After not working out for 6 months after getting out of the Air Force, it FINALLY felt like it was time again. About 2 weeks after joining the gym I got yucky sick for 3 weeks. It took about middle of the 4th week for me to get back to the gym but I've been going strong ever since. Well, it's only been a week haha but, hey, I'm going. I did hurt my good ankle somehow. I have no idea what I did to it but it hurts like heck when I walk on it after being still for a bit.
Anyway, so the workouts have been really good so far. I've been sore but maybe not sore enough which means I can probably push it just a bit more. I think I should lighten the load on my leg workouts though since that's when my ankle started hurting. I worked out with a 23 year old girl from work. She's super tiny, my height or so. But she's a freakin beast in the gym. Ripped like nothing else too. She was doing bench chest presses of 120lbs (total). I struggled with 60lbs (total) and she had to spot me and help me out. It was ok though because it definitely brought out my competitive edge.
I've also been doing some of the classes at the gym; body pump, zumba, cycle. I REALLY enjoy the zumba class. It's so much fun! A description of the class for anyone who doesn't know: This workout combines high energy and motivating music with synchronized dance movements designed for any fitness level. The routines feature aerobic fitness interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms that tone and sculpt the body. Seriously, it's awesome. I really like the body pump class ( the original barbell class that strengthens your entire body. This 60-minute workout challenges all your major muscle groups by using the best weight-room exercises like squats, presses, lifts and curls.) also but it kills me... in a good way. :)
Now, I just need to adjust my eating habits. I bought a book called "The World's Healthiest Foods" and now I need to incorporate that in. With working out for a fully week (well 5 out of 7 days) and not changing my eating habits too much, I've not seen a change in my weight (150'ish - really it varies from 147-150). Hopefully, I'll start seeing a change once I change my diet with the gym routine. I'm so excited for this change in myself it's all I can do to NOT talk about it with everyone. I'm also telling everyone I work with because I KNOW they'll keep me inline if I stop doing any of this.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
{A New Day...}
I joined 24 Hour fitness today. I saved $222 by using Lockheed Martin's discount through global. Pretty awesome. Now that I'm no longer in the Air Force, I also no longer have to have a run time. Yay! However, since I got out of the Air Force I've not been working out. I'm pretty sure I've only had 4 good workout sessions since the first week of September 2011. While I've only gained 5lbs since then, I'm in horrible shape and feel horrible. I used my tax return to buy that year long membership. I can still use Buckley's gym, and it's free, but I just don't want to go on base to workout. This gym is about 2 blocks away. I'll go to their classes on days I can and workout on my own on days the class schedule doesn't work with my work schedule. The ugly? 150lbs. Yuck. Another ugly? Two guys that are attracted to "fat women" find me attractive. Yeah. It's definitely time to start working out again. Plus, I miss buying size small shirts and now buy large. Yuck. I also want to feel better about myself again. I'm tired of being tired. Let's get this party started. Wednesday is the first full day to workout.
It's funny, admit it.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
No, I really do suck
Again, so much has happened since I last wrote. September of 2008, as I was walking down a flight of stairs outside, I stepped right on the edge of the sidewalk on that last step; right where the sidewalk meets the grass. BAM! Fell to the ground because I'd twisted my ankle. My parents were in town and it was their last day visiting with me. My dad suggested I go to the ER (it was Labor Day so Buckley clinic was closed) since my left ankle was black and blue and twice the size of a softball. great.
The ER doctor said there was an Ottawa study that stated if you touched the ankle in 5 places and it doesn't hurt then nothing is broken. It didn't hurt in an of the places he touched. Just a sprain, here's some Vicodin (really?!) that never got filled.
Two weeks later I had a PT test and new I wouldn't be able to run on the injured ankle as it still hurt immensely. So, I finally went to the clinic for my ankle and did not get to see my primary physician. He agreed with the ER doc, it's a sprain. He sent me to physical therapy on base for 3 weeks and put me on a profile.
Three weeks later, with my ankle still hurting and nothing new from physical therapy, I went to the clinic again. I saw a different doctor, my primary physician still not available. Yep, it's still sprained. Sometimes, sprains just take a long time to heal. Three more weeks of physical therapy on base.
Three weeks later, the ankle still hurts and physical therapy is STILL not helping. I FINALLY get to see my doctor and she recommends a new physical therapist for me off-base. Four weeks worth.
Hey, guess what? That physical therapist had no improvements with my ankle. My primary then sent me to an Ortho specialist. She had x-rays taken (the first). I overheard the x-ray techs say, "See you can see the small break right there..." The specialist came in, however, and said the x-ray showed no breaks and nothing wrong with my ankle. Hmm, ok maybe the x-ray techs were talking about someone else's x-rays even though they'd JUST gotten the image of mine. Anyway. The specialist recommended another physical therapist and a specially made brace that was new in the industry that they wanted to test on me. I was with this specialist, and her physical therapist, for about 3-4 months. My ankle still continually hurt, just not as much at this point. I was running and jumping and doing all the exercises the physical therapist recommended but no major improvement showed. The specialist also had an ultra sound done on the ankle towards the end of my time with her and it showed several small tears in the ligament but nothing major to worry about.
I'd talked to a Sgt that ran our unit fitness program towards the end of seeing this specialist. He said, "It's all in your head. You just have to ignore the pain and run through it." Really. Shortly thereafter, my specialist told me that with the x-ray showing nothing and the ultrasound showing nothing, she really didn't know what to do for me and that my time with her was done. I was still in pain. I thought, well maybe it is all in my head. I took a PT test and failed the run miserably. My ankle hurt so much that day.
Finally, I'd had enough. I made an appointment with my primary physician and told her I wanted to see a new specialist and told her everything the old specialist had said. Saw, a new specialist a few weeks later and he scheduled me for an MRI. At the follow-up appointment from the MRI, the new specialist came in and said he wanted to feel around on my ankle to confirm the results of the MRI. He touched a specific point in my ankle and I immediately gasped in pain. He said the MRI showed an avulsion fracture. It's where the ligament pulls a fragment of bone off. Ouch. Yes, it hurt and makes sense as to why the fall that 1 September took my breath away.
He sent me to a surgeon to have his opinion. The surgeon took his own x-ray and said it was very obvious what the problem was in the x-ray and should have been caught with the first one I'd had taken with the other specialist. He actually apologized to me on behalf of the health community. He said that avulsion fractures usually heal on their own, but since mine did not he recommend surgery to have that fragment of bone removed. In May 2009, I had surgery to finally begin my healing process. Physical therapy afterwards with the best physical therapist I'd ever had and I'd seen a lot at this point. Rocky Mountain Spine and Sport were awesome and Tara Fisher, my therapist, kicked my butt! Because of her, I lost all of my surgery weight, + some, and was able to take and pass my PT test.
What have I learned from this? Trust your instincts. If you feel something is majorly wrong, you're probably right. Three years later and I'm still working on my run time, trying to get it lower. I can finally run with no ankle pain. My last PT test I got 16:19 on my run. My goal is to get it to the 15:36 I was complaining about in my previous post. That's my short-term goal. The goal after that is to get a 14 minute run. And to lose the next 10 pounds I'd gained overall during the last 3 years of my injury. :)
Surgery day! Thankfully, my mom came in from Louisiana to take care of me and Gandalf that weekend. I know I was horrible to her the morning of surgery. I couldn't eat or drink anything since midnight the night before and surgery wasn't until after lunch! I was so hungry! haha My Gandalf hardly left my side, even though my mom was there to play with him and take him out.
Yay! I could finally change the dressing myself. That was a process!
And after the stitches were removed.
The ER doctor said there was an Ottawa study that stated if you touched the ankle in 5 places and it doesn't hurt then nothing is broken. It didn't hurt in an of the places he touched. Just a sprain, here's some Vicodin (really?!) that never got filled.
Two weeks later I had a PT test and new I wouldn't be able to run on the injured ankle as it still hurt immensely. So, I finally went to the clinic for my ankle and did not get to see my primary physician. He agreed with the ER doc, it's a sprain. He sent me to physical therapy on base for 3 weeks and put me on a profile.
Three weeks later, with my ankle still hurting and nothing new from physical therapy, I went to the clinic again. I saw a different doctor, my primary physician still not available. Yep, it's still sprained. Sometimes, sprains just take a long time to heal. Three more weeks of physical therapy on base.
Three weeks later, the ankle still hurts and physical therapy is STILL not helping. I FINALLY get to see my doctor and she recommends a new physical therapist for me off-base. Four weeks worth.
Hey, guess what? That physical therapist had no improvements with my ankle. My primary then sent me to an Ortho specialist. She had x-rays taken (the first). I overheard the x-ray techs say, "See you can see the small break right there..." The specialist came in, however, and said the x-ray showed no breaks and nothing wrong with my ankle. Hmm, ok maybe the x-ray techs were talking about someone else's x-rays even though they'd JUST gotten the image of mine. Anyway. The specialist recommended another physical therapist and a specially made brace that was new in the industry that they wanted to test on me. I was with this specialist, and her physical therapist, for about 3-4 months. My ankle still continually hurt, just not as much at this point. I was running and jumping and doing all the exercises the physical therapist recommended but no major improvement showed. The specialist also had an ultra sound done on the ankle towards the end of my time with her and it showed several small tears in the ligament but nothing major to worry about.
I'd talked to a Sgt that ran our unit fitness program towards the end of seeing this specialist. He said, "It's all in your head. You just have to ignore the pain and run through it." Really. Shortly thereafter, my specialist told me that with the x-ray showing nothing and the ultrasound showing nothing, she really didn't know what to do for me and that my time with her was done. I was still in pain. I thought, well maybe it is all in my head. I took a PT test and failed the run miserably. My ankle hurt so much that day.
Finally, I'd had enough. I made an appointment with my primary physician and told her I wanted to see a new specialist and told her everything the old specialist had said. Saw, a new specialist a few weeks later and he scheduled me for an MRI. At the follow-up appointment from the MRI, the new specialist came in and said he wanted to feel around on my ankle to confirm the results of the MRI. He touched a specific point in my ankle and I immediately gasped in pain. He said the MRI showed an avulsion fracture. It's where the ligament pulls a fragment of bone off. Ouch. Yes, it hurt and makes sense as to why the fall that 1 September took my breath away.
He sent me to a surgeon to have his opinion. The surgeon took his own x-ray and said it was very obvious what the problem was in the x-ray and should have been caught with the first one I'd had taken with the other specialist. He actually apologized to me on behalf of the health community. He said that avulsion fractures usually heal on their own, but since mine did not he recommend surgery to have that fragment of bone removed. In May 2009, I had surgery to finally begin my healing process. Physical therapy afterwards with the best physical therapist I'd ever had and I'd seen a lot at this point. Rocky Mountain Spine and Sport were awesome and Tara Fisher, my therapist, kicked my butt! Because of her, I lost all of my surgery weight, + some, and was able to take and pass my PT test.
What have I learned from this? Trust your instincts. If you feel something is majorly wrong, you're probably right. Three years later and I'm still working on my run time, trying to get it lower. I can finally run with no ankle pain. My last PT test I got 16:19 on my run. My goal is to get it to the 15:36 I was complaining about in my previous post. That's my short-term goal. The goal after that is to get a 14 minute run. And to lose the next 10 pounds I'd gained overall during the last 3 years of my injury. :)
Surgery day! Thankfully, my mom came in from Louisiana to take care of me and Gandalf that weekend. I know I was horrible to her the morning of surgery. I couldn't eat or drink anything since midnight the night before and surgery wasn't until after lunch! I was so hungry! haha My Gandalf hardly left my side, even though my mom was there to play with him and take him out.
Yay! I could finally change the dressing myself. That was a process!
And after the stitches were removed.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Ok I suck lol
I say I want to improve my time but I can't hide the fact that I really hate running. I really only want to improve my run time because I'm in the Air Force and what do we do? We run. I say, as long as I pass my PT test, who cares what my run time is? And it is possible for me to pass without having a great, or even good, run time. Decent is OKAY. I'm ok with decent. Anyways, that's my rant on running.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Where to start?
Ok, I WANT to start improving my run time. It's absolutely horrible!! My run time, as of my last PT test is 15:36. In tech school it was 13:15. I'd like to start by getting it back to the 13 minute time frame and then steadily decreasing even that! So, where to start? I think by running more often. So here are some short-term goals that will, hopefully, lead to my long-term goal:
1) Run at least 2 mi's once a week for a month
2) Run twice in a week for a month
3) Run 3 times a week for a month
2) Run twice in a week for a month
3) Run 3 times a week for a month
That should start me on the right track, right? Then in there sometime, not sure when, I'll start working on distance and time.
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