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:
- The Block: Do you have it? – Huffington Post
- Run your route backwards to vary training– Fit Sugat
- Almost Vegan Sloppy Joes – Leftovers For Lunch
- Is there a multi-vitamin and breast cancer link? – Huffington Post
~~~
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!
YUm yum yum!! That fruit looks so delish and the sauce is going to be a must-try!
Have fun starting your Try-a-Tri training!!!!
I notice that a lot of your recipes call for coconut butter. Could somebody please tell me about the health benefits or drawbacks of coconut butter and oil. They are so high in saturated fat. Should it be something to be enjoyed in moderation???
I’m currently in my 4th week of physical therapy and 3rd month of an injury. I have illiotibial band syndrome, and it just will not get better! I’m signed up for a 10 mile race on May 2 that I cannot run, and today I ran for 5 min at PT. That’s the longest I’ve run without pain since January. It’s so frustrating and nothing brings me down more.
I was training for a half marathon, and was going out for my longest run to date at the time (7.5 miles). I got about 3 miles in, and I stopped at an intersection and kept running in place (I was a newbie!) and ended up falling down, twisting my ankle, and then cutting my opposite knee open. I stood up and was in shock. I flagged down a cab, but didn’t have any cash on me, so the cab driver made me get out! I ended up walking home (slowly) the 2.5 miles. I got home and my ankle swelled up like crazy and starting turning purple almost immediately. I had to stop training for the half, and couldn’t run for two weeks while my ankle heeled. I ran a 5k three weeks later (I had already signed up for it) but scaled back my running a lot. I now plan to run a half marathon this year, and ended up doing a 10 miler last weekend. I was bummed I had to cut my training back, but its better to be sidelined for a few weeks/months than for a lifetime.
Your banana coconut cream looks so good … love that idea!
I’m so happy to hear you are bouncing back! Sounds like you are really listening to what your body needs!
I’m nursing an injury now…though I guess its more like a permanent injury. I have damage to my hip joint and badly worn cartilage and as a result, I can’ run anymore, doctors orders :( Definitely still struggling with the news, even though my last run was 7 months ago. Trying to find new activities to love, but its not easy! Still love reading about other peoples races and training!
yay for the glo bars selling well :)
i’m in that time right now unfortunately :( turns out my soleus is severely tight and it kills my knee to run. HOWEVER i just started therapy today and it feels great to know there’s an end in sight!
Whoa. So I think my roasted maple cinnamon almond butter and your coconut cream are a deadly combination that might need to be paired together. Your creamy goodness sounds heavenly!!!!! I just recently had an injury that I had to put off a half marathon for. It was in the top of my foot..I thought it was a stress fracture but luckily was not. I was bummed for a few days that I wasn’t going to be training for the run but I tried to look at it as an opportunity to get good at other things. I joined the Denver Rec Centers and started swimming. I’ve never been on swim team or anything but always enjoyed swimming. I have been loving it and feel like my body is getting in great shape. I also started riding the bike at the gym more and getting back into lifting. It’s actually been great to not have to focus on running. The huz and I also bought rock climbing gym memberships and are LOVING doing it together and learning with each other. SO much fun. I just bought a rode bike, yesterday, that Chris found on Craigslist. Great deal for a barely used bike. Just went on my first ride in like 10yrs [no joke]. I definitely see a triathlon in my future..but I’m staying off the foot a little longer!! Since putting running on hold I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life and it feels great :)
I’ve had a stress fracture in my pubic ramus for oh about 5 months now? It happened back in December but it wasn’t treated properly. Now, with a new doctor, I’m hoping to be on the right track. I’m supposed to be off of crutches in a couple weeks and healed completely in 2-3 months, we hope. Not gonna lie, it’s probably been the hardest months of my life. Not probably, for sure. But I know, I KNOW there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I will heal. It might take a while, but I will. This is not forever. And remembering that is what has gotten me through, that this is TEMPORARY. Also, staying busy is really important!
I actually just recently suffered from my first sports related injury. Sounds lucky but I never played sports in school and just this year started getting into running ;) Anyway, I started training in February for my first half marathon and 2 weeks ago during my 11 mile training run, I started getting right hip pain, especially when I would be stopped at an intersection and then start back up.
Anyway, I took a day off of running and when I tried to run again it still hurt pretty badly. I went to my dr who told me to rest for a full week and ice it.
After my full week of rest, the pain had not gone away nor had it gotten better. I thought for sure the half marathon I had already signed up for which is to take place on May 2nd was totally out of the question. My dr referred me to a physical therapist and I had my second appt today.
The Physical therapist said that the arch in my right foot collapses with each running step which ended up overstressing my right priformis muscle (the deep gluteal muscle). He is really going to try to help me run that half marathon!!
Right now my main concern is that my Husband thinks all I need to do is rest and that physical therapy is a waste of money and that it is selfish of me to go since I am only doing it so I can run in the half marathon.
Anyone have advice or encouraging words? The husband and I are basically not speaking because of this!!
Angela, sorry to use your comment section to vent about my own probs but thanks!!
Hi Gina — so sorry to hear about your injury!! I wanted to reply because I’ve suffered from the same thing…so maybe my experience can help you?
The problem with a tight piriformis (besides the pain) is that it can lead to piriformis syndrome — or a pinched sciatic nerve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriformis_syndrome). This has happened to me twice. The first time was honestly the worst injury I have ever suffered. It hurt to do anything (walk, sit, lay down, etc). I went through some pretty intensive PT (w/ ultrasound, etc) to get it healed, but it took a long time and a lot of rest (unfortunately).
Obviously if it’s not at that stage yet, you can probably still run with the help of your PT…I would just caution you to be careful. And stretch a LOT!! And no, PT is not a waste of money, since he/she can help get rid of your current pain and help you build up strength/improve your running form so that this doesn’t happen again! If you want to get better quickly and prevent it from getting worse, I would totally recommend it!!
Good luck! I hope things get better soon!!!
Thanks Lauren! I appreciate it.
About 6 months ago I got several tears in the ligament under my toe. I pushed through the pain for a month, working on my feet 40 plus hours a week. I ended up having to quite my job and be pretty much stuck on the couch for 4 months. I have just recently started walking regularly and finally getting to work out again. Thank gosh for my husband who is even more active than I normally am, he helped me deal with the complete change of lifestyle and I will now never push through something like that again!
I love the daily spark article you linked! My fiance and I had a very similar experience recently- we took a trip to Colorado to celebrate his 30th birthday and we hiked in the Rocky Mountain National Park (with snow shoes), skied, and rode horses. It was a wonderful, active vacation and it really helped reinforce how much happiness being fit brings into our lives and we really appreciated all the opportunities for fun that being fit affords us.
The banana cream looks wonderful!
Ugh! The injury! I’ll try to tell my annoying injury story in a quick way. Spent my whole life overweight. REALLY overweight. I lost about 100 lbs. Started to feel really good. (though I still have a long ways to go) I spent the day walking in an outdoor renaissance fair, literally, at the beginning of the day, I was feeling SO good about myself and said “I NEVER could have done all this walking 100 lbs. ago”. By the end of the day, my ankle was in agony and it has never recovered. This was about 1 1/2 years ago. Went to tons of doctors, MRI, Cat scan, everything, basically the bones are just a bunch of gobbelity goop. (Yes, that’s my technical term for it). It’s not rheumatoid arthritis, and it’s not a whole bunch of other things. No one knows what it is but now I have to “baby it” and not walk a lot. Not that I enjoy running anyways but it would be nice to not have THIS as an excuse not to do it. I know there are many other ways to exercise, I’m just lacking the motivation to do it. Sadly, I use the ankle as an excuse more than I should. I’ve been so trying to get back on track and I’m loving all these healthy lifestyle blogs to keep reminding me! Thanks! (sorry for whining, I really try not to do that).
The injury that put me out the longest was knee pain from running. I didn’t listen to it and had to take 10 days off training. I learned from that and the most I’ve had to take off since was 5 days which is a lot easier to handle.
Way to go on the news about your bars – that is awesome!!
I am so thankful that I’ve never had a serious injury. When I trained from my marathon, I did have some trouble with my knee off and on, but it worked itself out.
My worst injury began in fall of 2006! Out of nowhere, I started having horrible pain in my left knee after working out/on stairs. After my attempts to take it easy stopped working and I ran out of exercises that didn’t bother it, I finally went to my doctor (in March of 2008.. very bad!) who sent me to pt and to an orthopedist. He basically ignored the problem and said I just needed to stretch better. I literally almost started crying in his office! I tried that (which was no help) and decided it was never going to get better.
Finally, a year later I saw another ortho in the same practice, he did an MRI but never explained what was going on. He said he didn’t believe in physical therapy but put me on naproxen. When it didn’t get better in 8 weeks, he wanted to start giving me cortisone shots! Then he said don’t worry there are lots of steps between that and knee replacement (WHAT?!)
I listened to the little voice in my head that said that’s not a good idea, something isn’t right here and called my primary doctor for a different referral. She sent me back to pt and to a new ortho who was WONDERFUL! He explained that what was happening was the synovial tissue was catching in my kneecap and that if I worked on strengthening my hip and quads it would prevent that from happening. They were so nice to me and so helpful. I started taking naproxen again and keeping up with my pt… but the best thing of all happened when a few weeks into this I got terribly, horribly sick. I barely had energy to do anything, let alone work out. I kept up with most of my pt exercises and icing and an amazing thing happened when I could finally go back to the gym… my knee wasn’t bothering me.. not at all!!
My physical therapist thought it was the rest that helped the most. I haven’t had any problems since then! I always wear a knee sleeve now on that knee and I make an effort to keep up with strengthening exercises. I’m also more cautious if I pull a muscle or feel pain somewhere I shouldn’t; I make sure to let myself recover before I start pushing myself again. After so many years of trouble, I’m happy to say that I’m all better :)
You had knee pain?? I HAVE KNEE PAIN RIGHT NOW!! I started running a couple of weeks ago and right as I was actually starting to like it, my knees started hurting. And every time I think its over and I can start again, it comes back. I ice, I take ibuprofen, I haven’t worn heels in over a week, (tears) and I don’t know what to do. Do the sleeves help? Is there a brand you recommend?? I know I need new shoes but those need to wait about a month or so. I’m so frustrated and worried I will lose motivation before its fixed :(
I had some ITB issues from running and increasing mileage too fast. Yoga, stretching and slowly working up my mileage has helped tremendously.
The coconut banana cream looks absolutely divine! Thank you for the recipe :)
I’ve had runner’s knee for a year and a half, as well as cervical issues that are reoccurring. For my runner’s knee I’ve been stuck to an indoor, rubber track on good days, and the elliptical on bad days.