was full of excitement and was quite nervous. I knew that there was no way I would be sleeping out in the wilderness, intoxicated most of the time, without coming back unscathed. I just didn't imagine I'd come back with a severely swollen right ankle...

It happened the first day there, not sure exactly what I did, but I must've stepped down funny. One minute I'm walking, the next I'm on the ground laughing through the pain. That whole night I felt nothing, and was walking around just fine. Next morning, it was hurting pretty bad. Standing up from my tent was one of the hardest things I think I had to do in a long time. Thankfully my friend, Krystle, came prepared with a first aid kit and I was able to take some Ibuprofen! I iced and elevated my ankle a few times a day, but refused to just sit there and do nothing. I know nothing is broken, but the swelling in the above photo is at its worse. I'm walking funny, so now my right hip is sore. Today I stayed off of it for the majority of the day, kept it elevated, and took Ibuprofen. I go back to work tomorrow, so this will be interesting. As for running? Well that obviously is put on hold, which is very frustrating. There's a 5k I want to do in August, and I really need to get some miles in. Send me some healing vibes everyone, I could really use it...

allergy hell

I'm living in allergy hell at the moment. I was probably one of the few people in Oregon that was happy that summer came around late. We had a rainy start to June, and because of it my allergies were put at bay. But now the sun has come out to play, and don't get me wrong I love the sun, but whatever it is that my body doesn't like is out to play too! My eyes are miserably itchy and red (thank god for Patanol), my nose won't stop running (constant drip, drip, drip...) which then causes me to have this constant sore throat. All this gives me absolutely no motivation to do anything but stay in somewhere cool. Give me a cold wet towel to throw over my eyes and I'm good. Unfortunately I can count in one hand how many times I ran in the last 2 weeks, and that's no bueno!! I wanted to go for a run today, at least a good brisk walk, but I woke up finding that I am having breathing issues. Ahhh, yes, that's right I get allergy induced asthma!! Lucky me, all of my inhalers have expired and so now I have to focus on my breathing and keeping myself relaxed until I can get a hold of my doctor. That means no running (or walking for that matter) for me today. How am I going to survive camping next week? Time to go blow my nose...