While watching the olympics last night, I read about potential knee problems, and all of them appeared to give the same advice...."ice, elevate, take anti inflamatory meds, wear a knee brace, rest, do strengthening exercises such as leg extensions"

Lucky for me, I possess a knee brace from high school track knee issues ( triple jumping for indoor track consisted of plyometrics on hardwood gym floors... not smart!)

So, I have been doing everything! Icing multiple times a day, taking anti inflam., wearing my knee brace and doing the rehab exercises... I did not run monday ( I did strength training and 50 minutes of yoga.. which made my back ache all day tuesday (rest on tuesday). Today I did the elliptical for 45 minutes. Its only been two days rest, I feel like I should rest more but I just HATE rest. I LOVE running, exercise in general is my daily reinforcement.

anyhow, its been oatmeal for breakfast with the usual banana, pb and 2 egg whites. I had some hummus and veggies and a chobani at lunch, and tonights dinner I decided to go Ethnic ..
I made buffalo grilled chicken, curried sweet potato slices, and asian veggies (bok choy, asparagus, snap peas, red peppers, green beans in a few dashes of soy sauce, sprinkle of wasabi, and pepper)- it was all spicy but in such different ways!

I can't wait for tomorrow because I am off work on friday- going to doc's in the am and then a bachelorette party all weekend~~ wooohooo!

Monday!

Aside from a not so good day at work, I had a FANTASTIC strength and stretching session today. I did all of it at home with my weight set and yoga mat/dvd... I love my yoga cd but I do wish I could transport my college yoga professor here. I took yoga 1 and yoga 2 in college for credit and LOVED it!

Breakfast "The Halves" : a little less than 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 grapefruit, 1/2 banana w. 1/2 Tb of pb, 1 and 1/2 egg whites.. Coffee on the way to work with a splash of milk and a tsp sugar.. This breakfast held me over until exactly 11:50... I was so suprised b/c Im usually hit by hunger at 10:45-11 and hungry until 12 but today felt great! Perfect hunger level for lunch

Lunch: 4 oz grilled chicken in a whole wheat wrap w/ a dab of hummus, red cabbage, and raddichio... a dannon immunity light ... and half a banana with pb.

Dinner: WW Linguini tossed in some chobani plain yogurt, asparagus, mixed veggies and chicken sausage (I am not a fan of any kind of sausage and i was hoping so badly i would like this kind but no )

Dessert... i made a fruit salad with mango, an apple, and a kiwi.. Yum!

Weekend Wrap Up

No such luck on my dress- its no longer available- Boo! It was such a fantastic dress but I guess I'll have to find another.

Weekend Accomplishments:

1. Setup the Printer- and i DID have the right USB cable already- i was going to buy one and didnt!
2. Completely Cleaned my dressing room ( yes I use an entire small bedroom as my closet), it was a mess with loads of laundry all over! I organized the armoire, hung up everything, etc! feels soooo nice!
3. Laundry
4. Cleaned the kitchen, and my coffee maker ( it was desperate)
5. Found and stocked up a bit on PowerAde Zero
6. Mailed my MPN for loans this fall!
7. Read the latest Oxygen
8. Updated my Calendar on yahoo so now I know my training plans and all my weekend trips!
9. Made this blog!
10. Cross Training
11. Run Outside, 5 miles
    

I think I will try to make these accomplishment lists because it helps me focus on the positive instead of negatives ( which are always so easy to dwell on.. not running as far, hurting my knee, not feeling well, staying in most of the weekend... )

Stay Positive!

Rain Rain Go Away

Well, I enjoyed running in the rain. I woke up at 8 to Jack crawling under the bed, making a huge thumping noise. Then I heard the thunder and rain and went back to sleep until 10:30!!!! I never sleep that late- after lifting yesterday and fighting off a cold- I was wiped out!

So I had my usual breakfast of oatmeal but added ginger! I wasn't a fan of ginger at first but then really enjoyed the combo with cinnamon, I also had 1/2 a banana with peanut butter, 1/2 a grapfruit, ground flax and 3 egg whites.

I downloaded 7 new songs!! I hate spending money period, but it felt great knowing that I was spending a few dollars on myself to pep up my running!

So off I went, despite the rain, I ran 2.92 miles (the whole route) then did another half and back (so 2.2 ish)to make an even 5 mile run. 4.92 miles in 38 minutes- I would estimate 5 miles in under 40 minutes. The route I did had four huge hils, those were tough. My knee yelled at me a few times- but I figured out what I have done to my knee. I get the pain when I point my foot or try to take a longer stride and land on my heel. I remeber this short video clip about running form and it says to have a "track foot" which means flex your foot and land on the balls of your feet. So thats what I kept telling myself to do and no more pain!

Woohoo!!
For lunch I had a small salad with snap peas, purple cabbage, mixed greens and "roasted chipotle mango" salmon ( in a package like tuna)- I wrapped half the salmon in whole wheat wrap with a pickle and ate the rest on the salad. Not the best salmon flavors but I liked the nutrition value and price!

Now its off to buy a dress for the upcoming weddings!