Last Friday was my 28th birthday. It was very low-key, but still nice. Abe sent me flowers at work and took me out to dinner. I was a little disappointed with the restaurant (my choice), but all in all, it was a nice evening. We got some cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory to go as we left the other restaurant. I’ve never had their cheesecake, but OH.MY.GOD. Now I see what all the fuss is about!! It was absolutely amazing.
I also received some very sweet and thoughtful presents from Mr. Abe. He bought me a new yoga mat, a book on running injuries and the 4th season of “Felicity” on DVD. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE “FELICITY”!! Will they ever sort it all out??? It was a good birthday.
Sunday, I awoke at 7:30 and questioned why I get up so freakin’ early on Sundays to go running. But I got up, ate my toast and headed to run club. The plan was to do 8-10 miles at slower-than-race-pace pace. And we did it! We did 10.3 miles VERY SLOWLY, but I made it through with minimal knee discomfort. It felt really good—we just did a loop around all 3 Lakes (Isles, Calhoun and Harriet), so that I could stay close to the store if I needed to walk back. But the slow pace (just under 12:00 min/mile) kept me moving forward. I’ll need to speed it up a full minute to get to race pace, but I’ve got 16 weeks, I can do it. I’m happy to be back.
When I got home, I did my stretches, took some ibuprofen and slapped an ice pack on my knee right away. It hurt a bit more once I got home—I had some trouble taking the laundry downstairs—but the pain was gone by the end of the day. Yay!
However, once again, I did NOT get up and do yoga today. What is my problem? The thing that really makes me mad is that I’m awake at 5:30. I can totally get up. Instead, I go back to sleep and toss and turn for an hour. I might as well just get up! I have a new theory that if I do yoga at night before bed (like I do on Monday and Thursday nights), I’m more likely to get up the next morning. I didn’t do yoga last night because I was studying so late. (But if you need to know anything about the Golgi apparatus and its function in the endomembrane system, feel free to ask!!) Anyway, just a hypothesis. Tonight I will test it by doing one of my 20 minute yoga tapes, and then seeing if I am more likely to get up tomorrow morning and do yoga.
Welcome to Sara’s knee and yoga blog. :)
Another thought—doing yoga in the morning, on a regular basis, keeps me more relaxed at work. Otherwise, I get crabby really quickly.
Good knee news!! My knee was feeling better today, and I just had my second chiropractor appointment with Dr. Bruns. I really like him—he’s a funny guy.
One of the first things he said was “So, you probably did something crazy last night, like go running.” Ha! I got to tell him—truthfully—that no, I did not. I did not tell him that I’m planning on running on Friday and Sunday though. : )
Anyway, sounds like my hips are really tight, which is affecting the tracking of my kneecap. Once again, Dr. Bruns dug around in my right hip flexor muscle and IT HURT. But once he was done, it was so loose, I couldn’t even find the right location to stretch. So, I’m going to be doing a lot of little things over the next few weeks, and hopefully they will add up to a better knee. Or, at least a more manageable knee.
If you’re curious, this is what I will officially be doing:
Icing every day, and maybe even before a run
Doing yoga religiously, especially focusing on hip opening poses and chair pose to strengthen my glutes
Doing some one-legged squats to focus on making my kneecap track correctly
Trying an IT Band strap when I run
Keeping my pace low. I figure I’ll take this Sunday slow (12:00 min/mile or so), and build up to eventual marathon pace. No under 30 minute 5Ks for me in the near future.
I’ll be seeing Dr. Bruns again next week for some more ultrasound therapy and to get my hip flexor dug into again, but until then, I’ll be doing my own treatment. I’ve been looking around on various yoga sites and on Runners’ World for some knee/hip information, and have found some good exercises. I think by and large the yoga poses that I do are good, I may just need to hold some of them longer to really work the muscle and connective tissue. One website suggested holding Pigeon pose for 20 minutes. OUCH! I can hold for maybe 1 minute. But I’ll work on that.
I apologize to my readers (do I have any other than Athena or Abe? And Elle, now, too!) about my above rant. I was pretty upset (duh) on Tuesday. But I’m better now. It’s just my usual knee thing, and I have to be extra diligent about icing and yoga-ing. I was doing pretty well up until Christmas, and then I let it slide a bit. But no more. Now I am back on track!
Oh, and I think I’ve given up on so-called “good” shoes. I am going to look at some Merrell’s this weekend, but what’s the point? They are so expensive, and these so-called good-for-your-feet shoes usually make me feel worse. Plus, Target has some really cute Isaac Mizrahi pumps right now. :)
Happy Valentine’s Day!
So, last night, I carefully read through the article in Runners’ World on knee pain. I had skimmed it before, but I very carefully read through it last night. It was interesting, mostly about patello-femoral pain syndrome, but interesting. But the most interesting bit was at the very end, where the author acknowledged that his knee was trying to tell him something, namely STOP.
So, maybe I won’t be able to run a 5K in under 30 minutes for awhile, but that’s ok. I must focus on the long-term, and that is Grandma’s training. Please just let me run Grandma’s one more time in 5 hours or less, and then if I can’t run any more marathons, I can’t run any more marathons. Maybe I’ll finally take up triathlons or rock climbing or something. But I really want to run Grandma’s one more time.
So, here’s my plan for this week: rest completely until Sunday. Perhaps take a walk on Thursday and/or Friday, but no running. Do yoga. Ice, take my glucosamine and do my butt-strengtheners. Buy an IT Band strap. Then on Sunday, do the long run (8 miles) with our group, but do it very slowly and take my walk breaks. That’s the plan for this week. Oh, and throw out my Dansko clogs. I know those things are supposed to be so good for your feet, but they do a number on me all the time!! Abe suggested that I just throw them out, so that I’m not tempted to wear them. I think he is right.
Does anyone know anything about adding flaxseed to your diet to improve joint strength? I feel like I’ve heard this before…
Anyway, let’s face it—I’ve run with sore knees before and I’ll do it again. I actually started wondering last night if I had overreacted by going to the chiropractor too soon. I know that I pushed it on Saturday at the 5K, and whenever I push it, my knee starts to hurt. I’m sure that seeing the chiropractor isn’t going to harm, and he is going to give me some exercises for my butt, but other than that, it’ll be my usual regimen of ice, Aleve, yoga and more ice. And no Danskos. I can do that. It’ll be fine.
(What are the stages of grief again? Is it weird that I went through anger first and THEN denial?
)
Attitude adjustment...
Yay! I'm finally seeking some qualified help for my knee pain! I can't run for a week, but that's ok! I'll finally get some attention, some exercises to practice, and some better shoes. Plus, I'll stop wearing my stupid Danskos. You would think that those shoes would be good for me, especially with my newly diagnosed fallen arches, but I really think that they make things worse. I think that I will take my birthday money and look at some Merrell's this weekend.
My knees will get back on track--literally and figuratively.
: )
No running for a week…
Today I went to see Abe’s chiropractor. This appointment went way better in terms of personalities meshing than my previous attempt at a chiropractor. However, the outcome was a little more heart-wrenching. Upshot of the appointment—no running for a week, which, understandably, is already driving me crazy.
The doc did a bunch of diagnostic stuff, range of motion exercises, etc. It seems that there are a lot of little things at work here, so he said is difficult to pinpoint one course of treatment. A few of the interesting things: my left kneecap actually has more damage than my right, but hurts less; my left leg is stronger, but my glutes are very weak on both sides. I have some minor meniscus pain on right knee, which is why it hurts when I twist it lately. Also, my ITB band and some other hip ligament are very, very tight and tender. So, the doc said that he would do an adjustment on one of my lower leg bones, and do some ultrasound work around my knee, which he did. I have to go back once more this week, twice more next week, and then do some exercises on my own for a month and see how things are. All in all, not the worst situation in the world. At least he did not say that I needed a MRI, which would cost me a pretty penny. But still.
NO RUNNING FOR A WEEK?????????????????????????????????????????????????
I know, I know—minor setback, as Steph has told me 20 times in the last half-hour. Minor setback. Better to take time at the beginning of training than at the end. But I also felt that the doctor wasn’t that supportive of running—in fact, he said straight out that our bodies aren’t meant to run marathons. Well, if that’s true, then how come these people can run crazy marathons every year or month or day??? Why??? Why me??? Why can’t I run them? Is it b/c I was so overweight as a child, and now I just have really weak joints? Do I have weak joints genetically? Did I royally mess up by not getting my knees looked at when the pain first started 5 years ago?? (Yes.) Why????
So, yeah, no running for a week is not the worst thing. But that makes me afraid of what’s down the road. No running ever? No running w/o a total knee replacement? How come some people can get away with it, and I can’t?? What’s wrong with my body?
I know I just need to calm down, accept the minor setback that this is, and keep up my mileage by walking. Plus, buy an IT Band strap, keep icing, do the stretches that the doctor prescribes and take Aleve when necessary. Maybe check out some motion control shoes. I can do this.
I suppose this is why you shouldn't become obsessed with running. A) You get injured; B) You have a breakdown when you can't run.
Vday 5K…so close!
30:06
SO CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My next 5K, I will break 30 minutes. As long as I don’t have to run 8 miles the next day. Sunday’s run was tough on my knees. I am seeing Abe's chiropractor tomorrow. I really hope that he can help. I'll be resting, icing and yoga-ing until Wednesday's 6 mile run.
SO CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today is random post day. I am writing one big long post all day long. Just because.
So, thought #1:
I did not get up and do yoga for the second morning in a row. I am mentally flogging myself quite a bit right now, for several reasons:
1) Marathon training begins this weekend. Doing daily yoga is an important part of keeping my knee healthy, and mornings are the only time I can fit it in. JUST DO IT!
2) It makes me feel so much better during my day. I arrive at work bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to get on with it. When I don’t do yoga in the morning, I feel like I do right now—what I affectionately call “foofy-headed.” It means I feel like I can’t focus, I can’t sit up straight, I can function…and is characterized by walking down the hallway in a daze and running into people. I hate feeling this way! But yet knowledge of this is not enough to get me out of bed when the alarm goes off at 5:30. Has anyone invented an alarm clock that also turns on a light yet?
3) Routines are very important to me, and it upsets me when I do not follow them.
Grrr…well, I won’t be doing yoga tomorrow morning, since tonight is Run Club/”24”/Chipotle night, and that means I am staying at Abe’s. But I WILL get up and do it Friday morning, or I don’t get my usual Friday coffee. Maybe I’ll have to figure out a new way to bribe myself. Or maybe I just need some new videos? I don’t know…maybe once I start running 30+ miles a week, the pain in my knee will be enough to get me out of bed at 5:30 in the morning, if only to stretch.
Speaking of knee pain, interesting article in the March issue of Runner’s World on knee pain. I’ve downgraded my self-diagnosis of arthritis to patellar tendonitis. I still plan on seeing Abe’s chiropractor though.
Thought #2:
IT IS TOO COLD!!!!! I’m sick of it. I don’t like complain about winter, because, c’mon, I live in Minnesota, but this is outrageous. Mostly it just makes me mad b/c it’s so cold and very much below my no-running-if-it-is-below-zero threshold, but I have to run!!! Marathon training! Exciting! Must run! Too cold! GRRRR!! I’ll be pulling for a quick jaunt around Isles tonight, that’s for sure…
Thought #3:
Since I did not run the Frozen Half-Marathon, I’ve decided to recycle my playlist, and use it for Grandma’s. Since I can’t quite justify buying an iPod Nano, it’ll have to go on my Shuffle:
So, my “power songs” will be at the beginning of the playlist, and I can click back to those for the last few miles. Otherwise, all other songs will be random order:
Power Songs:
“Montage” from Team America and “Asspen” in Season 8 of “South Park”
Since U Been Gone—Kelly Clarkson
Letter to an Occupant—New Pornographers
Uptown Girl—Billy Joel
Mass Romantic—New Pornographers
Hey Ya—Outkast
Rock Stars and Models—Stuart Davis
Start with:
Taking the Long Way Around—Dixie Chicks
Not Ready to Be Nice—Dixie Chicks
Breakaway—Kelly Clarkson
Hazel Eyes—Kelly Clarkson
I Like It—Dixie Chicks
Tiny Dancer—Elton John
Tornado Girl—Alva Star
Comeback—Alva Star
Unhappily Yours—Alva Star
Thing for Me—Alva Star
Speed of Sound—Coldplay
Letter to God—Sheryl Crow
Always on Your Side—Sheryl Crow
Steve McQueen—Sheryl Crow
On the Radio—Regina Specter
Mitch—Mitch Hedberg, my favorite stand-up comic. He’s dead now, but his “Mitch All Together” is amazing. Does anyone need to get me started on Part Two of the Two-Part Subway sandwich joke?
Say a Little Prayer—Dionne Warwick
Livin’ On a Prayer—Bon Jovi
Amie—Counting Crows
For the Longest Time—Billy Joel
Free Fallin’—Tom Petty
Anything But Down—Sheryl crow
Flake—Jack Johnson
The Distance—Cake
Where the Streets Have No Name—U2
Pretty Good Airplanes (album)—Mighty Fairly
Stand Still, Look Pretty (album)—The Wreckers
Across the Universe (album)—Trip Shakespeare
Select Weezer (although, maybe not—my iPod Shuffle really likes Weezer; plays them a lot)
Any and all Neko Case that I can find
Gravel—Ani DiFranco
Superhero—Ani DiFranco
Untouchable Face—Ani DiFranco
Any suggestions, anyone? My tastes are pretty wide-ranging and obvious from the above.
Thought #4:
Just got an email from someone that makes me crabby. Grrr…now I’m crabby.
Final Thought:
Last Friday, I shadowed a NICU nurse at a local hospital. Since I signed a waiver saying that I wouldn’t reveal any details, I can’t reveal any details. But I will say that it was a wonderful experience, even though I was surrounded by very sick babies.
The nurse that I shadowed has been a nurse for a long time, and has always worked in the NICU. She was amazing. She was so patient with me, and really took the time to walk me around to all the babies, introduce me not only to their conditions, but also to their personalities. She took me upstairs to their new wing of the hospital, introduced me to the other nurses and doctors, and talked to me about school and the nursing shortage.
The first major feeling I noticed was the second I walked into the hospital to meet her. I felt really excited, duh, but also I felt like “oh yeah, this is it.” I know it probably seems creepy to a lot of people, but there is something about hospitals that absolutely fascinate me. I love them. (Ok, this is a kind of funny tangent—I was typing the previous sentence, and saw an email notification come up on my computer saying that I had an email from Abe, and I accidentally typed “I love you.” Funny! And true!) Anyway, I love hospitals. I love watching the people—the patients, the doctors, the nurses, the other medical team members…I just think they are fascinating. I think it must be because of all the time I’ve spent in them over the years with my mom. I’ve gotten so used to them.
The second major feeling was when I put on my pair of scrubs. They were just hospital issue scrubs, but still, it felt so right. I appreciated being able to wear them, so that I didn’t stick out in my jeans and sweater. Of course, everyone on the floor knew I was some kind of student, since they didn’t recognize me, but it was cool to be able to wear scrubs.
The third major, and most important, feeling was my sense of “yep, this is what I want to do.” It came on pretty early, as the RN was introducing me to her babies for the evening. Even among all the machines and noises and sadness, I was strongly reminded of how much nursing is exactly what I want to do. It’s hard to articulate all the reasons why—but the combination of hospital/helping people/science/creative problem solving is what really draws me in.
I really needed that kick—I’ve been waffling so much lately about other healthcare and science careers...that kick was exactly what I needed to refocus myself and dive back into school. Yay!
