Working through pain and exciting things to come

This week I had a little bit of a relapse with my lower back pain. On wed and thurs the pain was as bad as it was over the summer. Not sure if maybe the race triggered it a little, because the pain really hasn't been that bad in a long time.

So on thursday my husband decided to help me out a little. He got down on the floor and started showing me some stretches that he thought might be helpful. The focus was on opening up the hips. And boy did they ever! Some of the moves were really difficult for me. There were a few poses where I kept falling out. But we worked hard and then did it again on friday. I'm pretty sore right now but the sharp pain I was feeling before is gone. So we must be hitting the right areas. I think we'll make this an everyday thing. He would make a great yoga instructor!

Today I went for a 2 mile run at Euchee Creek. I hadn't been out there in months so it was really nice to run there again. It's a beautiful place

Also - I registered for the Carolina Spartan Sprint! The price was about to go up so I registered right at the last second. I'll be racing saturday (march 22 or something like that) around 10:45 to 12. With any luck my husband won't be working or he can at least take that day off. Not really relishing the thought of driving home 3 hours from Charlotte after a Spartan. But I'll do it if I have to. March will be interesting, Georgia Spartan and then Carolina 2 weeks later. Plus any other races I wanna do, which I'm sure there will be some. Oh my. I'd better be ready!

Merrell Down and Dirty 5k Obstacle race

Last sunday I did the Merrell Down and Dirty - Atlanta

I showed up early, ready to go in my Spartan Chicked shirt!

This was a really fun race! I'll share here what I remember of my experience on the course...

Started off on a gravel trail through the forest. First obstacle was a (mulch?) bag carry, ala Spartan Race. Wasn't very heavy, but I had the misfortune of grabbing the one bag that was not closed. So I had to hold it a funny way to prevent the stuff from spilling out. Then there was this inflatable log thing that blocked the path. I totally messed this one up and it was pretty amusing - I tried to do a running jump onto it but just bounced off. Second attempt I just stepped up onto it and climbed over. One of my many silly moments in life. There was a ladder climb, followed shortly by a giant inflatable slide! I'd always wanted to do one of these! Rope climb up one side, slide down the other. Weeee!

The first half was pretty easy stuff. But at this point is where it started to get interesting. We headed back into the woods and approached a mat. Guy told us to drop and do 10 pushups. Ok, I like it! (Not really, push ups are one of my worst enemies - but the concept is pretty cool and Spartan-like!) Immediately following the pushups was a long ascent up a series of hills. Had to stop and walk a couple of times on that one. After the hills came the relief of a  low crawl under a net and through a pool. The water was cold but it felt great to me after that huge hill!

Next up was this big cargo net structure where you had to climb up the net and then climb across the top of it. Repeat x2.

The next part of the course was really cool. It was across a HUGE rock. I'm talking like 1/4 mile of the same rock. It was bumpy but smooth, not jagged at all. Then we passed under a bridge with a dark tunnel that was full of ankle deep water. It was a little weird, I kind of wondered if we had wandered into the sewers! After the sewer run came some climbing and mud pits.

The end of the course took us through the river with a rope climb to get up onto the bank. Then it was back into the festival grounds for the rock climbing wall and the slippery wall. I walked up to the slippery wall and was confused for a second because the ropes were all really short. Mine was especially short - like I could hardly reach it from a standing position. Volunteer guy tells me I have to get on my belly and climb all the way up... did it in one attempt, and now my back muscles are in agony...lol. Finally came the big mud pit, complete with a Marine shouting at me to get on my belly and low crawl. He kept shouting "Splash around!" I'm like nooo thanks... but the guy next to me pretty much did the Butterfly stroke through the mud, which was a good show.

And then the finish line!

I finished in 58:21, about 500th out of 1800 people. I'd say that's pretty good for 2 weeks of running after 6 months off.

What I loved about the Merrell Down and Dirty

• The course was fun! There were volunteers from the Marines and some of the obstacles had a Marines feel to them. The trail had alot of variety - forests, fields, the giant rock, going through the Yellow river, and even the weird sewer thing kept it interesting. There was a nice mix of obstacles - some challenging and some just for fun. I think most people would find this race challenging yet not frustratingly so. 
• The atmosphere is fun and motivating. The volunteers were great, especially the Marines who were there shouting at you like drill sergeants while doing the obstacles (in a good way)
• It's for everyone. I saw a nice mixture of what looked like more serious athletes and those who were just there to have fun, wearing costumes and such. I kind of felt like Warrior Dash was more of a "party" race, but Down and Dirty was a nice mixture of both styles of racers.
• Free stuff! No parking fee and NO bag check fee! I don't usually bag check, but the parking lot was really far away so I sucked it up and prepared to pay. Was a nice surprise to find out it was free. There were also little free goodies and giveaways at the expo. Plus the tshirt is a tech shirt! Gotta love that
• Well organized. Didn't have any issues with lines. The wash station was good and they had a changing tent.

The only thing that was kinda weird was the mud. They used a mixture of water and mulch! This had pro's and con's... it was kind of scratchy when crawling through it and had the tendency to get stuck in my bra and underwear, but at the same time it didn't leave you caked in mud and it was easy to wash out of my clothes. It was definitely different. Not sure if I prefer it though. I kind of like the real mud!

Also, not sure if it was just me but I only got 2 official race photos. I had no pictures for the other 2 obstacles, which wouldn't be so frustrating if I wasn't in perfectly clear view of the camera with nobody else around for both obstacles. Oh well, can't win em all.

In a nutshell - I had a great time and will probably be back next year! 

Weight loss

Taking a 6 month break from most physical activity has definitely taken it's toll on me. On top of the whole "not moving" thing, I've eaten one too many crap meals. I'm up to 161 - 6 pounds gained. So this week I'm beginning my weight loss phase again. I'll be using the same method I used before

• Calorie counting
• Exercise
• Setting goals. I've learned that holding myself accountable is what keeps me on track, otherwise I just slack off and never get anywhere.
• Racing - motivation is good!

Of course I'll be gaining muscle and losing fat too. I definitely feel fat. I know I've lost some muscle. So my goal once again is a well toned 155 lbs. Starting weight loss again is not easy...but I did it before and I can do it again!

Coming soon, Down and Dirty race recap! I should get my pictures on thursday..

Pso-what???

Things are looking good so far! 

I've run 4 miles in the last week - it's not alot, but I'm pretty much starting over from zero. It's gone really well. I forgot how much running hurt at first... since it's been awhile I'm getting all those beginner runner aches and pains. But it doesn't feel like my lungs are on fire, so I guess some of my endurance remains. 

I think I've figured something out though.

I've been doing the stretches the doctor gave me for 3 weeks. They cover a wide group of muscles - hamstrings, glutes, hips, and some lower back mobility stuff. I've also been doing the IT band stretches I learned over the summer when they thought that was the problem. Throughout all this I've been paying attention to what gives me relief, where I feel the stretch more, and doing alot of research. Well I found some info on a certain hip flexor called the Psoas. Here's a great Runner's World article about it. And here's a fun little diagram

So basically it's this giant muscle that's connected to a bunch of other major muscle groups and runs from the stomach to the leg. That would explain the pain I've been having - in my lower back, my butt, my hip, my groin, and my upper thigh. It could explain the weird cramp that I get on the right side of my stomach when I run - that never happened to me until I started having back pain. 

I found a stretch for the Psoas. Kindly refer to this ole' chap.

I've only been doing it for about 3 days now, and my GOD what a difference. I'm starting to think this might be my problem right here. But I'm still stretching everything in my lower body just for good measure. And foam rolling, it seems to help out alot too. Now I really only have pain when I sleep and first thing in the morning, which would make sense - cold muscles and what not.

Hopefully this is the ticket to my recovery! It's been a pain in the ass trying to figure this thing out, that's for sure

I'm racing this sunday! (Up until a couple days ago I thought the race was on saturday! Glad I didn't make that mistake!) I'm doing the Merrell Down and Dirty! This race looks like a blast... and it could be exactly what I need to motivate me after months of inactivity. I can't wait for sunday! I need to get out and play... lol

Ninja!

Today I bought something I've been wanting for awhile now - a new juicer/blender!

I'm still trying to learn to like vegetables more. I've made some good progress considering the fact that I rarely ate vegetables at all up until a year ago. But I know I need more vegetables than I'm currently getting. So I thought adding a fruit and veggie smoothie to my day might be a good idea.

The blender I had before was pretty good, but when I tried to make a veggie smoothie with it there were alot of pieces left behind. I basically felt like I was chewing the smoothie. For awhile I thought about getting the Nutribullet but based on the reviews it seemed like they break within a year. So I opted to spend a little extra and get the Ninja Pro

I just used it for the first time and I like it so far! It's easy to use and has either the option shown, or the single serve option. There are 2 cups with travel lids for the single serving.

The first smoothie I made was a strawberry, banana, cucumber, kale, spinach, and almond milk smoothie. The consistency was really good, even with the kale in there. A few bits here and there but it wasn't chewy like it was with my old blender. You can tell there's definitely some power behind this thing when it runs. It turned out ok taste wise, there was definitely a strong taste of almonds and grass...lol. But it was drinkable, and I have all the time in the world to play with recipes until I find some I really like. Here's a picture of the one I made tonight ...

Looks kinda gross, lol. Doesn't really have the typical "green smoothie" look *ahem*Photoshop!*cough* But it wasn't really that bad tasting. Can't wait to experiment with this thing some more


I really do feel like shit today. I'm just getting over my cold, and for some reason whenever I am sick my whole pallet for food changes and I just want to eat nothing but junk food, which is the exact opposite of what I should be doing. So here's to getting my diet back on track, cause I'm sick of eating crap! Literally

27

So I turned 27 on Saturday. No big racing age group changes, and I'm officially in my late 20's. I'll be the first to admit that I always like to make a big deal out of my birthdays. This year we took a weekend trip up to the north GA mountains!

We went to Helen, Georgia which is a German style town that holds an Oktoberfest every year. Yep, I was pretty much born during the best time ever. And since I'm half German I am always interested in German stuff! Here are just some of my pictures ...

 

This was a beautiful little place. German food, beer, bakeries, shops, horse carriages, biergartens/outdoor areas, there was a craft fair, and you can even go tubing on the river if you want to. It's a bit touristy but it's laid back, everyone was nice and is pretty much just there to have fun. My husband and I pretty much just wandered around aimlessly and just did whatever we wanted. Oh and I also found Viking heads!

We camped out at Unicoi State Park which was just about 5 minutes outside Helen. It had been way too long since I had been camping so it was just what I needed. Camping is very relaxing to me, especially sleeping in a tent! The campsites were a little close to each other but it was ok, our camp neighbors were all really cool. I got up early Sunday morning and walked the lake trail which might have been 2-3 miles. I even spontaneously jogged part of it - I couldn't help it! 

Yep! I had a good time. Unfortunately I started coming down with a cold on Friday, and I'm sure this adventure didn't help it any. I've been struggling through it these last couple days, but I'm thinking in another day or two I will be able to get back to training.

On the 13th I will be returning to Conyers, GA - the home of the GA Spartan Sprint! But this time it's for the Merrell Down and Dirty race. Only the 5k version for me this time around. I've heard great things about this race so I'm eager to get up there and see what it's all about!

My (cautious) Return

After more than 2 months of excluding myself from the blog world, I hope I can safely say - I'm back!?

Yes.

You see, an injury has plagued me for the past 6 months. It started off as a hip pain/tightness, which grew into a pretty nasty lower back pain sometime around March/April. Right as I was beginning to get good at this whole fitness thing. Since nothing like this had ever happened to me before, I developed a plan of attack - start with the easy stuff. I had always heard about my family and friends seeing chiropractors for their back pain, so naturally it seemed the best place to start. I gave that about a month before moving on to other options - it wasn't really doing anything for me, the chiro didn't seem very knowledgeable, and it was inconvenient for my work schedule and my wallet.

So next I went to my doctor who poked and prodded at me - she didn't seem to find anything abnormal, but got me an X ray anyway. Came back normal. So I went to physical therapy, they thought it was my IT band and gave me a series of stretches for that. They also did an electric therapy treatment on my lower back. After a month none of this really seemed to help. So I went to a different doctor who personally had experience with back pain. We thought it was SI joint dysfunction because I seemed to have all the symptoms. By this point it was July, and the pain had seemingly gotten even worse. It hurt to walk at times. So she put me on a strict regimen of medicine and ice/heat to calm everything down. Then sent me in for an MRI, and thanks to an awesome MRI tech I got it done right away. That came back normal too. What the eff! I mean it's great that the MRI is normal, but I still had no idea what was causing this pain!

By this point I'm pretty frustrated, and I'm then told that I can go to the OMT clinic (kind of like an orthopedist) but the wait for it was 2 months. That's Army doctors for ya. So I wait the gruelingly long 2 months, and during this time I am not doing ANYTHING. I decided to back completely off of exercise. I had no idea what I was dealing with. Some people say exercise is the best thing to help an injury heal, and others say exercise will just cause you further injury. I just had no idea what I needed to do - all I knew was I was in pain, and I didn't want my injury to get worse. Not doing anything seemed to be the smart thing to do.

On September 10th my OMT appointment finally came. I saw TWO doctors, both of them poked and prodded and twisted me up like a pretzel. They tested, stretched, and manipulated the joints. Finally, both of them concluded once again - there was nothing wrong. So that's Dr's #3 and 4 who are of that opinion.

The verdict?
They said that there must be some muscle weaknesses going on in my right side. One of the doctors commented on my ridiculously tight hamstrings. Its true, I am naturally about as flexible as a 2x4. I had noticed great improvements in my flexibility when I was doing yoga, but it must not have been enough. If you have tight hamstrings it can actually pull down on the muscles that surround your lower back, creating the illusion of lower back/SI joint pain.

I was given a set of SI/hip/glute/hamstring exercises to stretch and strengthen those areas. It's been 2 weeks and I'm seeing improvement. There is still some pain at times, but as opposed to the pain knocking out my whole day, now it only hurts for an hour or so and then the pain goes away on its own. I feel much stronger and more stable in my hips. I've run a mile 2 times and started building up my core and muscle strength again.

Now I am feeling cautiously optimistic. So far I have seen nothing but improvement, but I'm still taking things very slowly. These past 6 months have been a struggle. At the peak of my training and racing season I was faced with the possibility that I would not be able to do it anymore. But there is nothing structurally wrong with me and I am infinitely thankful for that. I'm ok with starting over again - I'm glad that I am able to start over again because not everyone is that lucky.

This Saturday is my 27th birthday. I'm looking forward to 27 and being in the BEST shape of my life!