Back on Track

Brian and I had errands to run all day today.

First, we had to take his car to the dealership for routine service so were were up bright and early.  Breakfast was a bowl of cereal at the house and a cup of coffee at the dealership.

Car Dealership Coffee.  I promise I did NOT eat that biscotti even though I thought long and hard about it.

Then we went straight to the gym.  I had an intense leg workout that I followed up with a 2 1/2 mile run at a slooooow 10 minute/mile pace but I didn't have any left foot/ankle pain (whoohoo!).  But my right foot pain is back.  It just figures, right?

I've been doing Jamie Eason's 12-week Live Fit Trainer for the last 2 weeks.  Today was Phase 1, Week 3, Day 15 - Legs.  With my few small modifications, it looked like this:

Each exercise 3x10



Then we hit the track on base since I'm trying to get back on track for my race coming up in TWO weeks (Yikes!).  Two and a half miles were slow and painful (painful because of my leg workout) but I did it and I feel really good about that.  We then headed home for lunch.

I had a spinach salad with red bell peppers and carrots on top and a big dollop of hummus, with two hardboiled eggs on the side for protein.  For dessert I had a quinoa cookie that I made last night that did NOT turn out like cookies at all.  I used this recipe and I was really disappointed in the way they turned out.  They tasted like peanut butter-flavored quinoa with chocolate chips - NOT like cookies.  They fell apart and didn't get any chewy or crispy texture even though I followed the recipe (the only change I made was to substitute chocolate chips for the dried cranberries, which would not have affected the cookie texture).  Still, it was edible and I hated to waste all of that delicious chocolate.

Side note:  Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips are AMAZING!  They are such high-quality chocolate - way better than Nestle's or Hershey's chips!  I'm so glad we stocked up when we were there this weekend :-)

After lunch I had my podiatrist appointment (finally!) and he told me he doesn't think I have any stress fractures in my feet but that I have a bunion on my right big toe that is causing the foot pain during running and that my left foot and ankle pain (the one that got me into the doctor's in the first place) was, in fact, peroneal insertional tendonitis like I had thought.

Side note:  I cannot say "bunion" without cracking up and laughing hysterically (how old am I again?).  I think of Funyuns every. single. time I have to say it (or even type it).  I hate Funyuns.  Does anyone even like those?  They're so gross....anyway, back to the point....

He recommends I get a pair of custom orthotics made in order to support my arches and prevent further deformity in my right foot.  But most importantly, he said I am free to increase my running distance as tolerated, and I can run in my race (as long as I don't have too much pain!).

I'm pretty happy about the good news - the absence of stress fractures in my feet.  It's such a relief to have a better idea of what's been going on but I'm cautiously optimistic since I think I may have some chronic biomechanical issues to deal with long-term.

This afternoon the weather was gorgeous so we took Hudson for a nice relaxed 2 1/2 mile walk on Bayshore Boulevard.  

And after that we made homemade GRILLED pizza!  Whole wheat crust, homemade pesto, mozzarella cheese, balsamic marinated chicken and sliced tomatoes.  Amazing!  And even more exciting, I baked another batch of quinoa cookies and this time they turned out perfectly.  I started with a different recipe and tweaked it to make it healthier and satisfy my chocolate cravings.  They turned out awesome!  I'll share the recipes tomorrow, but for now I'm beat and saying good night!

How did you spend your President's Day?