Good evening! I hope you had a great start to your week.
I don’t want to jinx it, but my groin feels almost back to normal. I am going to take it slow tomorrow and see how it feels. Time heals all wounds…
This week also marks the beginning of our TRY-A-TRI training! I will be blogging about it soon and telling you our plans. :)
I got a call from Ambrosia this morning (the health food store carrying my Glo Bars) and they doubled their order from last week. They were pleased with how quickly the bars sold out! Thank you to everyone who dropped in and bought some Glo Bars! :) Your support has been nothing short of amazing. The bars should be re-stocked in the store by Wednesday or Thursday.
My food highlight today was C-R-E-A-M-Y!
1 Minute Coconut Banana Cream
Ingredients:
- 1 small banana, peeled (see note)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping tablespoon coconut butter, softened
- 1-2 teaspoons almond milk
Directions: Place banana, vanilla, milk, and softened coconut butter in a food processor and process until smooth. Serve over fruit and enjoy!
Note: You can use a cold/frozen banana if you want the cream cold or just a room-temp. banana if you don’t mind the cream warm. The heated coconut butter will make the cream warm, so adjust recipe to your liking!
Or you can just eat the cream straight up. :) It was heavenly.
Next time I think I might use this cream over something savoury, like oatmeal or pancakes. This was good, but it was a bit too sweet.
Since I am working tonight (two words: Business taxes…blech!), I thought this was the perfect time for another Health News Round Up…
Health News Round Up:
- Are You Fit Enough for Life’s Grand Adventures? – Daily Spark
- The Block: Do you have it? – Huffington Post
- Run your route backwards to vary training– Fit Sugar
- Have you seen the #fitblog chat on Twitter- every Tuesday at 9pm? – Katy Widrick
- Bone Loss- It’s not just for seniors– Ribbons, Roads, and Raspberries
- A delicious looking red quinoa recipe – Love Healthy Living
- Have you seen Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution yet? – That’s Fit
- Almost Vegan Sloppy Joes – Leftovers For Lunch
- Is there a multi-vitamin and breast cancer link? – Huffington Post
Size Healthy in the blog world:
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Tonight’s question:
Have you ever had an injury that side-lined your exercise/training plans? How did you cope with the injury and bounce back? Do you have to train differently now?
It is no secret that I had a pelvic muscle pull last January 2009 that put me out of exercise for 2 months. Aside from that, I have been lucky. I have had knee pain and wore knee sleeves all last summer, but I have been able to rid myself of the sleeves this year after extensive strength training with Booty Camp Fitness. I definitely train smarter now than I used to. I used to ignore my body’s signals of pain, but now I am a good listener. If I feel an unusual pain that is out of the ordinary, I will stop the exercise until it goes away. It took me a long time to be able to do that! Some people say it takes discipline to workout, but I say it also takes discipline to workout SMART.
I appreciate you sharing your stories. I get emails every week from women who are dealing with an injury and looking for some encouragement.
Sleep tight!
I hurt my knee last June from overexercising. I wasn’t giving my body enough time to rest. I was just able to start running again last month. I never knew what the injury was because I had no insurance to go to a doctor, but I just stopped exercising for a month and then began biking, rather than running. It actually wasn’t too bad, because I discovered I really like biking!
I can’t wait to hear about your tri training. I really want to train for one too!
Seems like so many people struggle with injuries!! :( Since I ran competitively in H.S/College, I’ve had pretty much every injury under the sun — shin splints, stress fractures, tendonitis, pinched nerves, etc etc etc. It can be extremely frustrating to be sidelined because of an injury. I’ve found that the times I CAN’T run are the times I want to the most!! (funny how that happens). And since (like many) I use exercise as a form of stress release, not being able to work out can lead to emotional issues, more stress, and problems sleeping.
But I echo what you said in your post — the key is to listen to your body. Pushing through the injury can only make it worse…and then leave you sidelined for a few months instead of a few days/weeks. Also, it’s important to look at your decision to rest as a healthy one. Yes, you may gain a few pounds now, but taking time off when you’re injured is extremely important to a healthy lifestyle — and will allow you to stay active for years to come.
In October 2008 (on my birthday, actually) I stress-fractured my femur due to “overuse,” and I was on crutches for 6 weeks and couldn’t exercise for 3 months. It was stressful navigating crutches, and hard not to work out, but it showed me how hard I was working my body. Now, over a year later, I’m struggling with ITBS (iliotibial band syndrome) and although I pushed through the pain to run a half-marathon, am going to back off and just do what feels comfortable for the next few months.
Congrats on getting a bigger order! That’s awesome!
Hmm, injuries. I’ve been lucky to not have any serious ones except in December my hip was killing me and I was running alot but didn’t want to stop. I was forced to take a couple days hiatus while stuck at my family’s in the country during a blizzard but other than that I didn’t rest at all. I don’t know what’s wrong with me but mentally I couldn’t stop.
Then I became pregnant. Well that was pretty much a sideline and so for nearly three months I didn’t run. Now that I’ve picked it up again (granted, slower and shorter distances) my hip feels great and I’m really glad I was forced to rest.
Take care of yourself!
That banana cream stuff looks really good, would’ve needed that for my jewelry party last Sat. Oh well….:)
I have tackled with injuries and surgeries on and off over the years of my running and triathlons. The worst injury I had that put me back almost a year from running was 2 bulging discs and severe sciatica. I’ve since recovered from the bulging discs or at least have held them at bay because I’m trying really hard to run on soft ground as often as I can. I suffered with it for a long time without medical attention because I thought I was wonder woman and stubborn.
You are right Angela, we really have to program ourselves to listen to our bodies and when they say slow down or stop, we need to pay attention.
When I was training for a half-marathon last fall, I knew I had to take things easy because I was coming back from a knee injury, but I was confident and determined to run the half. I was so upset and bummed when I started feeling an annoying ache in my hip a few weeks into my training plan. I (very reluctantly) backed off from running, and ramped up my cross-training and stretching plans.
As the half got closer, I re-wrote my training schedule and gave myself a deadline–I think I said something like “if I can’t finish a long run (over 6 miles) without pain by whatever date, I’ll pull out of the race.” And I swore to myself I’d take it easy for at least a month following the race. I’m all about stretching and recovery now, as well as strength-training for my lower body and core. The way I see it, strong muscles = more support for my joints = pain-free running!
As I get older, it seems like injuries occur more often if I’m not careful. Usually how this goes for me is like this…
Some part of my body doesn’t feel like it should during a workout… I think to myself, it’s nothing, keep going. After said work out, body part X hurts even more so I ice it and rest it for a few days. When it starts to feel just a little bit better, I use said body part again and remember how long it takes for muscles to heal… I always bitch and complain about how annoying it is to deal with injury and take days off… I wait till it stops hurting and then wait an additional week, and if its still not hurting, start excersizing again slowly…
Sometimes I wish I could just recognize I’m hurt and start the healing process right away instead of trying to push it again after only a few days rest… Maybe in time I’ll learn. ;)