One step closer!

Well, I'm a day late in writing this, but I am so close to being one step closer to getting all of this injury mess resolved!! :) I saw one of my doctors on Friday for the "enlarged lymph node" that my ortho thought was the problem. She had me out in less than five minutes, saying it was not a lymph node issue but is probably a hernia of some sort. Sooo, I am seeing a general surgeon this afternoon and will hopefully get more answers. I really don't think I have a hernia, but I am assuming they'll do some sort of imaging and that should at least give us some answers! :) Because I don't know what the results will be of today's visit yet, the rest of this week's training is really up in the air. I have been feeling good, so until they provide some more instructions, I'll continue to train in ways that don't hurt.

This is the perfect reminder for me to look at each day this week!

Sunday, February 23rd
Weekly rest day! I did a TON of cleaning which was great!

Monday, February 24th
Accidental rest day. Had planned on personal training with Shane Freels, but due to a communication mishap that didn't happen. I did my warmup drills, some plank rotations, and some lunges, but it was primarily a rest day.

Tuesday, February 25th
1M power walk + usual full body strength routine. Camille Herron, who has definitely had her fair share of injuries and consequential victories, always talks about how much walking has helped her recoveries and helped improve her bone strength, so that's something I'm going to try to incorporate more. She does 30-60 minute walks when she is not running, but I'm going to start small.. Today was 1 mile. I alternated between a high incline and moderate speed, and almost flat at a faster speed. After that I did my normal full body strength circuit (below). I still love this one and I'm pumped by how much I'm improving! Plus I can actually see muscles in the mirrors while I'm doing the exercises! :) Today I increased the leg extension to 40lbs and used 5lbs for the front raises. My form is better on the rest, but I'm not quite ready to increase weights.

Wednesday, February 26th
Ab circuit + leg circuit. This was an excellent workout. I'm amazed by how great my deep squats and lunges are when compared to a few weeks ago! For abs, I did 3x10 hanging knees-to-chest, 4x10 rope pulls, 4x20 seated knee-ins, 3x15 reverse incline hip raises, 3x15 cable cross. For legs I did four rounds of the following exercises: deep squats, back lunges, forward lunges, dead lifts. For all of these I used two 8lb kettleballs and I did 10 reps. 

Thursday, February 27th
Rest day!

Friday, February 28th
1.5M hilly moderate walk + old pre/post run drills. I was so excited this morning and everything in me wanted to just pick it up to a job, but I didn't!!!! I am going to gradually increase my walking distance over the next month to help get joints and tendons and everything ready for running in April!! :)

Here's a picture of me after my super exciting walk this morning. :) 

Saturday, March 1st
Short core workout. I had planned on going to the gym for weights this afternoon, but we made it into a "date day" and ended up out of the house from 11:15 until 6:00! And we spent a lot of that time in the sun watching high school track meets, so I was definitely not feeling up for workout. Had I been in the middle of training, sure I would've gone; but I'm taking advantage of this downtime and enjoying the brief interruptions. :) Back at it tomorrow and hopefully getting in a good week of strength, and now cardio!!

April 3rd is the new goal date!

I had my ortho follow-up last Friday morning. For some reason I missed the whole "3 months from bone scan date" rule in my first appointment, so you can understand my surprise when he said I still had so much longer to wait! To be honest, I thought I would be starting my return this week, haha! Nope; still another month and half left! My bone scan was January 3rd, which makes April 3rd the goal date! I stopped running on January 14th, so I really thought the four week mark this week was all I needed. I even jogged a couple times from my car to the gym and honestly didn't have pain. My only pain comes when I physically press on a single spot in my hip flexor crease.

As I thought about it, though, I decided this is actually a good thing. I enjoy running and I love competing and I'm young. I'm 25... I don't have to rush back to fitness ASAP. The more time that I have without running, the more effort I can put into other forms of training so that I'll be more durable when I do start back. If I'm trying to put in good mileage, I limit any kind of strength work I do to only what can be done without overburdening my body. Running takes a good toll on your body, so adding the stress of weight lifting to it can take things over the line if you're not careful. BUT, when I'm not running, I can go as hard and as heavy as I want. If I get super sore, I can take an extra day or two off and not use that muscle group until it recovers. So, I officially have six additional weeks to continue building strength.

I really like my full body, lower body, upper body rotation, so I'll stick to that and just take rest days when I need them. I can tell I'm getting a lot stronger so I'll start increasing weights next week I think.

One last thing, I FINALLY figured out how to record a video on here. Unfortunately it took so long to figure out that I only did three exercises in the actual video, but here it is if you want to see those three. I'm very technically challenged when it comes to this, so please don't make fun of the green square on the screen. :)

Sunday, February 16th
Rest day! My parents were still in town today so we were plenty busy! My soreness is pretty much gone now though, so I'll be ready to hit it hard tomorrow for sure!

Monday, February 17th
Full body strength circuit. Back to my same workout from The Warrior Guide. I did the elliptical for all three cardio segments and I kept my same weights for everything else. All of them are getting easier, but I don't think I'm to the point where I could increase weights yet. My last 10 or so reps are pretty strained still for most of the exercises! Definitely leaves me feeling strong though! 

Tuesday, February 18th
Lower body strength. I did my same high weight, high rep workout where I only do a handful of exercises. I love this one because even though I've only worked three or four muscles, my legs are literally like jello when I leave! Leg extension (2x15 @ 20lb, 4x15 @ 40lb) alternated with paused calf raises (4x15), hamstring curl on swiss ball (2x15) alternated with dumbbell deep squats (2x15).

Wednesday, February 19th
Upper body strength. I went back to my old upper body workout that I do at the house and it was great! Super tight muscles when I finished! And my leg workout yesterday did the trick. I was plenty sore today! :)

Thursday, February 20th
Full body strength circuit. Went to the ATC for this one and had a great, different workout. I did all the same moves I usually do on my full body day, but instead of doing 30 reps, I did 2 sets of 8 so all my weights were way heavier and I had to work to eek out the last few on them. I think it was a good way to mix things up!

Friday, February 21st
Rest day! Cleansing! :)
*Well, I officially have a new "diagnosis". I say that in quotations because the doctor I saw said I need to see a General Surgeon before they can confirm anything. SO, on Monday afternoon, that is who I'll be seeing. Wish I would have known this six weeks ago, haha!

Saturday, February 22nd
Vern Gambetta Leg Circuit + 4 x 30" plank rotation + warmup and HIIT portion of this awesome youtube workout! The Gambetta circuit is great and I used to do it as my leg workout when I was running. The youtube workout is extremely long and I just didn't have time to do everything, so I stopped when they started the strength portion, but I highly recommend it! The only equipment is a set of dumbbells (you don't even need them in the part I did) and it's very well put together. You always know what's next and how to do it before the clock starts!

The sun rises anew each morning!

Every day is a new beginning, and gosh am I thankful for that!!! :) Last week was a rough one for me in terms of fitness, health, and getting things done. All of my errands, homework assignments, and workouts got put on the backburner and I pushed them off until the very last minute. It was a good reminder of something that I learned about myself in college and while we lived in Houston - I THRIVE on structure. If I know EXACTLY what I need to do, what time I need to do it, where I need to do it, etc., I get so much more done and feel so much more accomplished! With that in mind, I realize a large part of my struggles last week were because there was no structure. Until Wednesday, we had no idea where we would be, when we would be there, and what we would have available. Once we got back to Dallas, it was pretty much a catch-up and "fit in what you can, when you can" kind of thing. Thankfully, I got to rest up quite a bit today and the rest of this week should be smoother!

So, giving myself some structure for this week to help me have something to focus on:
1. I'm going to wake up with Jake each morning... no sleeping in later than 6:00!
2. I'm going to block off 6:00-7:00 for me to workout and get in my physical therapy exercises.
3. I'm going to use my lunch hour for hip/pelvic focused yoga sessions (a friend sent me several videos).
4. I'm going to apply my 'healing' essential oils 3 x day; after my morning shower, after yoga, before bed.

Also, I owe an apology to "Anonymous" who asked about my physical therapy exercises. I had planned on getting my husband or parents to film me (it was my birthday so they came in to visit), but as I mentioned in my [late] post for last week, we had a family emergency and had to leave town for several days. Maybe this week I will be able to film them for you! If not, I'll try to find some of the better ones online and share links to them!

Before I get to the boring posts that are mostly there just to keep me accountable, here are a few photo collages some wonderful people made me!

This one was made by my cousin Breynna. We are one year apart and have a lot in common! Love her to pieces!

This one was made by a local friend in the Dallas running community. We all call him "runner boy" and he is one of the most social people I know! He makes a personal customized photo collage for everyone on their birthday!

Sunday, February 9th
1 hour of mixed physical therapy exercises and core work

Monday, February 10th
Around the World core routine + 50' full body strength circuit. The core circuit alone probably would have been okay today, haha! I like to focus on form and muscle contraction when working out, which can make simple planks, crunches, and push-ups much more challenging! All together, though, the workout was pretty good. I would consider it a slightly lower effort full body circuit compared to the one I've been doing, but that's almost a good thing, in my opinion. No PT exercises this morning since I have my appointment tonight.
Assorted short yoga videos for pelvic alignment and hips during lunch.

Tuesday, February 11th
Hip, hamstring, and back yoga before work (the school was shut down until 10am due to weather).
Lower body strength circuit during lunch. I wanted to put more focus on the backside than the front, so I did 4x15 deadlifts (bar only) alternated with 4x15 calf raises, then 2x30 leg extension (20lb), 4x15 leg extension (40lb), 2x30 leg curl (20lb), 4x15 leg curl (40lb).

Wednesday, February 12th
Cathy Savage's core workout and upper body workout from The Warrior Guide. Both are very challenging, but altogether it only took one hour. The abs included hanging knee raises, cable pull downs, knee-ins, incline hip lifts, and cable twists. Upper body included pop-out pushups, overhead press, bench dips, wide lat pulldowns, one arm rowing, dumbbell 21's, tricep pushups, and lateral raises. 
Shoulder and neck yoga during lunch. Legs are SUPER tight today, so lots of stretching as well.

Thursday, February 13th
Rest day! Just a quick, light ab workout and PT exercises!

Friday, February 14th
Full body day strength day. I had a follow up appointment with my doctor in the morning and two hour massage after work, so no yoga today! :) Doctor says April 3rd is the earliest I can run (he wants me to wait a full 3 months from the date of the bone scan). For strength, I did my usual full body workout (below), but I dropped the cardio portions and changed the leg strength exercises. I modified them because the gym I was in doesn't have leg machines! :) Ended up with swissball hamstring curls, body quats with swiss ball, and the lunge matrix.

Saturday, February 15th
Rest day. My parent's came in for the weekend so we could go watch my husband play volleyball. The rest was good though... I could tell my body needed it. These strength workouts make me sore head to toe! Not to mention the two hour massage I got yesterday!

Sometimes life just happens, and that's OK!

Last weekend we had a surprise family emergency late Saturday night. We ended up traveling through the night and spending the next couple days at a hospital in Houston with my in-laws. With great thanks to God, I'm happy to say that everything is now okay and my husband's family has returned home. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to sort out what caused the incident, and as they strive to get healthier in the future.

That being said, here's what my week looked like this past week... brace yourselves! :)

Sunday - Nada, a two hour nap to recover from my second ever all-nighter, and that's about it!

Monday - 1/2 a workout! ;) I went to our hotel gym only to find that all they had were three treadmills, two bikes, and a stair climber. And the floor was tile! There were no weights, no benches, and no mats, and I was not desperate enough to put my bony body on those tiles! :) I did about 10 minutes of squats and push-ups and then called it a wash, haha!

Tuesday - Nada, again! Would have been another evening workout, but instead we opted for another late night drive to return to Dallas. Got in around 1:15am!

Wednesday - Nada, again! Slept in until 10 minutes before work (it's days like these that I'm so thankful to work from home!), worked all day, and then shot straight over to DBU for class which started at 5:15!

Thursday -  Finally, a workout! Back to my full body strength, killer workout. Literally, this one leaves me burning head to toe! And every time I hope on a cardio machine for those five minutes, my HR is between 155 and 165 start to finish. Sweeeeet!

Friday - Nada, for the (basically) 4th day this week! The nutrition company I work with promotes period cleansing and has done studies to show it is even more beneficial for athletes. I don't do it as often as I'd like, but it definitely makes me feel better! So, this was a cleanse day for me... which means little to no exercise!

Saturday - Nada! Planned on working out in the afternoon, but had a bad sore throat and headache. I decided the week was already trashed and I'd rather just rest and start fresh next week!