Working Through It

It has been one LONG month so far. Between my battle with my shoulder and my foot and I have surrendered to the only workout possible...pool running. To my surprise, WOW, is this a workout! The last three weeks I have been going just three times a week, at times it would still bother my ankle, the water resistance. This week I am going to try for four days a week.

When pool running I slip on an aqua belt and usually go four about five laps around the deep end side of the pool. Once those 5 laps are done, I switch it up and add some intervals of sprints and high knees. The time goes fast if I don't look at the clock and of course I have my waterproof IPOD on...by the way BEST PURCHASE EVER!

Last night I started Physical Therapy again in town and she felt my calves and immediately said they were full of knots. I have been trying my best to massage them at night and I purchased a stick which should help. She did some massage work and she is going to slowly start me off on the bike and then up to the elliptical. She is also working on exercises for my shoulder.

So yes, I have stepped back a little from blogging. It seems as when I get injured I get so discouraged that I don't want to think about working out or talk about it. I get a little depressed because my endorphin highs are being taken away from me. It has been a SLOW four weeks getting my body back into shape again. Most of all, the discouraging part is that I never actually "overtrained." This is all due to a stupid antibiotic. What can do but move on and accept it. Things could be worse. So for now, I am happy to have my pool running on my side :) I will get stronger! I have accepted that my running days are probably over for now. In the future I would like to get back to cycling/spinning and I am going to keep the pool running at least one day a week. In my opinion, pool running is a great option. No impact and you can really push yourself to the limit!

Thoughts on Pool Running?

How long have you been out due to an injury?

What Doesn't Kill Me Will Make Me Stronger!!

What a week it has been! My sinus infection has completely cleared up and for the first time in over a month I felt strong enough for a great real workout. As I mentioned the Doc put me on some pretty nasty antibiotics that just overall made my muscles stiff and sore. By Tuesday, my body felt back to normal again and I hit the pool again for an easy swim workout. Well...probably swimming for 40 straight minutes free-style when I have not completed a swim in over a month was probably not the smartest thing to do. Near the end of my workout, I started to feel a pinch underneath my collarbone and into my left shoulder. I continued my workout until 40 minutes had passed. I figured that I might have just not warmed up enough, when I hit the weight room to do some upper body lifting, the pinch continued. Later on that night I immediately broke out the ice packs and noticed I had some tingling running down my arm. Really...I have been out of the gym for over a month and the first real week back I get injured AGAIN! After talking with my husband, he said due to the tingling it was probably a pinched nerve and that I get it checked out by my chiropractor.

Thursday I made an appointment with my chiropractor that I have not seen in over two years. He did some x-rays and said due to my symptoms, most likely is just a pinched nerve. He was also very interested in my Achilles. When I told him that I have not been able to run frequently since July, he said that was absurd. I explained to him that I can go for a good two months or so with biking/elliptical and the minute I start out with some running every other day it flares up again and I am back to icing. I told him that when I had my x-ray done that nothing showed up as of tears and the doctor said it was tendinitis. When he examined my foot, he did a pull/push type thing on it. The weird thing is when he did the same thing on my other foot, I immediately felt a little pop, not bad at all in terms of pain. He said that if my ankle was normal, I would be able to feel the pop in the other foot as well. He said it might be a joint alignment problem that is causing my Achilles to hurt. Monday I get my x-rays back and I am excited to get a treatment program that might reduce the flair ups in my ankle.

So for now, I have iced and kept up on my calf raises and I can finally cycle with no pain at all. I am staying away from any upper body lifting whatsoever until I get the xrays back. The pain is no longer noticeable in my shoulder, but it is pretty stiff. I found a bunch of strength exercises that I have started to do daily to help build up some strength using a band.

So yes, it feels like my body has been through so much in the past month or so, but I think of it this way...it will just make me that much stronger in the end. I can get through this and I will get Through this whole situation, I have really learned the importance of stretching and taking it slowly when coming back to exercise. It takes time and I need to be more patient when coming back.

In other news, I am having camera issues so I downloaded a few pics of my new loves!!

The perfect afternoon snack, I love the White Chocolate ones!!

Yes, this week our school got brand new IPADS!! Each teacher received a new one to have. We are allowed to use it for personal use and may download whatever apps we want!! This thing has been a blast to play with!

With our wedding money, I told Craig that the one thing I needed was a new blender, so NINJA was the one. I used it for the first time this morning to have a protein smoothie and I loved it.

Do you prefer Apple or PC?

What is one thing you are loving lately??

RUNNER's BEWARE!!

So now that my wedding is over, you would think that I would have some time to be relaxed and settle down. WRONG!

The Monday after my wedding, getting back into the swing of things was harder then I thought it would be fitness wise. My first two workouts were HORRIBLE...stiff joints and my sinus infection was slowly creeping back into me. Wednesday I went back to the doctor and he prescribed me with some stronger antibiotics. If I could take back this day, I would. I explained to him that I am just getting back into the working out again after a two week layoff due to the flu, he said that I should be fine with working out, as long as I don't have a fever. He put me on a 5 day does of Levaquin. I asked about the side effects and he said that I would have nothing to worry about, and that the only major side effect are tendon issues, but since I was not 60 years old or older, I should have nothing to worry about. So I popped the pill thinking nothing.

On Thursday, I started my second dose and by Friday (my third dose) I felt as if my body had been hit by a train. I started to notice extreme pain in my Achilles...a complete flare up again, as if I had been running on it for days, but in reality I had had no physical activity to make it flare up. My calf muscles throbbed, I had trouble laying still. I figured I would google search the side effects and oh my gosh, I started freaking out!! The tendon issues were not just common in the elderly, but any age. Now, I know the Internet can say some crazy things...but usually such side effects are not noted in the Runner World's Forum. How did I not know this!! I threw the meds out and Friday was my last pill (three doses). Friday night and Saturday night, I woke up with extreme calf pain and a throbbing toe (weird.) By Sunday, I was able to hit the pool and all of the pain in my muscles had subsided except for my Achilles. Today is Tuesday, and I am still icing it. The heel lifts hurt it more so I am avoiding those until it is stronger.

Well now, here is the crazier thing I discovered last night. After thinking about the last time I took antibiotics...it was right after my Costa Rica trip in the summer. I contacted Traveler's Diarrhea. Well three days after taking those antibiotics, I hopped on the Treadmill and strained my Achilles and it has never been the same since. I have never, ever had joint problems in my life before this. I have worked out my entire life and the only injury I had ever had was a minor issue with plantar. So I called my Doctor's office and requested the name of antibiotics that they put me on....Ciproflaxin (from the same family of Levaquin)! I could not believe it!! This summer the doctor told me nothing of any sort to be careful when running, or any side effects of a tendon rupturing.

Ciproflaxin is an antibiotic used to treat many serious infections or even moderate sinus infections. The FDA has put a black box warning on these medications (the family of fluoroquniolone) because of the tendon ruptures. Evidence has shown that the possibility of pulling a tendon is 1 in 100,000 but new studies are popping up right and left. There are law suits all over the country regarding these antibiotics. The problem is that know one really knows how long these side effects can last, it can be up to 6 months!

I am beside myself right now. I can't believe that doctors throw this medicine out with out really laying out the side effects, epically when they are made very clear that their patient is highly active.

As I ice my Achilles at the moment, I have made the sound decision that from now on, unless I am deathy ill I am staying away from antibiotics. Has anyone else heard of these antibiotics and their side effects?

I am MARRIED!!

So I have been MIA for the past week or two...but I have some good excuses. I got married!! These last two weeks have been the craziest weeks of my life. Not only did I get hit with the flu and had been recovering, well that turned into a bad sinus infection so while finishing up planning for the wedding, I dealt with rounds of antibiotics. On top of that, it was parent-teacher conferences last week so I worked three fourteen hour days. By Thursday I was a little unsure how if I would actually make it to my wedding weekend. I pulled it together, took loads of vitamin C and rested when I could, and by Saturday I was 100%.

I have never been happier and Craig and I can't stop smiling. We actually can't take our hands off of each other. It was stressful getting there, but we would have never done it any other way. I have so much to look forward to with our life together.

The honeymoon will wait till the summer, and I have today and tomorrow off of work. We are working on getting my name changed and applying four our first home loan so we can purchase our first house.

Here are some wedding pictures to enjoy, and of course there will be more professional pictures to come later down the road. Enjoy and I am so happy for life to be back to normal (I had my first workout this morning after two weeks, it kicked my butt...but I finally feel healthy again!)

Longest 5 Days

It has been the LONGEST five days of my life, hence the reason why I have signed off from the blogging world for the past week. I have been hit by the FLU! Last week starting on Monday I noticed that I was just overly exhausted. I was taking extra rest days, but my muscles were not recovering (staying sore for days) and I was barely making it through my day without feeling like I was going to fall over with exhaustion. Friday, I had plans on taking an extra rest day because I was so zonked out and I woke up not feeling right...dizzy and a little shaky. I made it to school and ate my oatmeal thinking that it might help, it did not at all. As soon as the kids walked into the classroom for the morning, I knew I was not going to be able to make it through the day. I called the Secretary and got a sub for the day. A good call it was, the moment I arrived home my head was in the toilet about every hour. Between sleeping all day and throwing up, I tried eating whatever I could but it would come right back up. My whole body ached from head to toe, I felt like death. Craig came home and bought me lots of Pedalyte for me to drink and some soup. By later in the evening I was able to choke down some food.

Saturday and Sunday were spent eating, drinking fluids, popping vitamins and sleeping all day and all night. By Monday, I was a feeling a little better but man was I weak. Today was the first day I woke up and felt about 100%, besides the small lingering headache I have not been able to kick.

I did well and waited this flu out before returning to exercise. Today, after school I figured I would give it a shot and did a light workout on the spin bike for thirty minutes followed by 15 minutes of light stretching and hand weights. It felt so good to get my legs moving again. I have plans on taking tomorrow as another rest day and Friday return to my normal workouts before school.

All I can say is that THANK GOD this came this past weekend and not next weekend. Now that I have been sick, all I can think about is staying healthy for next weekend when I get married. I tend to over analyze everything, so of course I want to be 100% on this day. I am scared to death that this flu is going to render itself back into me days before my wedding...I am really stressing. I have been popping Vitamin C, drinking vitamin water, eating tons of citrus fruits, consuming so much water, eating all my calories, popping other vitamins and taking Airborn like candy just to ward off whatever might be in me. I don't know about you guys, but I hate it when I have a big event coming up, I just can't relax. I just can't allow myself to go through my normal motions of life without thinking that this or that might happen that will effect that big day. So yes I am so excited to be married, but I will be so glad when this is over with!!

Ever had the flu?? How long did it take you to recover?

How are you with big social events?

Productive!

Nothing better then hitting up Costco for all my important needs. I am amazed how I always walk out of there and manage to spend so much...but I love all their selections.

Luckily for the Muscle Milk Light, I had a six dollar off coupon so a whole 24 pack was only twenty bucks. Pretty cheap if you ask me...and these shakes are perfect post workout.

2 new items I ran across today was a huge bag of flax meal and Mary's Flax Seed Crackers. I bought these a while back at Whole Foods and loved them, now I can buy them in bulk..woot woot! I know, pathetic how I get excited over food.

After Costco I ran to Target to return a gift I received for my bachelorette that did not fit. So instead I purchased The Real Housewives of Orange County and some new black running pants..sweet. I then came home and tried mixing together peanut flour and cereal for some peanut butter crispy treats..honestly though they were not that tasty.

Craig comes home tonight and I am soooo excited. We both agreed, he is no longer allowed to leave for more than two days, it is just too hard to stay away from each other. Even with having my Mom around and going to lunch with friends, I still found myself down and out because he was not around.

So yes, I have been very productive this weekend cleaning, getting caught up on wedding essentials for the big day, but the one thing I managed to put off until tonight is grading papers. Blah...I really should know better not to leave papers to grade until Sunday night.

What was productive about your Sunday?

Hump Day

So I successfuly made it through my bachelorette party and it was ONE long night. The picture above is me being sung to by several guys at the piano bar. They sang my all time favorite "You've Lost that Loving Feeling." It was pretty amazing. I had a great night, but lets just say for as many shots and I was given, I won't be doing that night over anytime soon!!

Before my party I spent most of the day on the couch icing my achilles. I was able to hobble around in my flats Saturday night, and Sunday was spent nursing my hangover as well as more icing. Monday and Tuesday, my achilles felt GREAT! I was almost ready to head back to the spin bike, until I woke up this morning with pain again. GRRRRR!! I have been stretching like crazy and doing my eccentric heel drops along with icing. Also, I have only been swimming for the past four days. The only thing I know that hinders my recovery is the fact that I am on my feet all day long, yes I have supports put in my feet but I am still wearing dress shoes so I am not sure how much support they really give me. So tomorrow it is back in the pool and no spin bke :(

I have still managed to do all the upper body lifting workouts on Jaime Eason's week five plan...just have to nix the leg workouts and replace them with the hip aductor machines.

Enough about my ongoing injury...today Craig left for his bachelor party for 5 days in Aspen :( I am bummed. A part of me is a little excited to have some me time around the apartment for the next couple of days, but at the same time I love having Craig to come home to and talk with and vent. He is my best friend, so I get pretty lonely when he is gone. So to keep myself busy afterschool today I made some more easy no bake Protein Bars.

Ingrediants: 8 Tablespoons of PB2

4 Scoops of Protein powder

2 cups raw oats

1/3 cup water more or less depending on consistency

Just mix all the ingrediants together, put in an 8x8 pan and freeze

I sliced mine into 9 slices which came out to be around 134 calories per bar

These literally took me like 10 minutes to make and will save me about 10 minutes every morning when I sit and pack my lunch and try to decide what I want for a snack. After making these bars, it was time for dinner and nothing seemed more pleasing then EGGS!!

A runny egg always hits the spot :)

How do you feel when your signifigant other is not around?