healthy again

As most of the folks who know me personally, or get information here and there from Facebook, I’ve been battling (and complaining about) plantar fasciitis for about 8 months.  I think it’s finally safe to say:

I BEAT PLANTAR FASCIITIS!

It’s funny how some injuries work.  After reading about the injury on the internet, I was convinced that if I continued to run, I could worsen it to the point of surgery. So, I laid off of it.  After 6 months of no running, I gave it a shot and felt healthy for a month of running, just enough to get back into the swing of it.  Then, the injury crept it’s way back into my right foot.  I took another 2 months off.  I iced. I massaged. I stretched. I wore a straussburg sock at night. It just never seemed to get better.  A month ago, I decided that I’m better off running because fascia release surgery is very uncommon. And….It’s gone away!  I can’t explain it, but I’m just so thankful.  I feel like a runner again!  I’ve only ran 3 miles at a time at my maximum, but hallu-freakin-luah!  I haven’t wanted to post since I wasn’t running and I haven’t climbed outside at all. All of my posts would have been depressing and “woe-is-me” themed, and no one wants to read that.

So it begins: base mileage for the Route 66 Half Marathon in Tulsa on November 18! Okay, so that’s really far away but to safely increase my mileage to 60 miles a week, I’ve got to start thinking now.

The weather is perking, so there will definitely be climbing trips in the near future and these legs of mine are going to start slowly but surely getting in miles. So, stay tuned for more eventful posts!

happy salad

Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette (serves 2)

1 tbl extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tsp blueberry balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice (lemon would be great, but I happened to have an orange but no lemon)

pinch of coarse salt + ground pepper

Wisk with with a fork and voila!

 

 

baby romaine + ripe pear + goat cheese + walnuts + vinaigrette = light dinner

 

 

wonderful week & lentil coconut soup

The way to excel at most anything is practice, practice, practice, right?  Well, I’ve been feeling like a slacker the past couple weeks with both school and rock climbing.  So, one would think poor input would yield poor output, right?  Contrary to logic- I’ve rocked it this week.

I didn’t study quite as much as I wanted to for an exam that I took the day after Halloween, and I got the highest test grade that I’ve gotten in that class thus far (which NEVER happens.  I’m an avid studier through and through, and have rarely ever crammed for a college exam).

Monday night, I climbed for the first time in a little over a week, yet quixotically tried the route I’ve been working on for months…..and I flashed it!  Who knows, maybe fresh arms was really what I needed, even though I always thought that you lose forearm strength with every day without climbing. Go figure.

Tuesday night, I held my handstand, something I’ve been working on for the past month.  That’s right- held it and it was a wonderful feeling.  It felt almost wrong to feel so stable upside down! Needless to say, I’ve had a great week.

What would be the icing on the cake + sprinkles  would be for my foot to magically heal.  Recently, the frozen water bottle has become simultaneously my worst enemy and best friend.  Admittedly, it’s quite painful but I know it’s good for me.

This week, I made TWO batches of Vegan Lentil & Coconut Soup with a Cilantro Habanero Gremolata

It simmered on the stove for almost two hours, but it was well worth the wait.  My house smelled amazing for the rest of the day and I had plenty to freeze!  I wouldn’t suggest doubling the recipe unless you are cooking it for a large family.

The only thing I altered in this recipe was using Light Coconut milk.  Coconut is chock full of saturated fat, so I wanted to make this soup a little bit health conscious. By the way, this whole coconut phase is driving me nuts.  If you’re drinking coconut milk because you think it’s healthier, you are misguided.  Coconut is full of saturated fat (your body likes UNsaturated fat!).  The whole coconut fad exploded from the benefits of cooking with coconut OIL.  Common cooking oils, such as olive oil, is full of good ‘ole unsaturated fat.  However, it has a fairly low heating temperature and can be easily converted into TRANS fat (the worst fat for you) when heated to high temperatures while cooking.  On the contrary, due to coconut oil’s chemical structure, it is more stable under high heat and will not as easily convert into trans fat.  So, cooking with coconut oil is opting for saturated fat over potential trans fat.  As for the coconut water craze- it’s full of potassium, which is great.  But, if you don’t enjoy the taste like me, try drinking water and eating a banana.

Do you have a favorite recipe using coconut?  i’d love to hear it!

yoga for runners & quinoa

I’ve noticed throughout my years of running, many of my fellow female runners at one point or another have struggled with hip tightness and/or injury, usually in the IT-band, hip flexor, and the piriformis areas.  I have definitely experienced tightness/bursitis in all of these areas!  Apparently, my hips come out of alignment easily and I have to “pop” myself back into place.  The physical therapist told me years ago that the best way to handle this is by strengthening all of these muscles.  Sure, I did rubber band exercises for about a month.   But, those aren’t exactly *fun* activities to do and I have never been disciplined enough to incorporate them before or after a run.

Now that I’m well into my second consecutive month of yoga, practicing 5-7 days a week, I can definitely tell my hip muscles are stronger!  All the lunges (warriors), single leg balances (I’m not even going to try to remember the names of these), and hip stretches such as pigeon pose make me see how essential it is to include strengthening exercises with running.  It was especially easy for me to disregard activities like extensive stretching and yoga last summer.  With 40-50 mile weeks, I’d get back from a run and I would be done for the day.  I just ran 7 miles.  That’s enough, right?  It would be if I wasn’t so injury prone!

Once I’m injury-free and running again, I’m setting a goal to continue my yoga practice a couple days a week.  I’ll admit that once I’m up and running, I won’t be able to afford the time and money for a membership to a yoga studio since the rock climbing gym membership is priority when I move back to Tulsa!  But, there are many yoga videos on itunes.  And now that I’ve been doing yoga so often, I have a generic understanding of vinyasa flows that I can do on my own.

This week, I made Quinoa & Sweet Potato Chili. I found the recipe on Pinterest.  It was intended to be vegan, but it would be delicious with some cotija!

Next time, I’m definitely adding some heat with a chocolate habanero.  A dear friend of mine has a tree with almost 50 peppers!  I snagged one, but seemed to have misplaced it, so I didn’t use it in this chili…..but a red chile and jalapeno would be great, too.

finding solace in yoga & granola

Ten weeks injured.

And counting.

Ten weeks and I have ran a total of three days. 2 miles on each of those days.  Each time was a sad confirmation that I still have plantar fasciitis.  Yeah, yeah, yeah- I’m throwing a pity party!  But I’ve actually come to terms with my injury and I know that patience is key.  I have an appointment over Thanksgiving Break with an orthopedic physician who specializes in foot injuries (not a podiatrist! Podiatrists are not M.D.s).  I know he won’t be a quick fix but it will be nice to at least get some answers (hopefully).

However, I’m on my second straight month of doing yoga 6-7 days a week and most of the classes are hot (100-107 degrees). It’s filling the void a little bit and  my limbs are certainly the most flexible they have ever been, which is helping with those corner climbs at the climbing gym.  My days still feel slightly empty without running but I’m still adjusting!

I started trading my morning oatmeal with with hot milk poured over homemade pumpkin granola!  Most of the granola at the store is so high in sugar, so making my own lets me control the sugar level.

Pumpkin Granola

 

Adapted from Serious Eats (I simply decreased the maple syrup & increased the pumpkin)

Preheat oven to 325F.

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup dried unsweetened cranberries
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 1/3 cup chopped dried apple rings
• 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a another bowl, wisk the wet ingredients together then add the wet to the dry ingredients.  Spread out the granola on a large baking pan lined with parchment paper.  Bake for ~40 minutes, until golden, stirring halfway through.

I don’t know why I never realized how easy it is to make granola, but I’m going to start searching for variations.

Leave a comment if you have a granola recipe that you love!

Peas & Pistachios!

I used to be injured all too frequently during my freshmen and summer into sophomore years of college.  These injuries would devastate me mentally and physically.  If I couldn’t run, I wouldn’t do anything else to compensate, which of course, made things worse for my well being!  I just finished my fourth consecutive week without running.  Besides wanting to smack every runner who I encounter enjoying the beautiful Wilmington weather, I’ve been happy, healthy and not bitter (mostly)!  My tight hamstrings have started to budge in yoga, I finished a route in the climbing gym that I’ve been working on for 5 months, I swam around 800m in the ocean yesterday, and I’m going to try running next week!  I’ve really come around full circle with adapting when I hit a road block and can’t run.  Optimistic, much? Well, today I am. Ha!

Since I feel the need to post food almost every time I post, here is my delicious lunch from a few days ago:

• Great Harvest Pumpernickel bread
• store-bought traditional hummus
• avocado
• tomato
• grated carrots
• homemade green pea hummus {recipe here}

I LOVE peas!  If you are a green pea lover, you definitely need to try making this hummus.  I opted for the pecorino romano version (except that I used parmesean).

I haven’t been cooking much since school started, since I climb most evenings at the climbing gym, so I don’t have time to cook when I get home so late.  But, I made a week’s worth (oops!) of pasta last night!

Whole Grain Penne with Roasted Broccoli and Pistachio Gremolata

Another serious eats favorite, of course!  Get the recipe here!

Have a great Thursday, everyone!

wannabe yogi & complete protein sources

Because I’m injured from running and cycling, the only physical activities I can really do are swim and yoga. And for those of you who know me personally know that I’m a horrible swimmer and I really just don’t enjoy it.  Not to mention the recreational hours at the UNCW natatorium are minimal and at atypical times of day. Thus, I caved in and bought a monthly unlimited at the Wilmington Yoga Center.  Despite not being able to take all of the “OHMS” and hippy-dippy speak about dedicating your practice to something or someone seriously, I have thoroughly enjoyed practicing yoga!  My hamstrings are by the far the loosest they have ever been and my hips, for once, aren’t a bundle of tight knots from 55 miles/week for however many weeks straight.  The Wilmington Yoga Center has been by far the best yoga classes that I have ever been to.

Sunday, I attended an hour and 45 minute yoga class! YIKES! It was wonderful!  The last 20 minutes or so, our instructor had us practice various simple yoga positions against the wall with the purpose to stress good form.  Let me tell you- this gave a whole new meaning to warrior 1, 2, and 3.  We had to inch our bodies as close to the wall as possible, shoulders back, hips square, while pressing a block against the wall with our knee. Sounds simple, right? No way!  It was enlightening to acknowledge how positions are really supposed to feel, especially since I already thought that I was meticulous about form.

My parents were in Wilmington for the first couple weeks of school.  We dined out on most nights, and I took advantage of the wonderful meals at Wilmington’s best restaurants.  If you haven’t been to Manna or Rx, and are looking for a splurge dinner, you must check out these fantastic restaurants!  Anyway, I’m back into the swing of things with a healthier diet and eating minimal amounts of meat (apparently, I’m what’s called a flexitarian).

It occurred to me recently that many people don’t know that meat is a complete protein source.  This means that every essential amino acid for your body can be found in meat sources.  However, complete protein sources can come from other foods, but it’s slightly confusing to figure out.  This is a diagram  from my basic nutrition text book from last semester .  These are examples of complete protein sources:

I’m aware of how unattractive and simplistic this table is….wow, actually, as I was making it, I thought about how pretty it was going to be (FAIL)! But, now that you have a general idea of what a complete protein source means, you can do a little exploring on your own!

Are you a vegetarian? A frequent meat eater? Vegan?  Why do you eat a certain way?

Table adapted from Boyle, Marie A. Personal Nutrition. 7th ed. N.p.: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.

A True Love for Running

I never thought that an activity could define me so dramatically.  Sure, I love running and it’s a passion of mine, but I would like to think there are interesting things about me beyond running.  3 weeks ago, I took 7 days off from running as a precautionary measure for possible plantar fasciitis.  I ran 2 days in a row after the break and my foot didn’t feel any better (it’s very, very mild pain).  Now, it’s been 2 more weeks without running.  I’ve been cycling, swimming, doing yoga, and climbing.  I thought by replacing exercise with exercise, I would feel some sort of relief and fulfillment with other activities, but my days have felt so incomplete.  With running, I would finish my workout with satisfaction and feel ready to start/continue other important parts of my days.  When I’m finished cycling, swimming, or a yoga class, I have a strange feeling like I need to exercise more.  It’s not an obsession with fitness, it’s a lack of feeling satisfied with an activity.  I get a similar feeling of satisfaction with rock climbing, but the feeling is definitely not as intense.  Especially when the climbing wall hours are limited, there’s no true bouldering, and I have a very small amount of belay partners.

As I’ve stated before, I have a half marathon planned on Saturday, September 22nd in Charlotte.  i’m dropping out of the race, as I don’t want to make this PF worse, but I’m hoping that if it goes away from all of this rest, I can race a slower 13.1 in November at the Battleship here in WIlmington, North Carolina.

How do you deal with injuries?  What do you do to make yourself feel more, “whole”?

Setbacks & Muffins

It’s been well over 4 months since I’ve updated this.  I’m actually a little disappointed in myself!  You don’t know how many times I’ve sat down to update this, then thought, “I have nothing of value to share.”  I’d like to think it’s better than adding more word garbage to the world wide web.  However, I want to become a better writer and blogging is too convenient!  This will be a quick post, just to get back into the flow of blogging.

I’m currently training for a trail 13.1 in Charlotte on September 22nd.  It’s called the Riverbound Race Series.   It’s a trail race just outside of Charlotte along the Catawba River.  I’m doing it with my best friend, Maxann and I am so stoked!  However, as with the last half marathon, I’ve had yet another setback with my training.  8 days ago, I noticed that the arch of my foot had been hurting some for the past 4 days, which I self-diagnosed as plantar fasciitis.  After speaking with an experienced physician/runner friend of my dad’s, he suggested that I take a week off and cross train.  So, basically I didn’t run at all during the week I was supposed to peak my mileage to 60.  Sometimes I wonder if people think i’m a hypochondriac with all of my injuries, but it’s one of the reasons why I quit running in college!  At any rate, I need to do a 12 mile long run tomorrow, then start tapering.  It’s hard to stay motivated to cross train when injured.  How do you deal with setbacks? Cross training?  How do you stay mentally focused?

Of course, I still cook and bake frequently. And today, I made muffins!

Banana Coconut Crunch Muffins

(modified from Ina Garten’s recipe)

• 2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup ground flax
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 3/4 cup soy milk (or any milk)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
• 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
• 1 cup small-diced walnuts
• 1 cup granola (I happened to have Bear Naked Maple Nut cereal)
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the oil and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don’t overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Bake for 21 to 25 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

Why you should try climbing

I can see it at the climbing gym at school.  The onlookers from outside the climbing section staring up at the harnessed bodies that are either making their next move, or swaying from the thick, colorful rope as they rest at a tricky spot.  Either these people are fascinated by the idea, or wondering why the hell anyone would want to climb a bunch of morphed plastic bolted to more plastic imitation rock- I’m hoping for the first.  Or, for example, one time when I was climbing outside in Linville Gorge, and my leader was belaying me up the last pitch to the top and the resting hikers jokingly commented on our unique way of getting up the rock.  It seems that many people are intrigued by the idea.  But, have you ever thought about actually trying it yourself?

But, I hate working out!

I know, I know…most people dread the idea of working out and can’t bring themselves to go the gym to just to pick-up-heavy-things-then-put-them-down-again, or lace up some shoes and run for the sheer “fun” of it.  But that’s the beauty (or one of the beauties) of rock climbing.  Going to a climbing gym or climbing outside (since this is directed towards a first timer, I’m going to assume your first climbing experience is in a gym) feels like you’re going to do a fun activity- not work out.  At least that’s the mindset I have most of the time.  Sure, it definitely takes some physical effort and sweat, but there’s also a social aspect to it.  If you’re top roping, you must have someone belay you- BOOM, climbing friend right there!  If you’re bouldering, you usually have a few people hanging around encouraging climbers and analyzing uncompleted/tricky routes.  It’s fun to chat with your pals between climbs while letting your muscles rest.

But, I don’t have the strength to climb!

Rock climbing is not just reliant on strength.  It is just as much a mental game as it is physical.  Whether it’s following a taped route in a gym, or analyzing indentions in rock for a potential hand-hold outside, climbing keeps you mentally present at all times.  There is so much technique to climbing!  I’ve seen countless women out-climb strong, grown men primarily on the basis of technique.  Knowing how to position you to efficiently distribute your body weight to make the next move easier/possible is such an immense part of climbing.  Sure, it does take physical strength as well, but as with anything, it comes with time and practice!

I have no one to go with!

In my short 2.5 years of climbing, I have found that the climbing community is one of the nicest, encouraging, and supportive groups of people I have ever met.  Some of my best friends have come from meeting them at the school climbing gym.  These are friendships that I will cherish in the long run.  At a local gym, employees and seasoned climbers are usually extremely helpful with “newbies.”  It’s not uncommon to have strangers encourage me while climbing a nearby route, or give me some “beta” (beta is climbing talk for help) on a route (sometimes I’m given it even when I don’t want it).

So, if you’re tired of forcing yourself to run, or going to the gym to do group cardio/abs classes, try going to the climbing gym instead!  It’s totally addicting!