Good News. Keep on. Keeping on.

I did end up going to an Ortho guy yesterday and he had very good news for me. The xrays showed that I have very good knees and good cartilage. He was hesitant to diagnose me with ITBS at this time since I have already been rehabbing  it for a month and the pain is now really in my whole knee as apposed to the lateral side.

And since I responded so well to the Medrol Dose Pack initially that says there is some inflammation going on in there. I forget what the diagnosis is but something with inflammation. So he gave me a 30 day supply of Indocin which is basically a continuation of the Medrol Dose Pack but without the steroid.

The stuff is making me really nauseous. Im hoping my body adjusts to it soon. I am taking it with food but it still makes me nauseous. So I read that it can be taken with antacids. I took two TUMS after this last dose and (knock on wood) it seems to be doing the trick.

He also told me to keep rehabbing with what I have already been doing and suggested the use of Kinesio tape to help track the knee while it fully heals.

I hope it looks cool like this....but pink! You know all the cool kids are sporting the stuff these days. And now I will be cool too! Anyhow, I will go in to the PT on Monday for an eval to see what they want to do with me.

RUNS: Oh hey! I did actually run today. About 3.3 miles back and forth from the gym! Pain free after 3 doses of the new med. Or it was just the fact that I snuck those short runs in before the knee could catch on to what I was doing!

GYM: Second class of CXWORX went much better then Tuesday. That planking stuff is super hard! Atleast they have you doing things like drawing circles with your hands to take your mind off of what you are really doing (as well as working out different muscles of course).

Also did YOGA tonight! And guess who came with me???
Rik!!
I am SO sorry I did not get a picture of this. Maybe next time? For some reason I think it would be frowned upon to be taking pictures during class...so maybe not.
He said he liked it. He acted like he liked it. He said he will go back again. Good stuff!

EATS: Breakfast was dry Shredded Wheat with water on the side.

Lunch was exactly what you see here...

Peas. Dip. Peach. Animal Crackers.

Yes. Animal Crackers.
I am such an awesome mom that when my kids were little we would have peaches and animal crackers for lunch often in the summer time. Awesome, I know. Funny how things change. I have not had animal crackers for probably...years. I saw them the other day at the drug store when I went to pick up my med and just had to have them.

I think I am missing my college kid and it brought back memories? Yeah. Thats what I am going with.

Dinner was....

Sauteed Veggies. Over Spaghetti. Topped with Spicy Peanut Sauce & Peanuts.

That makes up for the lunch, right?! Everything in moderation please :-)

Good Luck to all my Ultra Running friends running JFK and Stone Mill this weekend! Kick butt. Have fun. RUN!!!

Peace.

Two Steps Forward. One Step Back.

RUNS: I think you can tell by the title of the post that things arent so good today. I woke up with knee soreness from my long run yesterday. Good thing I wasnt planning on running today but it still is not very good news. Forget what I said yesterday about having this rehab thing under control!

GYM: Gym time started out with a new class called CXWORX. I wanted to try it because I was told it was a core conditioning class. It was exactly that and it kicked my butt core! I think I liked it but it was very difficult because I have ZERO core strength. Im sure I will be hurting tomorrow...

Then it was YOGA. I heart yoga! Something I have noticed about the poses is that alot of them are named after animals. Anyone know why that is??

Today we did the Pigeon pose which is excellent for stretching the back, thighs, groin and psoas. Something that I certainly need. Its funny how it hurts and feels good at the same time. And I love when Andrea comes around and helps to adjust you ever so slightly to square your hips or loosen your shoulders. Good stuff.

Pigeon Pose

source

FOOD: I actually took some time to make Oatmeal Pancakes for breakfast this morning. I usually make a bunch so that I have them available to eat for several days. Easy Peasy!

Oatmeal Pancakes

with syrup!

Then as soon as I got them down I started making the Kale Butter to go with dinner.
I steamed 1 bunch of kale. Save 1/2 cup of the green water from steaming.
Let the kale cool for about 15mins.

Then I threw it into the food processor with 1/2 cup walnuts.

Add the 1/2 cup green water.

Process it. And process it some more. 

Until it is smooth like butter.

Then it is ready to add to some baked Sweet Potatoes!

And you know me...add some more veggies to make it a complete meal.

Then make it easy on yourself by having prepackaged sushi for lunch at work...

Haha. I just realized that I switched out the orange for a plum before I left for work.

My back is already sore from core class (Im guessing that is because my core is so weak that the back muscles were picking up the slack big time). Im hoping that my knee feels good tomorrow so I can run. If not, I may need to think about making a doctors appointment. Bleh...

Peace.

Lets talk about Rik!

RUNS: Hurry. Quick. Look down to the right at my DailyMile widget. I ran 10.36 miles today! Almost exactly one month since my last long run of 26 miles where the ITB would not let me ignore it any longer.

The plan was for me to run some road miles and then hit up the trail until my knee started to bother me or I got to 10 miles.

I did great up until the last 2ish miles. I stopped to refill my water and call Rik to meet me to pick me up from the trail. After I started again I felt some knee stiffness. I iced when I got home. Stretched. Etc. Rest day from running tomorrow. And then continue with the 5 milers for the rest of the week.

Poor Rik. We are a household of injured runners! He rolled his ankle pretty good last week and hasnt been able to run since. He can barely get a shoe on. Here is a picture of the acute injury...

One of these things is not like the other.

And here is a picture a few days later...

Pretty colors!

Its even bruised on the other side too.

Since he didnt run today, he came to pick me up on the trail when I was done. He even managed to catch a picture of me from across the other side of the dam/lake...

The pink dot is me headed up one more hill!

Needless to say...I dont think either of us will be running Stone Mill this weekend.

EATS: Sooo....Rik was pretty excited when he saw these at the grocery store the other day. It even had a coupon on the package so we got them.

Steak Style Strips

He had visions of making a stir fry with them. I am not a fan of fake meats but what the heck, I was willing to try it if he wanted to cook it up!

I cut up the peppers and he got to work making dinner...

Caught him munching on peppers while cooking!

He is a pro.

He cooked up the peppers with some soy sauce (and whatever else he might have added that I dont know about) and then added the steak strips to marinate them all together for a bit. Good thing he takes taste samples when he cooks because evidently the fake steak was NASTY! He tried it twice just to make sure. Then Dakota took a bite and spit it out.

Now mind you, Rik will eat just about anything and Dakota has been really open lately to trying and eating new things. So when they said how gross it was, I was surprised. They finally talked me into trying a bite and I had to spit it out as well.

Rik had to pick all the pieces of "steak" out of the stir fry. We were going to just add some frozen mixed veggies but I felt like they needed a "meat" so I quick cut up some tempeh and we threw that in instead. We served it all over rice (which was the original plan).

Final product...

Stir Fry Dinner

It was good but I think we should have just added the mixed veggies instead. Now we know.

Do you like fake meats? What kind??

Peace.

5 Milers Success

RUNS: Oh yeah! Thats right. The week of 5's were a success! I think I finally have this recovery thing down. I REALLY wanted to do a long run this weekend but refrained and tried to be smart. Instead of upping it to the week of 6's this coming week...I am going to keep the 5 milers and then add a long run next weekend.

My runs have been completely pain free of any knee or ITB pain and the final run of the week on Saturday did not even include any tightness. I'm wondering if that had anything to do with the fact that I did Bodypump first before the run...or not.

GYM: Speaking of Bodypump. I had my first two classes of that this week. I really didnt like the first class but after a bunch of people told me to go back and try it for several classes before I write it off, I am.

Really, can all these people be right and I am wrong?! They are having fun...right?!

Not my picture. Not my gym.

One of the people who told me not to write it off so fast is a super fit ultra running chick who I have looked up to, I think, since I ran my first ultra. She said she likes it so much that she just got certified to teach it in September.

Another person who I am starting to admire is my yoga teacher. She told me that she is certified to teach Bodypump too and that I should not give up on it yet either.

I'll give it another week. I think my problem is that I want to work out certain muscles at certain times and not necessarily what they want me to do! I think it will give me a good base at least.

STILL loving yoga this week though! Cant say a bad thing about it. Love it!

EATS: I took a picture of exactly one breakfast this week. Here you go...

Exciting Breakfast!

Oh! Oh! Oh! But check out this new snack that I am just in love with from Trader Joes. Instead of the normal rice cakes they are Rice Rolls and for some reason they are freaking awesome. 45cals per roll and vegan. They come 8 in a box and of course I only bought one box and will have to ration them for the next several weeks until I get there again to get more.

Lunches include this salad called Cabbage Salad with Dijon-lime Dressing. The only difference was that I used the bagged/pre shredded cole slaw mix that has the cabbage and carrots. I just added additional carrots to the mix.

Cabbage Salad with Dijon-lime Dressing

Cabbage Salad. Asian Pear. Fig Newtons. Granola Bar.

Cabbage Salad. Pretzels. Pear. Newtons. Cashews.

More shredded veggies. This time in a summer roll! Add hummus and pita chips for a complete meal.

So tell me...what kind of cross training do you do?!

Peace.

Apple and Tempeh Sandwiches with a side of Chaturanga!

RUNS: Im not going to talk much about my runs today because I dont want to jinx myself...been feeling good.

I have not been down to Lake Redman trail 5 since Hurricane Sandy passed through last week. I knew that a section of it would get pretty wet because it is low lying but I had no idea that it came over the banks and flooded the trail again! This happened last year as well. Here are some pics from the trail...

You can see that trail is pretty low by the level of the water to the left.

Here is some of the leftover debris on either side of the trail.

A pic in the opposite direction showing piles debris cleared from the trail.
Thanks to the local MTB group for clearing this.

More debris in the middle of the trail.

And one more pic of the grasses flattened by the waters.

These pictures were taken before 4pm. Look how low the sun is. Makes me sad!

GYM: I've pretty much been falling in love with yoga. I have only had two classes so far (they only offer it twice a week at the gym I am going to) but I am absolutely loving it!

One of the girls who was in the class last week was also there today. We were chatting before class and she told me that it was a pretty tough class last week...I agreed! After several minutes into the class today she told me that it was actually harder today...I agreed!

One of the toughest poses for me seems to be Chaturanga. It is a tough pose in and of itself but even more so because we seem to do it a million hundred times over the hour.

Chaturanga Yoga pose

But a new one that we did tonight is an easier pose called Rabbit Pose. Just check out the link to see all of the benefits of this pose...not to mention how great it felt.

Rabbit Yoga pose

EATS: Mmm!! Check out this delicious dinner. Apple and Tempeh Sandwiches.

Whole Foods picture of the sandwich.

You all know that I love tempeh. It is so versatile with a earthy and meaty flavor. You can add it to chilis, stir frys, stews, salads and sandwiches (which I did here).  And I really like the texture of it. But I seem to like it even more because Dakota seems to like it. He maybe tolerates it anyhow. He wont eat tofu but he will eat tempeh. Works for me!

Here are my pictures of the sandwich...

Open with the baked apples on top of the tempeh.

Together as a sandwich. YUM!

Do you like tempeh?
How about tempeh vs. tofu?!

Peace.

Mountain Masochist Trail Run - Crew Report!

Oh the places you'll go,
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!
--Dr. Seuss

Long story short is that Rik got talked into running this race just a couple of weeks ago by some of his crazy running buddies. So he quickly tried to add in a couple of hill repeats to get ready to run in the mountains down in VA!

As luck would have it, hurricane Sandy passed through the week before the race and managed to dump MANY inches of snow on the course. At first, certain roads were closed but by the time race day came around the roads had been reopened but it was suggested to use AWD to access certain aid stations. It was also reported that while there was no snow remaining at the lower levels that there was infact up to 2ft of snow higher up the mountain. They were sure to have an interesting run this year!

We headed down early Friday morning to The Aid Station to pick up their race packets. While we were there Krissy Moehl and Dr. David Horton showed up. Pretty cool to meet them! Then we headed over to the campground. We were staying at the starting line campground in this point to point race which meant that we would not have to wake up any earlier then necessary for the start Saturday morning.

We took a quick hike from the start line thru a short section of trail and up onto the road for over a mile. Then turned on to a fire road for about another mile until the runners would have their first creek crossing. Since we didnt feel like getting our feet wet we turned around and went back.

We got to bed at a decent hour and soon enough the alarm went off at 5am to get up and get ready. Runners had to check in at 6am and the race went off at 6:30. Here are the guys getting ready...

Rik, Brian, and Eric

This race had a new start this year. Evidently in the past you didnt necessarily need a headlamp because it started with several miles of road but this year they were highly recommended. And as you can see, everyone took that advice...

GO!!

Around a small pond and into the trail they went...

We headed back to the cabin to get ready to meet them at aid station #3 which was the first crew accessible aid station and would put them at 11.33miles into the run. We had to take two vehicles because we had to many people to bring back at the end. So Tim and I drove the truck while Jenny and Blaise drove behind us. By the time we saw them the sun had already risen and it was shaping up to be a beautiful morning...

Sunrise

They were in and out so quick. They were feeling great! So we packed up and moved on to the next accessible aid station that was a little bit trickier to get to. We had to drive down a very narrow and windy fire road. Thank goodness Tim was driving because it was downright stressful driving down this road know that on one side was a several hundred feet drop if we went off the road.

We made it in plenty of time to see Rik come into the aid station. He was still feeling good and making great time. This AS was at almost 22 mile point and everyone was still looking really good except for the fact that they were beginning to understand just how much of the course was fire roads and exactly what that meant in terms of their running. Here is Rik coming down a fire road to the AS...

Still smiling trying to figure out what to snack on!

A couple minutes after Rik took off, Brian and Eric came in for some PB&J sandwiches. We got them on their way and quickly packed up to head off to the next AS. We took the dreaded fire road back to the main road and it was much better in the opposite direction. Our next AS we would see them would be at about their 32 mile point. This one was further up the mountain.

They had an AS at about the 26mile point and immediately after that started their biggest climb of the race. This is also where they had their drop bags and could change to warmer/drier clothes, gloves, hats, etc. They would travel about 2000ft up the mountain until we would see them at the 32mile AS. This is when they would start to encounter the snow. Luckily at this point it was melted off of the actual trail.

Rik said that his legs/hip flexor was bothering him from the constant pounding on the fire roads. He stopped to eat some soup but wouldnt take any Ibuprofen. Tim and I walked up some of the next hill with him and he was happy to have the company. Once he was ready to run again we turned around and went back down. Just then Brian & Eric came in. They were still feeling pretty good and just kept it moving at a steady pace. Tim hiked back up the hill again with them as well.

Just a side note to say that Tim was supposed to run this race with them but has a pretty severe back injury and is currently unable to run at all. To say that he was restless waiting at the AS would be an understatement. You could tell how bad he wanted to be out there on the trails with them.

Once the guys left this AS they would enter the loop. The loop is a 5 mile loop with an additional out and back section to an over look which was new to the race this year. This would be there snowiest section but also the only single track section of the race. These are some of the pictures Rik took of this section...

SNOW

 Of course this snow covered single track was the best section for our PA guys. They loved it while so many other people struggled with this section. Rik was able to work out his hip flexor pain in this section too.

Over 2 feet in some places (which was better then the hip high snow that it was just days before the race!)

View from the lookout

High above the mountain

We packed up and headed to our last AS where we would see them before the finish. This would be at about the 41 mile mark. To get to this AS it included us going back down to the bottom of the mountain and all the way back up! We got there in plenty of time and I stayed in the car until right before Rik got there because it was so cold and windy here.

We could REALLY tell a difference in the runners coming thru here. Before this AS there were only 8 people that dropped. By the time we were here there were over 20 some that had dropped. Evidently the loop and the snow on the loop were really proving to be an even bigger challenge then just the trails themselves.

Our guys finally came through. All three were hurting and just wanted to be done. They were all cussing the fire road type trails but all in very good spirits! We got them some food and drinks. Then walked them part way up the next hill telling them that they "only" had 9 miles to go! Little did we or they know that those 9 miles would include more hill climbing on the fire roads and more snowy trails.

Riks ITB starting bothering him in the last couple of miles after coming down a steep decline. Which meant he was actually happy to see the paved road ahead that signaled the last mile to the finish. Here he is coming into the finish!

Rik and the mountains he just ran behind him.

Stopping for a kiss before hitting the finish line.

Done son!

Brian & Eric finished strong right behind Rik! They all did so awesome!!

We hung out at the finish line for awhile but decided to head back to the campground before it got to dark. I kinda wish we would have hung out longer. They said that the last half hour was the best watching those last runners come through.

See they extended the usual 12 hr cutoff to 12:30 hr cut off because of the trail conditions and those people that came in that last 1/2hr were even more grateful to have the extra time. Im sure it was epic!

From what I have seen people saying who have run the race before is that the weather conditions on the loop put set them back an upwards of 60mins then previous years. And many people even decided not to go on after that section.

What a great time and a great race! This race is perfect for anyone looking for a challenging mountain race on the East coast with a true history. Just know that there is next to no single track in those 50 miles though.

Post race

Thanks for reading.
Happy Trails.