Find a New Passion? Heck, No!

First, hello there!  Been a few days...yeah...since I posted, but things are good.  Got out for a run on Sunday, not so great.  Foot was sore and I was kind of frustrated.  Gave it a rest, and got out again this morning.  All trail running for now, by the way.  No pavement running for me.  Anyway, this morning's run was not good?

I know, must starting toning up those arms!  Ugh!

 

Or was this morning's run good?

That's better, arms in, no flubber showing.

YOU GUESSED IT!  This morning's run was GREAT!  No foot pain at all, and it felt good.  I did 2.75 miles, felt like I could have gone longer except it was getting hot.

Saw one of the doctors on Tuesday and explained what's been happening with my foot/nerve pain. 
And this is what he told me.  One, continue taking the increased dosage on the medication if I need it, and he could actually increase the dosage more if I needed to during training.  

Two, he told me he believes I was overtraining, putting too many miles on the foot, that the tendon might still be weak, and that I should slow it down until I get closer to my event, and then search online for a good 8 or 10 week training program for a half marathon, that at least it's the half-marathon and not the full marathon.  Hee hee.  I said to him, "No.  That's next year.  "  You should have seen the look on his face then!

Three, he told me that he knows that runners can be very dedicated to their passion for running, but that if I continue to have the problem, I should probably  "find another passion".   Hell no!  I'll do what I have to do, take it easy, follow a slower training program, treat the foot well, run trails instead of asphalt and blacktop, and I WILL GET ACROSS THAT FINISH LINE! 

All in all, I feel at this point that this doctor has no desire to help me meet my goals.   So I may have to find someone else, maybe someone who specializes in sports medicine, someone who's interested in keeping me running.

In other news, finally had a good weigh-in at the scale this past Saturday.  Hoping for another this week.  Feeling good.   Drinking lots of water and eating lots of fruit, taking my vitamins.   So hopefully, I'm once again back on track and hitting the happy trails!



Sunshine! Makes Me Happy!

I just love this happy smiling sunshine!  And what a beautiful sunny morning it is!  It's been raining for days here.  Everything is so shiny and green...happy gardening day today.  The grass is up above my ankles.  I know what hubby will be doing this morning.  :) :)  Yes, yes, I'll be helping, but first, it's my weekly WW meeting and weigh-in.  It won't be the usual meeting though since a few of my WW "buddies" won't be attending this morning.  I'll miss you!  Have a great day at your events, and be sure to take in a little of this sunshine.

It's been an okay week.  The last few days, I'm fighting off that "sweet tooth" monster that's been lurking in the kitchen.  I did have a few cookies and a little piece of brownie at a memorial service the other day, but that was it.  We went to dinner earlier in the week, and we all shared a dessert.  I only had a few bites of that.  Oh, wait, I forgot, there are cookies in the house, in the freezer, and I did reach for those earlier in the week too....but I tracked them and I counted the points.  So other than those things, I've been doing good, reaching for the fresh fruit, banana, honeydew, watermelon. 

We've also started picking a little from the vegetable garden this week.  Made a couple wonderful salads with baby greens, and today we should be able to cut some of the swiss chard for dinner!  I'm already seeing the produce budget going down a little as we start to harvest a little.  I'm going to try to sneak in a row of radishes into the garden today.  There is always room for a little more to grow.... until everything starts getting big, the tomato plants get a few feet tall, and then I may not be able to walk between them!

So the plan today is to go to my meeting and weigh-in, home for lunch, a little work here and there for my job, and a lot of gardening and yard work.  I'm also hoping to get out either today or tomorrow on a nearby trail and "test the foot" for a little run.  It's still sore and I do have another appointment with the podiatrist this week, but I want to see whether it gets aggravated by a short run or not.

Of course, we're going to fire up the charcoal today and find something nice to barbecue, maybe some grilled veggies and some chicken. 

What's your old favorite thing AND new favorite thing to cook on the grill? 

A Day Off...Work/A Day Off...Sweets?

Come on, Sunshine!  Please!

I have about an hour of work to do this morning and then the rest of the day off.  Looking forward to a day spent with sister-in-law, niece and nephew, husband.  Will be a good day, rain or no rain.  I love these kinds of days...family days.

Now, to address an issue I'm struggling with..... a sweet tooth.  What's up with that?  Lately, I always seem to have the feeling that I need something sweet.  We bought plenty of fruit this week.  I had a half of a very sweet crunchy apple with my lunch yesterday.  As a mid-day snack, I cut up a very sweet, yummy honeydew melon that we bought.  It was wonderful!  Last night after dinner, we cut up a watermelon and had a bowl of that together with a few pieces of that honeydew.  Delicious!  Still, I wanted sugar, cake, cookies, whatever I could find.  I lost the battle again, and ate two big chocolate chip cookies. 

I really have to devise a new game plan.  I was talking to hubby last night and thought about what I did when I first started this journey with Weight Watchers and taking off the weight.  What did I eat for sweet snacks other than fruit.  Well, I remember I used to take graham crackers and put fat-free cool whip in between, make a sandwich and freeze them.  They were good!  Why don't I make them anymore?  I used to buy Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches every week!  Don't buy them anymore?  I used to buy the single-serving cups of Weight Watchers ice cream.  Why don't I buy them anymore?

Well, I haven't bought that kind of stuff lately for two reasons, one being $$$, but the biggest reason being that the new Weight Watcher plan kind of directs you away from that kind of stuff in an effort to get people eating more fruit, which I do.  But am I actually creating a problem by completely depriving myself of these "treats"?  So instead of reaching for a Weight Watcher ice cream cup or a Skinny Cow, I end up hitting the box of cookies.  NOT GOOD.  NOT GOOD.

So this week's shopping list is going to include one "treat", and it won't be something that will enable me to have that "treat" every night.  So unfortunately, a sleeve of Skinny Cow ice creams is out.  A few single-serving Weight Watcher ice cream cups is a better option.

In other news, the foot seems to be feeling better every day.  I've bumped up the medication that I take for nerve pain in my back.  I figured if it was a nerve problem in my foot, maybe that would work.  I'm supposed to take 2 or 3 times a day for the back.  I've always taken it twice, but now bumped it up to 3 times a day.  I don't know if that's why it's feeling better or whether it's because of the new walking shoes and metatarsal insoles, but it's definitely feeling better.  I'm holding back on running until the weekend, will get out then for a short and easy run, and build it up very, very slowly and see what happens.

Well, time for more coffee, an hour of work, and then off I go on my wonderful day off!

Back to What Works

Sunday morning back to what works.  What works?  THE PLAN!  If I work the plan, the plan works!

Yesterday we went out to breakfast.  Yes, I was hungry, and I had a VERY BIG breakfast, which included several things I wouldn't normally eat.  The result, I blew through most of my points for the day.  Now, yes, I have to admit that come dinnertime, we didn't think we were hungry.  So we decided to make smoothies and head out for a little late afternoon shopping.  WARNING!  WARNING!  A smoothie IS NOT going to carry me through the rest of the evening.  Yep, I was hungry.  So we stopped for a fat-free, sugar-free frozen yogurt, "another treat". 

Result?  I went to bed still feeling hungry.   Reason?  Not enough protein during the day and too many carbs.  Lesson learned.....again. 

So this Sunday morning, it's back to what works for me.  What works for me, as I said, is the plan.  Hence, return of the omelette.

One egg (2PP), three egg whites (1PP), half ounce slice of naturally slender cheese (1PP), peppers, onion, mushrooms and spinach, one slice of Pepperidge Farms Carb Style bread (1PP).  5 PP breakfast and I'm ready to get this day going!

My plan for the rest of the day is to keep up the momentum.  Maybe one of these for lunch -

That's a "Reen's Way Sub", a nice 5PP roll, some sliced chicken and loads and loads of veggies", 7PP.

Dinner involves some Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage (4 PP per link) (grilled, if the weather is okay) and maybe a baked sweet potato or sweet potato fries, a salad and another veggie, possibly asparagus.

So today is all about doing what works, staying within my points, and enjoying the day.

Oh, yeah, and water, drink more water.  So it's more than a plan.  I will do it.  I am going to rest my head on my pillow tonight knowing that I did what I know works for my body.

Giving It Time; And Enjoy What I Can Do

It's such a beautiful morning again, perfect morning to get out for a short run before sitting at this computer working all day.  What a great idea.  Not.  I'm trying to be the smart one here.  My heart is telling me to run, but my head is saying no, there is a little soreness in the foot, keep resting it.  Don't make it worse.  It will take time to heal. 

In the meantime, I've been trying to focus on other ways to move a little.  Need to move.  Sitting in this computer chair all day is really rough.  My back and legs are so stiff.  So I've been trying to get out in the garden at night.  Accomplishes two things, gives me the opportunity to move and stretch AND I'm getting the garden cleaned up at the same time!

The vegetable garden is all tilled and ready.  In fact, just waiting for the tomato and cucumber plants.   Swiss chard and green beans are already planted, lima beans go in this weekend along with the tomato and cucumber plants.  Actually, two tomato plants already in, courtesy of my a gift from my wonderful neighbor.  We made the veggie garden "a little" bigger this year too.   CAN YOU TELL I LOVE THE GARDEN THIS TIME OF YEAR?  That will be another post.

After gardening for an hour and a half last night, we decided to treat ourselves and go for ice cream.  Problem was  I didn't want the regular fat-free sugar-free.  I wanted good old ice cream.  I got it.  I enjoyed it.  I tracked it.  Now to make sure I get some activity in today.  Maybe skating, maybe more gardening.  As long as I move every day, I'll be okay on the days I can't run.

Back in the Game Once More

Yeah!!!!!   It's been a good day.  Went to the podiatrist and he says he doesn't see anything wrong with my foot,  He pushed my toes in all directions, he twisted and squeezed my foot.  Everything seems fine.  Whatever caused the pain is gone.  Perhaps IT WAS those foot exercises I did.

After the appointment, honey and I went out for brunch, a stop at the thrift store, and then home to get to work.

After dinner, I could wait no longer.  My old running shoes (soon to be replaced) were calling me.  Nice cool night, perfect for a short run.   So off we went to the park, a few minutes of light stretching and then I started my run.  I had planned on running a slow steady run at the usual 6/1 intervals, but I couldn't do it.  I just couldn't.  It felt SO GREAT to run that I just kept running, never did any walking intervals.   2.45 miles, not bad for my first run in three weeks.

Tomorrow I'm making a trip to the running store to get evaluated and get the new running shoes, and hoping to get out for a longer run this weekend.

Easy Steppin!

Yep.  These feet are feeling better.  So much better!  Kind of weird how it happened, but I'll take it.  I decided that over this past weekend, I was going to take it easy, try to rest, keep the foot up as much as possible (wasn't all that successful), keep it iced and just do everything possible to try to treat this problem, which I think is metatarsalgia. 

The pain was horrible over the weekend.  The only way I could tolerate walking was by wearing an old pair of walking shoes I have with a gel insert in them, but even that got very uncomfortable after a while.  Still, since we have 50 percent hardwood floors and tile, it was a necessity.  I kept taking the Motrin as well.  Saturday....not good, and I was really down in the dumps about it.

Still, Sunday, I woke up with a positive attitude, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and get over it.  Again, I iced it, used the foot bath with some Epsom Salts, tried to keep it elevated, iced it, wore the walking shoes, rested it (sort of).  No luck.  Still so so very painful.  In order to get across the room without my walking shoes on, it was necessary for me to actually walk on the outside part of my foot.  And as a result of the way I've been walking to favor the foot and also because I'm basically just sitting on my rear end, my whole body was achey. 

In order to change things up a little, I switched from Motrin to aspirin.  Hey, ya never know, right?

I decided enough was enough.  I had been reading about some "foot exercises" to do to treat metatarsalgia.  But how could I do foot exercises when I could hardly stand?  Well, we're not going to know until I try it.  So off to the step in our doorway I went, stood on the very edge of the step on the ends of my feet almost on my toes, and did the exercises, dropping my heels and coming back up, dropping my heels and then coming back up, 10 times.  Then lift up on the fronts of my feet and then back down, up on the fronts of my feet and then back down, 10 times.  Okay.  Not so bad.  Didn't hurt that much.  At least I feel like I'm stretching the muscles in my lower legs a little.

I sat for a while and started thinking again how much I wanted to move, just stretch even, because I was so achey.  I suggested to my husband that maybe if he pulled that Pilates ball out of the basement and cleaned it up, maybe I'd trying using that for a little exercise.  And I did, for 30 minutes.  Actually, I enjoyed it.  It was funny seeing how uncoordinated I am when I try something new. 

Here's the interesting part of my boring story.  After my 30-minute "ball workout", I sat down on the recliner to watch some tv.  After about a half hour, I needed to get up to get a drink.  So I stood up and  walked right across the carpeted floor, no shoes, then got onto the hardwood floor, and stopped.  What?  Did that just happen?  I'll say that about 80% of the pain was GONE!  What?  I continued walking into the kitchen onto the ceramic floor.  What?  Still, most of the pain was gone. 

Weird, right?  Yesterday morning, got up out of bed and walked carefully across the floor testing the foot.  Amazing!  The pain in the ball of my foot is almost completely gone!  There is a little tenderness but almost nothing compared to the horrible I have been having for the past two weeks.

I'm still doing the foot exercises, twice a day, and still iced it on and off yesterday as well as the foot bath.   Today I may decide to test it a little further and go for a little walk around the block.   I have appointment with the foot doctor on Thursday.  Think I'll probably keep that appointment so I can get an idea from him what's going on.

And now can get back to that running store and get evaluated for new running shoes!  Yeah!

Did the pilates ball workout again last night.  I am definitely feeling it in my abdomen and lower belly.  There was one exercise that I just couldn't do last night, because every time I tried, I got a cramp in the back of my thigh.  So I know I'm working muscles that haven't been worked lately.  That's ALWAYS a good thing!

Hit a Road Block? Find a Different Route and MOVE ON!

So admittedly, I've been moaning and groaning a lot lately, having myself a good old pity party.  I want to run, I want to run, my foot hurts, my foot hurts, I'm tired of feeling this way, why do I have to wait until Thursday to go to the doctor, blah, blah, blah.  Get it over it, Reen.  Geez.  There is the obvious way I have been handling things lately, which is not very well, and then there is the alternative to this "Road Block"  Find a different route and MOVE ON!  Tonight, that's what I decided to do.

I pulled the pilates exercise ball out from the dark corner of the basement, dusted it off, went online and found some core exercises to do with the ball and I worked out for a half hour.  Have to admit, it was a really nice change, and it just felt good to stretch.  I have been so stiff for the last few days as a result of doing nothing but sitting in a chair working or sitting in a chair with my foot on ice or sitting in the recliner with my foot up.  My back and left hip and leg have been extra achey as well, I think because of the funky way I'm walking right now to avoid putting pressure on the ball of my foot.  So doing those stretches with the pilates ball felt great!

I am feeling sorry for myself no more.  Done with it.  I'm going to try to stop focusing on what I cannot do and start focusing on what I can do.  In fact, if I have the time (work is going to be VERY BUSY again this week), I'm going to head to the Y and get in the pool again.  No pressure on the foot by swimming!  If not, I'll use the pilates ball every day and I might even see if I can get on my bike and go for a spin around town.  Anything I can do to keep the body moving a little and help me focus on being active instead of focusing on "not being active".

Before I know, it will be Thursday, I'll see the foot doctor and hopefully get some answers, or maybe even feel better by then!