Else what's a heaven for?

Back in May, I decided to start getting my life in order: every month, I would focus on building one good habit. In June, it was bedtime: my goal was to brush my teeth by 9:30pm every night, because once my teeth are brushed, I'm on my way to bed. It's been honored more in the breach, but just setting a goal has gotten me to bed more regularly. Three months later - and after the school year forced me to get up at 6:15 2-3 times a week - it seems to have gotten me into a very regular sleep cycle, as long as I read the right stuff at bedtime.

At the end of June, I started working on diet, which was to be July's goal. I was disgusted by my not-very-successful attempt to climb in mid-June; the baby had been out as long as he'd been in and I was still 20 lbs overweight. Moreover, my weight was starting to creep up, which was absurd. I read Jorge Cruise's The 100 and Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint Cookbook for ideas on how to cut carbs and eat more in line with how I know my body prefers. ( Read more... ) I lost 5 lbs in the first week - based on prior experiments with low carb, I'm taking that to mean I carry 5 lbs of water when I'm not eating lower carb - and hit 10 lbs down within 2 months, although I hovered in that area all through September thanks to too much time with my parents (who don't support my diet and also have delicious mushu shrimp). The Sisson book was rather less helpful: I believe grassfed beef is better than cornfed, but I can't be arsed to make my own mayo or make the substitutions in the book. oh well.

August was getting my workouts back on track. I'd been working out at home for months at that point and I think those workouts were pretty good: swings, goblet squats, and rows with a 25lb kettlebell, lots of Romanian deadlifts, yoga workshops when I could get Jon to watch the baby. They would have been a lot better though if I'd read Dan John on fat loss or even Fat Loss Happens on Monday, his "collaboration" with Josh Hillis. ( Read more... )

Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Body is a more scientific, less hand-holding book that covers a lot of the same material as Cruise and Hillis. He's got a lot of good stuff in there, but it's a hodgepodge of stuff he tried that worked when he did it instead of a plan. He quotes everyone from NFL combine consultants to Nina Hartley. My favorite statistician hates that book bc n=1, but I'm much more likely to re-read his book than Hillis'.

I ended up rejoining NYSC, bc the one in my neighborhood is $20/month, with a $10/month charge for unlimited babysitting (and $110 in sunk costs). The babysitting alone makes it worthwhile and makes me wish I'd signed up for it 6 months ago, because there were a lot of days when I would've paid $10 to hand my child to someone and take a shower with unlimited hot water, even if I had to bring my own towel.

I ended up following the Starting Strength program, ( which worked )

September was just a mess, between Jon being gone on a father-son vaca for the first week (so I was in Ct), the start of a new school for Lucky, and the high holidays, so I didn't even try for a habit. I bought 2 more Dan John books, Easy Strength and Can You Go? and followed a plan from the first book of his I read. Unfortunately, I'm also injured: my right hip is just unhappy, with inflammation ranging from my groin to the outside to under the butt cheek, depending on the day. It sucks. I stopped lifting or running, then I stopped yoga, and now I just stopped doing anything but taking the baby places (although I briefly thought babywearing might be the problem), although this morning I did some PT-ish exercises.

I had a conversation with Bbro where he talked about the community aspect of his Crossfit and triathlon practices and I confess I wish I had community for my workouts. I mean, I'd like a coach too, but I disbelieve I could find a local coach I trusted.

Just before this injury became a showstopper, I signed up for ClassPass *facepalm* AISOFB, I love love love the spinning-but-with-treadmills class I took (right as the injury was manifesting) and I'm looking forward to taking parkour, bouldering lessons, aerial hoop, pole, and maybe pilates when I'm better. I'm calling it my own personal CrossFit, because I'm basically demanding that my body constantly be up for any modality of exercise. Did I mention that before the injury, I'd worked up to a 3mi run again and was considering wind sprints on one of the piers?

October's habit was supposed to be job-hunting, but a) that's not going very well at all and b) that's a whole nuther post.

Edit: Apparently I worked on this post for a month, which is good because it needed a proofread and because the first version was a lot more angsty and I've worked through some of the problems I had a month ago, although I wasn't injured then so. The original included a bit about how getting 3 things done used to be my floor for a reasonably productive day; now it's an aspiration and an LJ entry is A Thing.

A week ago, I was walking back from the ice skating rink when my knee started spasming and just plain hurting, in the place that the good doc warned me about. My knee basically hurt for a week, with aching and soreness in various places, and I got freaked out that my body can't even handle fargin' ice skating. On Monday, it felt like my knee was hyperextending and I got worried about even standing on a straight leg. I started wondering if maybe this was an overuse injury, bc I went from no ice skating to twice a week, and maybe I had an imbalance. I dutifully did my exercises last Weds and I made it a point to go last night when I thought I might catch the Magic PT.

It was the exact right thing to do. ( The Magic PT is magic. )

Encouraged by our conversation, I went running this morning: middle 4 in 43mins. The weather was lovely. The bottoms of my feet hurt: after 100mi in my new running sneakers, I still get blisters on my arches. GMac, who is the fastest runner I know, says it probably means Brooks sneakers are not for me, try again. *sighs* I iced my knee over breakfast, but overall, game on.

Which is good bc ever since I saw Julian's bookshelf last weekend, I've been craving tasty books. It doesn't help that Audible had their big sale earlier this week: I picked up 3 books, including one on innovation, Gang Leader for a Day, and a novel about logistics. (Mm... logistics.) This is even though I have at least a dozen Audible books I haven't read yet - and 3 Teaching Company lecture series I've barely started. Then this morning TTC sent me a 50% off the sale price coupon for Black Friday and for $25 I can totally stockpile more books, right? This is why I need to run a few more marathons.

[Poll #1797474]

Great American Musicals is mostly early Broadway, which I don't know as much about - I only vaguely understand why Showboat and Oklahoma are groundbreaking - and I've already studied about half the plays in Saccio's lectures in hs or at MIT, so neither is compelling, except 50% off! (This is why I've been unsubscribing from commercial emails: I'm very suggestible.)

Oh, and while I have the health tag out... I'm not sure if my bellybutton is infected or merely irritated by the larger ball catching on my clothes, but I'm going to be so pissed if I lose another piercing over Thanksgiving.

It's been a while since I wrote about my lower half. ( A month of treatment )'s orders. I was grouchy when he first prescribed it, but my Magic PT was so flummoxed by my recurring knee issues, I figured it was worth a shot. Turns out I have a horizontal beak-like tear on my meniscus.

I found this out in Dr. Varlotta's office the day I was set to leave for Ecuador. Magic PT told me to have the doc call him while I was in the office. I didn't understand most of what they said, although I was amused that the doc kept twisting my legs and feet in all sorts of funny ways while they chatted. Magic PT seemed to be suggesting new orthotics; Dr. Varlotta said I needed to do more strengthening. Which is like, wtf, what do you think I've been doing for the past 3 months? After they got off the phone, he decided to do a cortisone injection. I've never had one before, so I totally believed him when he said it would be "just a little needle stick". I do this stuff recreationally and holy fuck did that hurt.

I commented to the Magic PT that afternoon that it hurt and he said it would hurt for 2 days, which was so fun on the plane let me tell you. But then it didn't bother me at all on the trip. I did spend the entire time worrying that I'd have to give up stairs and/or running; without stairs, I can kiss mountaineering goodbye too and MFer Igor fuck him blah blah. Somewhere in there, we had a conversation about stairs, actually, and Magic PT was generally horrified that I was recreationally climbing stairs. He also commented that the meniscus tear might not be something from the accident, that they are "load-bearing" injuries. He's not a fan of Olympic lifts, shall we say.

I got back and Magic PT explained that the trouble I'm having with my knee has nothing to do with the meniscus tear, that's just something they found on the MRI. Phew! Things felt jolly for another week, then I came into his office one day and said, "So those cortisone shot thingies - they last for 2 weeks, huh?"

Here's where it gets interesting. I came in one day and instead of making me do resistance exercises against his hands, he stretched my leg. I lay on my back on the table with the bad leg hanging off and he pressed the thigh back. It felt painful and awesome. He did a few similar exercises -- and then my knee felt better for the rest of the day. There were one or two more sessions like that. He also had me move my knee strap from below the knee to above the knee: he says he's trying to "make space". I don't understand how that works, except that it does. When I told him about my leg Elvis-ing while hiking, he was happy, saying that means my muscles were engaging, rather than putting the pressure on my joints. Basically, even though mountaineers are told to use their skeleton to support weight, my conformation is so awful, I need to use muscle. Good thing I'm HUGE and pure muscle.

Last Tues, we were discussing the foam roller exercises I do independently and he said, "That's why I like treating you -- you actually do what I tell you." And then on Thurs, he commented that in all the years he's been treating me, he's never seen me stronger. w00t? He may've just been trying to get me to go lift after our ridonkulously early appt.

He gave me the okay to run again, but I was too sore last Tues and since then, I've been too busy, what with the packing and unpacking every week. However, I ran this morning. It felt good: I knew I was going fast, in part bc I was angry and partly bc I was fueled by oj. I usually run the lower loop twice in 34-36 mins, depending on how tired my body is and how trained I am. Today I ran it in 33 mins; admittedly, in the last quarter, I spotted a leggy blonde and tried to keep up with her so I could watch her rippling (although small) arm & shoulder muscles. Perhaps that is why my knee is complaining now despite ice and Voltaren gel. *sighs*

Anyhow, I'm very happy about this new development. Evil English and Raita have leapt back into running, starting with a 6-miler over the weekend: I don't understand why they don't get injured and I'm not looking forward to slow as molasses runs with them but oh well. And oh yeah, I just bought yet another Teaching Company lecture, even though I still have 1.5 (long!) series to listen to. Time to catch some fresh air.

Sorry to inflict this on everyone. Barring any more accidents, I should start putting this sort of post into the exercise filter once more. If you can read this post, you're already on it. If not, comment here and I'll add you. (I can't believe how long it's been since I had workout stuff worth posting.)

Sometimes money =can= buy happiness. Did you know that for $30 more than a cab ride, you can have a driver meet you at baggage claim at JFK and drive you to your door while you talk to your physical therapist, arrange doctor's appointments, and reassure your adventure buddy cum lover? And then for a small tip, a porter carried my bags up to my apt. So worth it.

I still hate my GP: he was as interested in getting my blood pressure and another pee sample (the one from early Dec came back with bacteria) as looking at my ankle. We had an argument when he insisted on getting an x-ray before he'd write me a PT prescription. Then the x-ray office was a cab ride away and their doors were unmarked so I got into an argument with a receptionist there, who turned out to be guarding the mammogram appts, not the x-ray dept. *le sighs* ( Funny bit ) He asked me to wait in the reception area and it turns out the bone is fine. AS WE KNEW.

I'm so glad the other woman on the trip happened to be an ER doc, who was able to reassure me that if I had no tingling or numbness, my spine was fine. And, after a good night's rest, the neck soreness was gone too.

I was able to get an appt for Tues afternoon with Russ the Magic PT. Turns out it wasn't a ligament sprain, as my fellow climber thought, but a bruised bone. I also inflamed my anterior capsule and apparently my calf was a bit tight as well. Russ told me I was very, very lucky; at my Thurs appt, he commented that he had clients who'd be in wheelchair or on crutches with my injuries, but my overall fitness saved me. Go go fitness! He did ultrasound and electrical stimulation and sent me on my way.

Thurs morning was awful. ( whinging before Russ ) made everything better of course. He did some more ultrasound, checked the mobility, and did some sneaky strength work. He was telling me I should do leg press and hip ab/adduction. I asked him if I should do two-footed or could I do one-footed on the leg press. He said, "What do you think you're doing now?" and I noticed that he, er, had my leg up in pressing position, pushing against his weight. um. He told me it would get worse before it got better, but by the end of the weekend, it wouldn't hurt as much. And then he told me to go bike for half an hour, every day, until I saw him again. Amazingly, after 25mins of biking, it DID feel better. Oh, and bc I'd assumed that such pain meant I wouldn't do anything athletic in his office, I'd worn my flats - and he commented he'd be just as happy to see me in heels as something with so little support, so he taped my foot.

I had a royal wedding party to go to Fri morning, but when I got up, I realized that he didn't have to tell me to bike in the morning - it wasn't optional. It hurt as much as it had the morning before, but at least I knew why and how to fix it. Biked for half an hour and suddenly I could wear my new Kate Spade wedges, which every woman at the party admired. My PT rocks!

Fri night, I missed the happy hour my new cubemate organized, so I came home in the mood for a drink. Last time I was looking around in my cellar, I broke the seal on a bottle of Pedro Ximenez I brought back from Spain, so I opened it. wow. It really is raisiny and thick, so when Julian reminded me that people eat it over ice cream, I tried it and it was delicious. It also inspired some creative writing, for which I decided to look something up, which made me realize there must be another box of books somewhere in the apt, bc I couldn't find any books on what is sometimes referred to euphemistically in this household as macrame. In the hobbies closet, I found an entire shelf of pr0n - and a box of books which is now waiting to be sorted. It's a pity it's too late to donate to LPN, bc surely I can get rid of some of those books.

My biggest accomplishment on Sat was sleeping until 10:30. I was mentally ready to tidy, but instead I made some lunch, played on my computer, and went running. ( whining, in which Kate concludes to just do it )

My father and his bff's third annual birthday extravaganza was ok. For some reason, we did dinner at the Boathouse rather than brunch and the meal just dragged. ( Ain't family grand? )

Leading lessons with JBeau weren't as much fun as with SR: I think the problem is JBeau seems to be discouraging, rather than enabling. I also found him to be far less systematic in the way he teaches things. Unfortunately, switching instructors (by geographic necessity) also feels like we spent half a day going over stuff I already knew, bc JBeau doesn't seem to get that I'm the anti-hotdog. *sighs* ( Read more... ) As an instructor though, I'm sticking with him anyhow: he tries hard, he doesn't nickle-and-dime the end of the day, he occasionally has great ideas, and I think a consistent instructor saves time.

Edit: while looking for the links for this post, it dawned on me I should've done the "like having a baby hard" workout this morning behind my house, instead of thinking about going to the gym near work for a Russ workout, which never happens in the morning, which is why I'm weak and doomed to remain foreverso. *whine*

Edit2: Continued here bc italics are allegedly hard to read.

I was feeling snarl out loud cranky and hated everyone all of yesterday and into this morning and then I went running and ZOMG everything is better now sQUEE!

This is why I run.

It was the first time since I quit pt that I was able to run >2mi without shin splints: this happened both running outside and on the treadmill. Potential differentiating factors include: (a) I had a piece of licorice before going to the gym and (b) I forgot to do my pt exercises before. Russ told me to do my exercises 3x a week, and hey, why don't I do them before I run to "prime the pump." I'm going to start doing them on alternate days and see if maybe I can get back into running again.

Also, as a personal note, since I don't seem to have written it down earlier - I've tripped going up stairs twice in the past month and now I'm completely phobic that my feet no longer know how to walk up stairs, so I've been paying tremendous amounts of attention both going up and down.

I still can't believe with all the exercise I've done this month, and going freakin' ice climbing and hiking up a mountain this weekend, I'm still missing enough fitness minutes to get a fitness award from SparkPeople this month.

Fri morning, my fave track star didn't run away fast enough, so I shanghai'd him into watching me run on the treadmill. He commented that I run very inefficiently, in ways that might be aggravating my underlying ankle issues, but based on his comments, I'm thinking of hiring a running coach. I've taken running classes with NY Roadrunners, but those seem to be organized speed work for people who lack knowledge or motivation: I know what to do, just not how. I figure I'll likely be running for the next 40-50 years, so it pays to become as efficient as possible.

Fri night was dinner with Bruce Wayne, wherein he admitted he's barely fast enough to run with his running club. He's full of info and offered to give advice about running clubs, should I decide to take my pt's advice and join one. In thinking about things though, I've realized I'd rather climb 5.10 than run a sub-4 hour marathon (which I believe would take equal amounts of training). I also need the reading time that running (particularly long runs) provide: running with a club would cut in to my "me time".

Sat I went ice climbing at Moore's Bridge near Palenville. It was one of the most dangerous outings I've been on: I never saw anyone giving instruction on how to belay and there was little instruction on how to ice climb. It was also pretty cold - highs in the teens perhaps? - and about half the group got cold (discouraged?) and went for a hike so we ended an hour early :(:(:( ( more, with backpatting ) Igor also seemed impressed with my climbing - I heard him telling someone that if she went to the gym, she too would have the strength (endurance) to keep going like me :)

While we were putting on our boots, I randomly yelled at him, "Why don't you run a trip to Elbrus?" To make a long story short, he said he's considering running a trip in August to either Elbrus or Mont Blanc. Score! He wasn't much of a dick on Sat, only punching me once, playfully and while I haven't enjoyed the party atmosphere of some of his trips, I figure a hard-drinking bunch of Eastern Europeans might be just the people with whom to tackle Caucuses, hm? One could argue it's better to get more (over-)education before going with unsafe people, or one could argue I need more experience before I take yet another class.

I forwarded my sister a Groupon for triathlon camp at Chelsea Piers (CP); she signed up and asked me, "You're doing this too, right?" So that's how I spent my Sun afternoon.

I'm kinda glad she liked it, as it was a big salespitch for their eight-week intro course. ( Why I'm thinking about doing a tri, or at least tri coaching ) Evil English reassures me that in a few weeks, I'll stop feeling bad about not doing this. Originally I told my sister I'd do a sprint tri with her out on the north fork of Long Island, but I think I need to keep all temptations away from me. I tried to convince her to do the Marine Corps Marathon with me, but she said absolutely not. I guess that's fair.

Yesterday was the final day of my guest pass to CP, so I went climbing with PA one last time. In just the four trips to the gym, I feel like my strength endurance and skill have improved - he may be on to something when he said you have to come to the climbing gym once a week to improve. Their 10-visit card is mispriced, so I probably won't go for that - and not just bc I'm tired of walking to the Hudson in the cold and wind - but they have a weekly climbing class. I met the instructor and I think I'd learn a lot. It seemed awfully expensive, until I compared it to the cost of aerial classes.

I love the pool at CP and the lifeguard is fun. Their yoga classes are as good as the serious yoga studio. Even with how far away they, it's awfully tempting.

I somehow couldn't get out of bed this morning - and still feel guilty about it - so I missed my run. My ankle feels worse - perhaps running while possibly still drunk on Friday was maybe not such a good idea - but I also feel like it's time for me to take ownership of my recovery by committing to doing the exercises, instead of relying on pt. Or maybe I'm saying that bc I hate agility work and hate having to show up at 7am.

Just noticed there was a letter in my MRI results. Cool! ( Read more... ) Most of that is incomprehensible. I Googled the os trigonum thing: oddly enough, even though I have the extra bone and I sprain my ankle all the time, I don't seem to have the back of foot pain that characterizes os trigonum syndrome.

I'm starting to grok what my pt says about this being a neurological problem. When I start doing my intervals, it's a little tough on my ankle, but after a while, they get with the program. If I do my exercises, they are less cranky. The problem isn't weakness, it's my feet being dumb unpracticed at running/jumping/playing. If I played soccer or tennis, my ankles would be stronger. At this point, I feel like my pt is babying me through the process: what I need is to be consistent about doing my exercises and slowly ramp up my activity level again.

It took the orthopod's office a week after the MRI to call me back to let me know they wanted me to come back in. I was eleven sorts of worried - why would they have me come to their office unless I needed to discuss surgery, right? Surely if it was just to pick up my MRI results and a scrip for pt, I could just stop by, right?

Wrong. My insurance paid him another $300 bc he's a grub. *sighs* The only good thing was that he responded to my question saying that I can certainly give barefoot running a try when I'm all better, bc it works for some people and not for others.

I still don't get why, on my first visit, I got yelled at for not coming to see him sooner, but I got no treatment or recommendations for 2 weeks while he had his thumb up his posterior. Grr.

Ankle seems to be better, but I can't tell if it's bc I've been taking so much Advil for cramps. Oh, note to self: Aleve seemed to work 10x better and faster when I took some at Bruce Wayne's.

My plan is to go for a trigger point massage on Sat. I already started doing some of the PT exercises I have from last time: one of them irritated my ankle all of Monday and Tuesday, so I won't do =that= again, but balance exercises with a resistance band seem like a good idea. I have an appt with the PT next week - the first I could get with him :( - but a) he might yell at me and b) I'm not entirely convinced this is going to be different or new, i.e. I'm not sure of its value. I was going through old lj entries (not yet tagged) of my first bout of pt 5 years ago and I totally know what to do; I just don't know when my ankle is strong enough to start which exercises or how slowly to proceed with other hobbies. I dream about silks regularly these days.