The ELFF Diet

Walking Away From The Running

So I've almost completed week two of the couch to 5k program, and I don't know if I'll go further.

I wonder if there will ever come a day when I'm not battling an injury, using a foam roller, icing a sore spot or begging for a massage from my favorite masseuse? (seriously, if you are a local, ask for Doreen - she gives an AMAZING sports massage.) I ended up just walking for an hour today and doing the mountain steps for three tours, but I badly wanted to run.

The crappy piriformis injury is still progressing - it's gotten better, but I'm still in an awful lot of pain if I run for more than a minute or two at a time. Cap that with the fact that my damned calf cramps if I run for longer than two minutes, and, well, you can see why I'm pretty much stuck at two minutes, can't you?

Sigh.

Guess this is what it's like to be on the very peak of turning 40...

A Non-Guest Post Guest Post

Amy - a faithful reader - left me a great comment that she agreed I could post for you all.

The motivation to get out of the house? Don't think about it. It's easy to excuse yourself out of it. Focus on how it feels AFTER you're done. Seriously nothing feels as good as accomplishment and then you don't have to mentally beat yourself up all day for NOT doing it and tossing in the towel and think you can begin tomorrow. If you don't have a safe space to walk but your drive your kids to/from school everyday or go to the Post Office to pick up your mail...park a mile away (or a half mile) and walk to the school with your kids and back. That gets it in. I always read about these great programs in Prevention mag but seriously need some sort of timer that I can pre program for the walk/fun intervals. Having to slow enough to read a watch is for the birds and really trips me up. If I had something I could pre program would make training a lot easier for me. Or I walk and run from one telephone pole to the next, walk for two, run for one. I can't keep a steady 60 second count in my head because I tend to count to my breath and not actual time. I also don't go for speed but for distance. So even though my 13 yo size 00 daughter whooped me speed wise when we did the running portion of our walk Sunday a.m. I didn't give up and walk before getting to where I needed to be. Slow and steady wins the race right?

Plan For Tomorrow

I'm going to attempt the beginning of the coach to 5k program.

My piriformis (butt!!) muscle is still really wonky, so this should be really, really brilliant.

Hold me, oh Internetz.

Why I've Decided to Leave My Personal Trainer

Well, duh.  Despite the fact that I can't afford him - and I haven't been able to for quite a while. In fact, in order to offset the cost, we gave him our elliptical machine in exchange for training sessions about a year ago. But I used his services much less over the summer because the kids were home and it was just too much to leave them.  So I had plans to be there most of the mornings after I dropped the kids off - but for various reasons, it's just not working out. I'm not getting the results that I look for and I'm growing both more annoyed with the situation there and frustrated by all of it.

So I've decided to try to do it myself.

I know. Inside, I know that I can do it.

Outside, it might be another thought. I know that I get busy, get distracted, find many other things to do that are more enjoyable that lifting weights. But the funny thing is that I really like lifting weights. Once I finally get started.

So I'm giving myself the months of Sept and Oct.  I'm interested to see if I keep up with my weight work or if my arms lose the tone that they have. I'm still taking muay thai class and I'll go back to capoeira when my piriformis muscle allows me to lift my leg above knee level.

It's an experiment.

Try Something New

For years, I've heard the adage: Try something new.  It might be a new sport, a new food, a new way to work.

I'm one of those people who has some fairly stringent food likes and dislikes. There's not many things I dislike - beets and organ meats top the list, but I also dislike carrots, cauliflower and fish.

I promise that there's a connection between those two thoughts.

Often, when I attend a party or function, I see a veggie tray. I try to load up on fresh veggies - I will always take grape tomatoes and cucumber slices.  I can eat my weight in those.  I never take carrots or pepper slices, sometimes I'll take broccoli.  This week, for whatever reason, I decided to try red pepper slices.

They were DELICIOUS.

Moral of this tale?  Sometimes, you have to try something new - as I tell my kids, and it's really true - taste buds change.