Nutritionathon Update, Lunch Time Pilates

I posted that I was going to follow Amanda's lead and start my own Nutritionathon. Before everyone starts worrying that I said I'd take part and had immediately fallen off the bandwagon (because I'm sure everyone is worrying) - Nutritionathon is alive and well. Starting mid-week seemed like a bad idea, in particular because I needed to get out to the grocery store to get those all important veggies and what not, so I have been easing into things. And that seemed like a way better idea than going cold turkey. So...for an update:

• I brought my lunch to work yesterday - and it was something that I even cooked...myself. And it was even more complex than a sandwich. But then I had a sandwich for dinner.
• I'm doing good on the fruit count and easing into the veggie count. Yesterday I definitely satisfied my 4-5/day requirement.
• Yesterday I missed the dairy, today I hit the dairy. I missed the dairy because I actually stopped and thought before I went for it as a snack, because I realized I wasn't hungry, I was just stressed.
• The water thing is going well, and I'm doing pretty good on the mini-meal/snack thing.
• OK, I admit it, I had a Blizzard on Sunday. Let the countdown begin on that three to four week abstaining period.

I tried out a new yoga studio downtown for some pilates over my lunch break today. It was a pretty good class, but I think I prefer the power pilates a little bit better. Lucky for me that the girl that teaches power pilates on Sundays also teaches at this downtown studio during the week as well. I will most likely try to catch her class when I can. Tonight is BBC. I know...I'm just a workout maniac.

Yoga, pilates and a little active release

On Sunday I opted for a double shot of back to back yoga and power pilates classes. I loved the yoga instructor, except the fellow next to me in class was so chatty it was getting in the way of me getting my om on. The power pilates class was amazing. We did a bunch of great moves for abs, followed by a pretty serious hip and leg work out. My piriformis was letting me know that it still existed during those moves despite some massage work the day before.

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I talked to Instructor S about my piriformis issues at BBC on Thursday, and she was able to notice my tight hips while running that day. This was again confirmed by my massage therapist on Saturday. S recommended a guy to me, Dr. A, who would supposedly "help me work out my hips." Not knowing exactly what this meant of course I called and made an appointment right away. Turns out Dr. A specializes in Active Release therapy. He's a pretty serious athlete as I was able to admire his Ironman medals hanging on the walls as I waited. We chatted about what was going on and he was able to pin point the painful spots and helped to stretch them out. He believes my piriformis issues stem from a weak lower back, and my hips work to compensate instead. Pain is coming from scar tissue that has formed within the muscle that is lying on top of my sciatica. The good news is the scar tissue can be broken down, and with some specific exercises I can strengthen the lower back muscles to avoid this, and running won't make it worse. So....if that means I can run then I'm shooting for between 5 and 6 miles tonight.

BBC #5 - Hip Work Required

Last night was BBC session #5. I was a bit sceptical about working out last night - we had a big thunderstorm warning in effect for the city and it was dark and raining as I was driving out to the Memorial Stairs. There were still drops falling when I arrived, but right around 7:00 the sun started to come out. Since things were wet we made use of the stairs and the hill for our workout. We did a circuit with 100 jump ropes, ran down the path to the top of the hill and did 50 jumping jacks, ran down the hill, then ran back up, then ran down the hill again to do 20 step ups on a park bench. After that we ran over to the stairs, ran up a flight and did 25 push ups against the rail, ran up two more flights to do tricep dips on a bench, than ran the rest of the way up the stairs to start again at the jump ropes. We made it through the circuit twice.

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On my second go up the hill Instructor S was watching me. She caught up with me part way to point out a few things she noticed about my gait.

Number 1 - when running uphill I swing my legs in a circle, rather than going straight forwards. This didn't surprise me, as I am actually kind of bad for kicking myself in the ankles every once in awhile. The dirt marks on my ankles last night were a total giveaway.

Number 2 - My arms swing from side to side way too much and this is wasting energy (not to mention not helping my gait).

Number 3 - I really flex my toes upwards on the hills, which will stress my shins. I need to keep the feet closer to the ground.

Number 4 - My backside is majorly sticking out. All of these are signs of a weak core and weak hip stabilizers. She has mentioned this to me before, but I really need to work on it. She gave me some exercises to do to help strengthen my hips. For starters, she had me walk up the stairs, facing towards the railing, and making sure that my feet were landing parallel to the edge of the step. When you push off to go up to the next step you work the hip on the side that you are pushing off from. Also, pilates clam shells are key as well. As for the core...well, I'll just have to keep up with trying to fit pilates in on Sundays, and I should probably shoot for more ab work during the week as well. I definitely appreciate having Instructor S point these things out to me, because if I can fix them and avoid an injury - that's terrific!

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After working the hills and stairs last night I wasn't sure about hill training today, but Instructor S suggested I give it a shot. Over lunch I was back out to Memorial Stairs to run the hill there up to McHugh Bluff. I got in four repeats and made sure to focus on my form. Whenever I started to feel tired I noticed that my bum had shot out and my arms were starting to swing in front. As soon as I tightened up my core and swung my arms back and forth it was amazing how much easier the hill felt (well, easy being a relative term of course...what hill is easy..??). After the fourth repeat I ran down the stairs, walked back up facing the railing to work on my hips, ran back down, then ran back to the office for a total of 4 miles. Whew....my legs are tired. Tonight they shall get a good stretch at yoga.

Oh...ow...

Yesterday I decided to try and get as much out of my unlimited yoga pass as possible, so I hit back to back classes - Discover Yoga and Power Pilates. Discover Yoga was great - it was a bit more basic than some of the the other classes I have gone to, but I really liked the instructor. Despite it being a fairly large class she made a point of trying to give us all adjustments and individual encouragement throughout the poses. After yoga was over I popped into the room next door for Power Pilates - and boy that was a great workout! With Power Pilates the excercises are strung together so you are continually moving throughout the session so you get a better workout. I think I am definitely going to try to do this combo on Sundays a few more times before my pass expires at the end of next month. Power Pilates continues as a drop in class on Sundays in the fall, so I may try to attend a few times, depending on how the back to back long runs on Saturdays and Sundays go. I actually feel a bit sore after all that yesterday - a bit of tightness in my hip flexors, abs, obliques and back. I love that post workout soreness though. Tonight I have 5 miles on tap, although I haven't quite decided where to run yet.