Philippians 3:12-14 (The Message Bible)

I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Days 93, 94 and 95

Wednesday--Day 93--Got up and did CardioX. Hadn't done that one in a while and had forgotten how good of a work out it is if you really put your heart into it. Did that so I could get a good "warm up" for my 3 mile run I was about to do with a friend at the park. Did the 3 mile run at a snails pace (finished in 38 minutes!!!!!!) and then walked a mile as a cool down. HA HA HA...as if we really needed to cool down from going that slow! I could NOT believe we clocked such a slow time. I knew we weren't sprinting or anything...but I had NO idea we were doing almost 13 minute miles!! I will DEFINITELY have to pick up the pace on Saturday when I do the actual 5K. After our 4 miles walk/jog, I stopped by the gym to tan. Desperatly trying to get some color before shorts season. Anyway, as I lay in the tanning bed praying (that's my special prayer time) a thought occured to me. I should hop on the treadmill real quick when I get done and pound out a mile as fast as I can. Just one. Just to see how fast I can do it. So I get out of the tanning bed and get on the treadmill. I start out at a 6.2 just to get started. I'm inching my way up (in speed) and all of a sudden at the .30 mark my leg comes down and OOOOOOOOCH! My knee was instantly in BAD PAIN! I mean...bad. Like I wasn't sure if I was even going to be able to walk down the stairs out to the parking lot and get to my car. I hobbled along, limping and wincing---totally freaked out because I had JUST discused an hour earlier with my friend Lisa about this weeks BL episode where Laura hurts her hip and has to "sit out" for a while. I said "that would be SO devastating to me--if I was to get injured and had to stop working out." Now here I was, minutes later in this awful pain. Anyway, long story short---after a bit, the pain went away and I thought I was all better. Then later that night when I was taking the kids to their classes at church it came back--all of a sudden--and again I could hardly walk. I came home from church and took some Naproxen (prescription strength anti-inflammatory) and went to bed. When I got up Thurs. morning, it was feeling better so I went to the gym and did my normal classes (which I'll talk about in just a sec) and I felt totally fine until I got ready to walk down the stairs to the parking lot again. What I've come to figure out is that it pretty much only hurts when I walk DOWN stairs. hmmm....
Day 94-Thursday-As you just read, I went to the gym and did my 2 classes (45 min. of in-line step and 45 minutes of interval training). Cooked dinner. Here's the igredients:

Baked Flounder
1 whole fresh avacado
1 whole fresh tomato
1 whole fresh onion
1 whole fresh zucchini
1 whole fresh squash
1 whole fresh bundle of asparagus
1 whole fresh head of lettuce
1 whole fresh pkg of baby spinach
1 whole fresh cucumber
1 whole fresh lemon
1 whole wheat tortilla
A few squirts of fat-free, 0 cal spray butter
Sprinkling of Mrs. Dash

Wow! Now that is a dinner I am proud of! I mixed the avacado, onion, tomato and some lemon juice and made "guacamole dip". I toasted the wholewheat tortilla in a hot oven until crispy and cut into triangles for "chips". I diced up the zucchini, squash and onion and put into a Ziploc Steamer bag (those are AWESOME!) and steamed. I also steamed the bundle of asparagus. I chopped up the lettuce, baby spinach, a little tomato and the cucumber for a green salad. Used the rest of the lemon to squeeze over our flounder-DELICIOUS! Sprayed the veggies with a little of the butter spray and sprinkled on Mrs. Dash table blend. What a WONDERFUL, DELICOUS, HEALTHY dinner! Matt says I should be a chef! :)

Day 95-Friday-Today. It's early--8:19 am and as much as I HATE to say this...I am going to try my best to NOT work out at all today. I know some of you will roll your eyes at that statement...but I assure you...it has become an addiction for me. I need it. I crave it. To think of not working out makes me sad. But...tomorrow is my 5K race. I know my knee needs to be rested as it is intermittantly still hurting. Also, my body could use a rest day I think. I don't even remember what it feels like to NOT be sore anymore. People will ask me, "Are you sore from Tuesday's work out?" I'm like ...umm...well...I've worked out 3 more times since then. Yes, I'm sore..but I have no idea which work out it's from. Seriously.
Anyway, I may do a few weights today..just to satisfy my "craving" but tomorrow morning before the race, I plan to get up early, eat my oatmeal and drink my coffee, do a work out (maybe core syn) and then head off to the trail. Wish me luck. I'm nervous as all get-out. I don't know why..I guess because this is the first "actual" competition I have ever been involved in--fitness related. What if I flop? What if my knee starts hurting and I have to stop? What if all my friends who think I'm such a fitness-diva pass me and I'm the last one to finish? What if I trip on something and fall? Oh....my pride. It's a wicked thing.

4 comments:

Amanda Lyndaker said...

I ended up with "runners Knee" from running too far, too fast. I took a break and did a 5K and it flared back up at about 1.5 miles. I am slowly working my way back up, and I mean slowly. It stinks. I love to run. The stairs are the worst! Mostly coming down. I hope you heal quick, it's been 2 weeks for me and I can only run short distances at a slow speed.

KC said...

Jen, don't worry about what other people think. The real accomplishment is the "finish line". It doesn't matter if you come in first or last, as long as you finish!

Kate said...

All you need to worry about is you and your body. Don't worry about what others may think. They're out there trying to finish themselves and that's probably all they're really thinking about anyways, no offense. Pain is your body's way of tell you something, so I hope you listen to it.

Rene' said...

Jen, that dinner sounds awesome! can u come cook it for me too, or maybe I'll just invite myself over next time you're cooking it-ha ha. However, I know that microwave bag thing you talked about is probably pretty easy and fast. But, you can get a 4quart pot with a steamer insert and steam your veggies that way too. Its should be healthier. My mom is a huge health nut and has facts on all kinds of stuff and she has told me that microwaving our food zaps out the nutrition, so all we are eating is empty calories , but no "fuel". And since its the "fuel" we really want, we are ruining it by putting it in the micro. Unfortunately, there isn't much written about this-I've looked-however, I tend to believe its true, because if you'll remember when u where breastfeeding you probably read several articles (I did) about NOT microwaving breastmilk because it decreases the nutrient level. Well, my theory is, if it zaps the nutrients out of the breastmilk, I'm sure its zapping the nutrients out of everything else too! So if you can, try not to use the micro. I really try not to cook anything for the kids in it, and the only time I use it is for heating water, or reheating a small leftover(although usually I try to use the oven instead). I figure, at least I got the nutrients the FIRST time I ate the meal when I cooked it on the stove, so if I have to re-heat it in the micro the 2nd time for a leftover because I'm short of time,so be it. At least I got the "fuel" once, instead of not at all. Just something to think about :)