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.

measurement wake up call

Due to the insane weather we had last weekend I didn't make it in for my scheduled measurement appointment on Monday, so we did it today. On top of that crazy weather I know my diet probably wasn't that great, in all honesty I have indulged in far too many Starbucks Hot Chocolate. I do my best on a daily to eat right and to stay active. I even went out and bought the Nike+ Fuelband SE (I'll be posting my thoughts on this product later) to track my activity level and my sleeping patterns. Unfortunately my measurements, which don't lie, are telling me I'm doing a piss poor job with keeping up with my success! I did still experience some loss in inches on some areas, like my forearms, waist, hips, and thigh. But I gained in body fat percentage, neck, chest, and arm. My calves have remained the same. 

So Tony, one of my coaches, had a good talk with me. Basically this isn't good. Something is clearly going on that is affecting my body, could be dehydration, diet, or both. I'm not entirely sure what is setting me back entirely but I am taking FULL responsibility for the results. I am the only person that can enact change for me. So I have decided to fall back to the diet I had while I was on my sugar challenge, which means hot chocolates are out and cutting down on the rice, pasta, and breads (even though I only eat whole wheat). And Tony says I should've been tracking my caloric intake from the beginning, and I haven't. I will now start tracking that and probably posting it here. He is expecting a difference in 2 weeks. I have a LOT of work to do!

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.