Jello Legs + Randoms

Random #1: I love Whit's Frozen Custard. In fact, I'm going to pause after I finish the next sentence to go and get me a Snickers Whitser. Click my link, find the nearest location, and GO THERE!!!

Today was supposed to be a rest day on my 5k program. I decided to do some strength training. Hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow...I have to run 6 miles! I love to read various health magazines and tend to tear out the different workouts. I went through my stash and picked out the following workouts.

1. "Build Strength, Fry Fat" from Women's Health Magazine, April 2013. It was a fun and challenging circuit...hence "jello legs." Basically, you do each exercise for 30 seconds without rest between each exercise. After the circuit of 6, you rest one minute...do that 3-4 times (I did three).

Dumbbell Squat and Pushup

Bent-Over Row and Goblet Split-Squat

Pushup-Position Row and Overhead Press

 

They say to use a challenging weight with the suggestion of 12 lbs. I used 15 lbs. for all of them except the overhead press.

 

Random#2: I have to work tomorrow...and it's Saturday. I shouldn't complain...at least I have a sweet job.

 

2. "Blast Your Lower Half" from Women's Health Magazine, March 2012.

Side Leg Raise (a.k.a. hip abduction), Clamshell, Hip Raise (a.k.a. Bridge), Cross-Body Mountain Climber.

The instructions say to do just 5 reps of each exercise on each side (when applicable) but to perform it slowly, taking 10 seconds to do each exercise...2-4 circuits.

 

After doing the first workout, my legs were shaking like crazy while doing the second workout!

 

Random #3: Breakfast for dinner is my favorite meal EVER!



Running and Hip Issues

Preface: This is a very short version secondary to the massive amounts of information about it. My #1 recommendation is to go to your ortho doctor if the pain persists. Also, the injuries stated are ones common amongst runners. Keep in mind, other things can be wrong!

My friend, Kim (click her name to check out her blog), asked me to talk about this insanely broad topic. Sources of hip pain include bone, joint, muscle belly, tendon and bursa to name a few. Since it is a big topic, I'll list some of the most common diagnoses amongst runners.

1) Anterior Hip (front):

Hip Joint

Anterior Leg/Hip Muscles

 

-Pain of the anterior hip and groin usually means an issue with the hip flexor muscles (i.e. strain) or the actual hip joint itself (arthritis, labrum, etc.). First, go to the doctor if pain persists (especially for the latter diagnoses). If you suspect hip flexor trouble, REST and ICE. You can cause further injury is you keep running. You can also stretch your quads and try this stretch if you have tightness in your anterior hip:

 

2) Lateral Hip (side)

Lateral Hip Muscles

 

-The most common lateral hip injury in runners is bursitis. I'm pretty sure this is what I experienced last year during my full marathon training. It can be a beast during those long runs. This injury is usually associated with hip abductor weakness and ITB tightness. I, personally, had to decrease my mileage and dedicate myself to icing and stretching my ITB (as well as the rest of my lower extremity). It's also important to put yourself on a good strength training program for you hip abductors (remember your gluteus medius!!!).

 

3) Posterior Hip (Back):

Posterior Hip Muscles (glutes have been cut to show deeper muscles)

 

-The most common running injury of the posterior hip is Piriformis Syndrome. I describe this muscle, to my patients, as a booty muscle (see the picture above and take notice to the placement of the sciatic nerve...its under the piriformis). When the piriformis is tight, it can press on the nerve and cause pain to radiate down your leg (also keep in mind that back issues may cause the same symptoms).
When running, you may feel a deep pain in your buttocks that seems to linger after stopping.

 

I have also experienced this injury (this year, in fact). I only had it for a week or two...what did I do? STRETCH, STRETCH, STRETCH! Honestly, this is my favorite muscles to stretch! Here is one way to do it:

(Remember to keep your knee joint at a 90 degree angle and bring your knee towards the opposite shoulder)

-Here's what else I did: I took a tennis ball and put it between my butt and the wall. I used that technique to give myself a massage. As with the other injuries mentioned, you need to start a good hip strengthening program and make sure you stretch before and after each run!

 

 

In conclusion, to prevent hip injuries, put yourself on a good hip strengthening program focusing a lot on the gluteal muscles AND remember to stretch. Again, see your doctor if pain persists! Hope this helps!

Patellar Tendinitis

On Facebook this morning, I asked my runner friends to post some injuries they have and want to learn more about (from a PT perspective). My plan is to post about each of the injuries mentioned.

PT School Graduation (in case you can't see, my shirt says "It's Lisa, Dr. Reaves if you're nasty")

 

Preface: I'm a legit PT (physical therapist)...DPT to be exact :) BUT, I don't know and will never know all there is to know about running injuries. I can only give you the best information that I know (through learning and experience)...so take this for what it's worth.

 

On to the topic:

(Anatomy pic provided by mayoclinic.com)

 

This condition is most common in sports that involve jumping but is also seen in runners, walkers, and cyclists. The latter are usually due to overuse injury (doing too much too fast when starting a training program or having improper technique). Basically, "-itis" = inflammation...you can look up all day what patellar tendinitis is but I'll try to give you things to do (or not to do) to improve it.

 

1. If you have patellar tendinitis, you probably have tight quads. There are a bunch of ways to stretch your quads but here is the most common:

I know stretching is boring but it's SO important!!!

 

2. Ice, post-workout, 10-15 minutes.

 

3. Rest and/or decrease mileage/pace. I've been dealing with a knee issue since I began training in January (probably due to overuse mentioned above). I did things like decrease my mileage, actually rest on rest days, and did elliptical warm ups/cool downs instead of running warm ups/cool downs. After about 2 or 3 weeks of this, I had a significant decrease in knee pain. Now I'm slowly increasing my mileage and pace.

 

In addition to the list above, you may have weakness/tightness in other areas of your legs and core. Remember that everyone is an individual with different issues. It wouldn't hurt to incorporate a leg and core strengthening program in addition to your running program. With leg strengthening, focus on the hips.

 

 

 

 

 



My Sister's Visit

My family is crazy...so is every other family out there. You know what? I LOVE IT! I get so excited when I get to see them and SO SAD when they have to leave. I'm not gonna lie, I've cried so much today. I guess it's because I never know when I'll see my family again.

Andrew and me

 

When I got off work Monday, we all just hung out for a couple of hours. That night, my nephew, Andrew, and my niece, Brooklyn, went to Hip Hop Fitness with me!!! It made the class more fun than it's ever been! The next day, we went to breakfast, played at Polaris mall, and went to the art museum.

Me and Shawna at the museum

 

After resting for a while, mom babysat the little ones while the other adults (me, Mr. Boo, Shawna, and her husband, Jaimie) went out to eat. Thanks, mom, for doing that! We went to Genji in Dublin for some yummy Japanese food and had some delicious martinis! YUMMY! The most exciting part of dinner was finding out that Shawna and Jaimie want to go to Sandals sometime! As you all know, Mr. Boo and I have been three times so now we're looking to go with other people. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get to go on a trip with them!!!

 

Today (their last day here) started off on a bad note. I woke up knowing they would all be leaving soon and it just made me sad. I hated the thought of seeing them drive away. After I got over myself, we ate at Der Dutchman (Boo's favorite breakfast place) which is where I had to say bye to mom.

Mom and me at Der Dutchman

 

The positive of this one is that I'll see her in three weeks when my other sister, Ashley, visits WV! After saying bye to mom, the rest of us headed to Magic Mountain (where all the action began). The goal: to wear out the kids so they would sleep when my sister and Jaimie started driving back to NE!

Jaimie and my nephew Quinten

 

My nephew Brennan

 

Somehow I did not get in a picture with Brooklyn :( But at least I have some fun memories of hanging out with her! Thanks to my sister and Jaimie for taking time out of their busy schedules to come see us. I love you guys so much and you mean the world to me. Maybe one day we'll be closer in geography to each other! And thanks to my mom for making the drive to spend that short day and a half with us!

One more thing...thanks to Mr. Boo for loving my family and welcoming them into our home.

 



Training Update + Randoms

Random #1: My bracket is sucking...only 20/32 in the 1st (wait...2nd) round.

I've been SO excited about my training this week! Not only did I up my pace for my tempo run and intervals, I did it with minimal to no knee pain! I started the week with a 2 hour Hip Hop Fitness class (I had to take the next day off...2 hours is a lot of hip hop!). I did a 30 minute tempo run on Wednesday and intervals on Friday. I like the interval workout on my current training program. You do 4 minutes at 5k pace followed by 2 minutes at an easy pace. This week, I had to do that cycle four times. The workout includes a one mile warm up and cool down. Because of my recent knee issues, I did a 10 minute warm up and cool down on the elliptical.

Random #2: I had to get up way too early on a Saturday to make Mac-n-cheese for my church's egg hunt...I hope it was worth it when they put it in their mouths!

 (my most recent creamer flavor...Southern Butter Pecan!)

For my final workout this week, I did my "long run." I put that in quotations because the mileage seems so small compared to my marathon training (DUH!). I did a 7 miler! Going into it, I wasn't confident AT ALL.  My back had moderate pain from moving some things around the house last night (getting ready for my family's visit). It was crazy how amazing I felt...especially the first 3-4 miles. I felt fairly tired after that (naturally) but better than I had expected. After I reached 7 miles, I'm pretty sure I did a fist pump or a "cha-ching" move in front of everyone at the gym :)

 

I had a really good stretch session then went home to this:

Ice and thin mint pie!

 

Random #3: Mr. Boo and I met our friend, Jenny, at the dog park (we all brought our dogs, too).

 

Haters Gonna Hate!

I'm pretty sure this day could not get more exciting!!!

 

My excited face that you could have lived without.

• I finished work early which means I get to go to the gym earlier (there is an interval workout in my future!!!).
• I ate Panera for lunch.
• Mr. Boo invited me to Chili's for Happy Hour...can I get some chips and salsa?! Woot, woot!
• My sister and family will be here in TWO DAYS!!!

 

AND, FINALLY...

 

• Mr. Boo gave me permission to throw a Kentucky Derby Party!!! I'm not sure where my obsession came from but I love it! Big hats and bow ties!!!

Race Predictor Calculators Part 2

One of the running blogs I follow is MilePosts. After my post last night about race predictor calculators, I noticed her most recent post was about her favorite race predictor! I took the table from my last post and added a row with her favorite to compare:

 

	5k	10k	Half Marathon	Marathon
Jeff Galloway	26:41	57:24	2:06:33	4:34:11
Marathon Guide	26:41	55:53	2:03:55	4:19:32
Runner’s World	26:41	55:38	2:02:45	4:15:55
Greg McMillan	26:41	55:25	2:03:33	4:20:00

 To check out Greg's version, go to THIS website. His looks closest to the marathon guide version. 

Race Predictor Calculators

Preface:

 I have not done any extensive research into the following piece of information. I simply googled how to predict race times based on my most recent 5K time.

 

First, I'll present my three resources (click for link):

1- Jeff Galloway's Magic Mile Race Prediction Formulas

  2- MARATHONguide.com

3- RunnersWorld.com

 

Next, I'll present the predictors' results based on my Shamrock Run 5K time:

 

 

	5k	10k	Half Marathon	Marathon
Jeff Galloway	26:41	57:24	2:06:33	4:34:11
Marathon Guide	26:41	55:53	2:03:55	4:19:32
Runner’s World	26:41	55:38	2:02:45	4:15:55

 

 

I thought it was interesting how different the Galloway times were from the other two. Since I've been battling a small knee injury this year, I decided to go with the Galloway predictions for my 5k training until it heals. If my injury seems to improve before half marathon training, I may go for one of the others.
 

 The other thing I noticed was the familiarity of a couple of those marathon times. The Galloway marathon time is roughly the time from my first marathon in 2005 (4:35:57). The Runner's World time was my goal for the Columbus marathon this past October (I ran 5:03). I know there are SO MANY FACTORS that contribute to race times but it doesn't keep me from thinking to hard about it! I've learned a lot from last year's training and I'm really looking forward to the rest of my racing year!

 

 

 

Shamrock Run 5k

Pre-race face!

 

Mr. Boo escorted me to this race. We hung out at World of Beer (WOB) in the Brewery District for a few minutes before the race started...there was SO MUCH GREEN!!!

 

T minus 2 minutes!

 

The sun must have been out in this picture...squinty eyes! If you look carefully, you can see Mr. Boo's reflection in the window as he's taking the picture. I must admit, I love my green gear. My shirt says "I'm not Irish but kiss me anyway!" I bought a shamrock bandanna and decided to wear it as a scarf, of sorts, to keep my neck warm! It was SO COLD outside...in the 30s. I was a little bummed that I forgot to wear some St. Patty's Day socks.

 

Kickin' butt at the finish!

 

This race was set up as the same route out and in...1.55 miles out, 1.55 miles in. It went south on Front Street from WOB and turned on Whittier to go along the Scioto River. It's always nice to run by water. Just as we approached the river, there was a decline (which meant incline on the way back!). Before I reached the 2 mile mark, I had to stop to tie my stinkin' shoe! I briefly lost my mojo but recovered from the loss very quickly.

After I conquered the previously mentioned incline, I approached the long, gradual incline which was much worse! I seriously thought I was going to throw up. The only thing that kept me going was Busta Rhymes telling me to nod my head and break my neck :) (thank you Ludacris station on Pandora). After finishing, I decided to give my drink ticket to a random person. I felt like I might throw up if I had a beer!

 

Here were my mile splits:

-Mile 1- 8:25

-Mile 2- 8:38

-Mile 3- 8:41

-Last 0.12 miles- 7:29

 

Thanks, Boo, for coming to support me during your normal nap time!

 

Next Race: Glo Run on April 6th!

 



Lindsay's Baby Shower Part 2: FOOD!!!

Jimmy and I love hosting get-togethers so, naturally, I get excited about the theme of the party. After Becca and I agreed on the Rock and Roll theme, we went straight to Pinterest for ideas! Becca was able to borrow a couple of things from a friend. We then used our creativity for the rest of it.

 

This isn't food but some fun decorations we put up (from Party City):

We also used these to decorate (made from sheets of music):

 

Here's the spread:

 

The contraption holding the goodies is made from old school records (not real ones) and various plastic drinking glasses. Let's see some detail (ALL CAPS=links to recipes)...

 

Cupcakes using Funfetti cake mix and HOMEMADE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING.

 

CINNAMON BUN POPS. We made these GF style but, if I ever made them again, I'd want to try regular style. P.S. We stuck them in a styrofoam disc that we painted black.

 

Sugar cookies shaped like guitars. We just used a Betty Crocker pre-made mix. Becca found the guitar cookie cutter at Sur la table at Easton. We had a music note cookie cutter but it looked more like a pterodactyl! Luckily we burned that batch :)

 

GF chocolate cupcakes with HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE FROSTING. We used a GF pre-made cake mix from Kroger. These were so delish!

 

Blue m&m's!!! I think these were Lindsay's favorite! We bought these at Party City.

 

Finally, for drinks, we had a variety...hot chocolate, water, and some yummy Starbucks coffee provided by our friend Jenny. The greatest thing about the coffee was the Heath creamer! YUM! Overall, I enjoyed the desserts and it was worth the 4 1/2 hours spent with my baker friend, Becca! Thank you so much for your help, Bec!!!

 







Lindsay's Baby Shower Part 1: Festivities

Lindsay's shower will come in two posts: Festivities and Food (of course there is food!). Let me start by saying, Lindsay is the happiest looking pregnant lady I've ever seen!

 

Look at that cheese! The shower included a group of ladies from church...a good mix of women with kids and women without kids. It was nice to hear some perspective from the experienced mothers! Because we all know each other, there was lots of mingling. My co-host, Becca, brought a Polaroid camera/film she had left over from her wedding. How cool is that?!

 

Our first game, which appropriately suited our guest of honor, was "Pin the Sperm on the Uterus."

Our uterus.

You can find the templates on THIS site. We used poster board.

 

 Basically, all guests put their name on a sperm and place it anywhere on the uterus. The guest of honor is then blindfolded and places her egg on the uterus. The person whose sperm is the closest to the egg wins a prize! In the situation pictured above, we decided that Megan was the winner because her sperm was about to eat the egg and the other sperm looks like it's running away! :)

 

We also played baby bingo for the gift opening.

I just printed off blank bingo sheets and everyone filled in each square with a different baby gift they thought Lindsay might open. The first to get a bingo won a prize! Our friend Jen won this game!

 

We also did a raffle for the last prize (Go Linda!). I can't forget to mention the Pandora station used for our background music:

 

WHITNEY HOUSTON!!!

 

This is one of Lindsay's favorite artists so it seemed very appropriate. Can't wait to post tomorrow about the menu!

The card says "BOOTIE CALL!"



Lists

Let's be real. They keep me organized and sane. When I don't use them, I'm lost and forget to do things. They come in handy mostly at the grocery store and for planning parties. I even had to make one for today:

 

 

I've been meaning to do all of these things all week! After work and an easy 3 miler, I get to pick up my race packet for Sunday!!! It's always so exciting to get your race gear! Because it's a St. Patty's Day race, I have to get some green gear...I'm thinking dollar store. Hopefully this list leads me to El Vaquero to sip on a margarita and eat me some good ole Mexican food!!!

 

Finally, I'm going to brag briefly on Mr. Boo. He fixed the garbage disposal AND our fence yesterday.

Phoebe

I love the episode of Friends when Phoebe and Rachel go running together. I got this clip from youtube.com:

 

I'd be lying if I said I didn't watch the way other people run. I'm sure people make fun of the way I run! My favorite running styles are what I call "The Hitchhiker" and "Flailing Arms." Use your imagination.

My Stinkin' Knee

Remember my TRAINING UPDATE a couple of posts ago? Somewhere in that post I said I was excited about my 6 mile run...well, it sucked! I finished it but not without pain (or feeling like I wanted to barf). The worst decision I made that workout was to actually run 6 miles.

 

My knee hurt right from the beginning...but I continued to run. To prevent boredom, I switched from 6.0 to 6.1 mph every three minutes. That made the workout go by pretty fast. Fortunately, I never felt the shooting pain but I felt that weird semi-intense pressure. It was after the run that I really felt the pain. I even felt it into the next day. I skipped my easy 3 miler and went on a walk with my pups instead...we walked about 55 minutes. The knee hurt initially but went away after about 15 minutes. I decided to skip Hip Hop Fitness tonight to do something less intense so that my knee feels good for the Shamrock Run this Sunday!!!

 

Click HERE to read details. Come out and cheer me on if you want!!!

A Mommy/Daughter(s) Walk (lots of pics in this one)

What a freakin' gorgeous day in Cbus!!! It gets me excited for the spring! After I got home from work and ate this non-GF meal,

 

I decided to take the girls on a walk! When we say the word "walk," Izzie and Angel go CRAZY! They love walks. Here they are saying to me, "What's the hold up, mom?!"

 

On our walks, each animal has it's own role. Izzie is the protector...she is always looking around for any threat:

 

Angel is the sniffer...I'm not sure of its importance but it's cute:

 

And I'm just there so that the wind can blow through my hair:

 

That's hot. LOL. We made a few discoveries along the way:

A fire hydrant

 

A wooded area with lots of trees and leaves

 

This house (it looked WAY cooler in person but I felt creepy taking a pic of it so I didn't get the whole thing)

 

This street sign. Mimosa? Yes, please.

 

When I figured out where we were, I headed towards our house. We spent about 55 minutes on our adventure. Here's what the girls did when we got home:

 

Love my girls!