health

Grateful

/ Jess / Leave a comment

It’s really starting to sink in that I’m running a half marathon in a little over one month. And I can’t lie – I am terrified! 

So I’ve kicked my training into high gear, but it’s a double edged sword. I’ve incorporated a bit of cross training into every day and it’s already paying dividends. But the funny thing about training with this new knee is that I’m constantly walking the line between “is this pain from a new injury?” and “I need to train harder to make sure I don’t get injured again.” It’s a constant struggle – I sometimes take a day to rest between runs because I’m afraid of hurting my knees, but after that day off I worry that I won’t be trained enough for this race and will therefore tear my ACL again and need another year of rehab.

What can I say, sometimes it’s hell inside my head.

At times.

BUT… there are plenty of things I can do besides my training to ensure that I succeed. I can visit my orthopedist to have him take a look at both knees for good measure. I take my glucosamine every day. I skip heels at work in lieu of flat shoes that don’t tax my joints. I sleep with my knee brace on after a tough workout, to avoid twisting it in my sleep. I’ve picked up KT tape (and found that it’s a miracle!)

kt

seriously, what is this stuff made of, unicorn hide?

Tonight, I also realized the power of simply being grateful.

Let me explain: I had a 2 mile run on the training plan and got it in, even pushed the pace towards the end, but felt a few twinges in my good knee so I stopped at 2.5 miles. But instead of ending my workout there, I moved to a stationary bike and told myself to give it hell for one full mile with a level 4 difficulty. I worked it out on the bike throughout my physical therapy and remember pumping my fists in victory when I hit a 10 minute mile, so imagine my surprise when I hit a mile in 4:15!

Jazzed up from setting that new PR, I grabbed a Bosu ball and banged out a few sets of triceps dips, balance push-ups and squats then ended with a nice stretch. That’s when I realized that every little thing I do in addition to my running now is helping to prepare me for this race. I may be worried about taking a day off from running, but while I trained for my last race, I skipped cross training entirely – and paid dearly for it with a torn ACL! Now, I’m smarter. And with every extra rep, squat, and curl, I’m making myself stronger.

As I stretched I stared at my legs and felt an immense wave of gratitude wash over me. Sure, they ache and they’ve given me a lot of trouble in the past 18 months, but I am so thankful for these legs. They’ve come a long way in my 30 years, and I can’t wait to see where they take me next.

gym

a runner, from top to bottom

And I’m also grateful for my brain – along with those tree trunk legs, the positive thinking I cling to during my training is what’s going to truly get me across that finish line. Sometimes I get a little (okay, a lot) wrapped up in the crazy rabbit hole of negative self-talk and doubt, but all I need to do to silence that is picture myself crossing that finish line with two solid legs and a smile on my face.

So tell me: what are YOU grateful for? What have you gone through to get you where you’re at today? Whether you’re just starting or a seasoned veteran, you’ve got to be thankful for something – let’s share the love!

Change Your World

/ Jess / Leave a comment

After last night’s post about my favorite running store (and my great experience there last week), I have a quick update to share.

In my time at the store during last week’s party, I got to chatting with the fit expert and her co-worker while I was trying on my magical sneakers. One of the managers caught wind of my story and asked me to share it on camera as part of their “Change Your World” video series.

The store has asked people to share their inspirational running stories with the world in the hopes that our journies might inspire someone else to sign up for that ultra marathon, make the leap into their first 5K, or even lace up to start with. I think it’s a great idea but I can’t lie – going from being the girl that used to say I wouldn’t run unless I was being chased to having a running store manager tell me that my story is inspiring is enough to put stars in my eyes.

So, without further ado, I present to you what happens when you give me free green beer and combine my favorite holiday with my favorite hobby, then put me in front of a camera:

I do wish I’d taken the bobble ears off. But other than that, I regret nothing 😉

Training Post-ACL Reconstruction

/ Jess / 4 Comments

I used to run through my aches and pains and told myself it made me a tougher runner. It turns out I was injuring myself even more. With each mile I logged, the tiny tears in my left ACL grew and grew, leaving me vulnerable to the nearly-full tear I experienced at Mile 12 of the Atlantic City Half Marathon in October 2012.

The resulting surgery and therapy -and the 9 months off from running while it healed- gave me the chance to work with orthopedists and physical therapists to learn all about my body and how to take care of it. They introduced me to an arsenal of tools to help keep my knee, and the rest of my joints, healthy and happy through the miles:

tools of the trade

disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or expert, but these are all magic.

TENS Unit: This was a gift from the running gods, let me tell you. When I started physical therapy after my surgery, my therapist put the pads on my thigh to stimulate the muscles and basically bring them to life again. I was given my own machine for use at home (thank you, health insurance!!), and was shown how to use it for pain management too. It was magic – there were still the usual post-surgery pains, but I could move around the house a lot easier while the pads were on and “buzzing”. Eventually the TENS became a part of my every day routine – 20 minutes on the bad knee at the end of the day to relax and revive the muscles, with ice & a quick massage. Now, 13 months after the surgery, I still use these puppies on my bad knee after a tough run or long day on my feet – hell, I even use it on my good knee too, to ease the usual overuse pains it’s developed with the extra pressure it had to take on while the bad knee healed. It’s like a little package of magic, and I don’t know what I’d do without it!

Ice: Even on the coldest days, I’ll ice up after a run if I’ve felt any little pinches or pops during my run. It’s a simple way to calm down any inflammation I may have, whether it’s because of a hilly run or a humid day (thanks to the surgery, I’m one of those people whose knees swell in even a tiny bit of humidity).

Glucosamine Chondroitin: AKA Osteo-Bi-Flex or any of the popular Glucosamine tablets you can find in the pharmacy. These are expensive, but I take them every day because I can feel an obvious difference if I don’t! My orthopedist didn’t want to do surgery immediately. Instead, he gave me these pills for 6 weeks, had me do daily strengthening exercises, and let the swelling go down. In my case, surgery turned out to still be necessary, but I’m convinced that these pills (along with the strengthening exercises that I still do to this day) helped me get stronger and made it possible for me to bounce back from surgery as quickly as I did.

Now, here’s the key: these are just tools. They only work if I put in the hard work and *train* with them! Strength training has been a HUGE part of the recovery process for me, as we determined it was the lack of training that got me here in the first place! I neglected to build up my leg muscles and only focused on mileage while I trained for my race, and that (combined with my family history of weak knees) spelled disaster for me at Mile 12.

Now that I know how to take care of and listen to my body, training post-ACL reconstruction is a lot of work, but it’s not impossible. If you’ve had an injury, how do you cope with it in your training? Have you ever used a TENS unit? What are your thoughts on glucosamine? Tell me all about it in the comments!

(Not) Running in Vegas

/ Jess / Leave a comment

Forgive my absence in the past week or so – I spent the first week of March at a big conference in Las Vegas and kind of fell off the grid. I had all intentions of lacing up and setting out for a run on the strip each morning, breathing in the fresh spring air and snapping gorgeous pictures, then ending my day with some blogging from my desk at the Venetian, overlooking the strip while glamorously sipping wine and watching the sun set over the mountains in the distance.

the view

seriously, it would have been great.

But, it turns out that 12+ hour days on my feet left me basically dead to the world when I wasn’t on the expo hall floor. This was a big, stressful event to coordinate (being my company’s event coordinator, I take it pretty seriously), so I ended up focusing much more on the job than myself the entire week. The only “me time” I managed to carve out was in the ridiculously over-sized bathtub in my suite at the end of each day, soaking in hot water to ease the muscles in my aching feet, legs, knees, and back to make the next day bearable.

tao

and also dinner with the team at Tao one night. because, well, TAO.

Long story short, I ended up not running for the entire week. 8 days, to be exact. And I had some serious doubts about being able to pick it back up from where I left off before Vegas, too. Especially with the crazy jet lag I had to work through all day Friday when I got home. Seriously, that stuff is no joke!

I had some major runner doubts. You know them well: those niggling little thoughts that creep up on you and chip away at your confidence as a runner each time they loop through your brain. You’re going to fail at your half marathon next month. All this time off, you’re not even a real runner. You don’t even have the urge to run, clearly you’re a poser. Just go down to the casino and eat your weight in chocolate souffle like you want to, go on.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up yesterday morning and wanted nothing more in the world than to run. Just flat out hit the pavement and breathe in the air and take in the sights of my town at my own leisurely pace as everyone prepared for our annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. And I did exactly that – for over 3 nonstop miles I cruised around my streets and waved at other runners as we passed by each other, so happy to run on streets and sidewalks that were just three days prior covered in 3 inches of unmeltable permafrost.

one happy runner!

The sun felt so nice – too nice for how I dressed actually. I had been dying to try out a new running jacket I got on clearance at RoadRunner Sports last month but it ended up being too hot so I had to wear it around my waist for most of my run! The only thing stopping me from going any farther was my knee, which was still a little angry at me for the crazy torture I had put it through in the past week.

This run ended up being one of my favorite runs in recent memory. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was all the parade prep going on around me, or maybe in running, just like in love, absence really does make the heart grow fonder. All I know is that runs like yesterday’s remind me why I love running so much, and renew my sense of gratitude for the gift of running.

So how was your weekend run? Did you fight through a few tough miles, soak up the sunshine, take on a new distance, compete in a race? I want to hear all about it, tell me a story in the comments!

Winter Running Motivation

/ Jess / Leave a comment

Here in New Jersey, we are in the throes of a bitch of a winter. There is no nice way to put it – that crotchety old man winter has us over his bony knee and he is spanking the hell out of us, over and over and over again. Now that I’ve put *that* horrible image in your head, please accept this photo of a kitten reading a bedtime story to make up for it.

I can’t promise I won’t do it again though.

I can’t promise I won’t do it again though.

As runners, we know that these polar vortexes and deep freezes just make us more resilient. Mentally and physically, we grow stronger with each slippery step. But at a certain point, even the toughest runner has to throw their hands up in the air and cry uncle.

so much ugh.

so much ugh.

I’m sure there are more seasoned, harder runners that may look at this path and think “HA! You can still see blacktop, that’s nothing! -15 degrees with 20mph wind gusts? Child’s play! 2 inches of fresh fallen snow? Nothing like it. Bring it on!” If that’s you, I tip my hat to you. You’re a tough cookie! I, on the other hand, am more like a wad of unbaked dough with a brand new ACL. My ass is not taking a risk on unstable ground, especially not after a year of rehab and physical therapy to get that new knee back in working order.

I managed to slip and wipe out 3 times in a half a mile on that icy path you see in the picture above before getting so frustrated that I screamed at the top of my lungs, punched a snowdrift, and trudged through another half mile of 8 inch-deep snow back to my car. To say that I hate the winter is an understatement.

But, as a runner, I have to find a way to get those miles in. Much like many of you probably did, I signed up for a spring race to keep me active through these frigid months. The biggest challenge I’ve faced is finding the motivation to do just that.

I’ve explored lots of different motivational tactics. Some are really effective, and others… well, let’s just say sleeping in your workout clothes to get out the door easily for an early morning run just makes it harder to get *out* of bed because the blankets are that much warmer when you’re wearing running shorts.

Here are some of my favorite motivational things to get pumped up for a workout when I’ve got about three pounds of Valentine’s Day chocolate in the cabinet 10 feet away from me, and about 5 inches of perma-frost outside just waiting to slip me up:

1. New gear – sometimes you just have to embrace your inner mallrat and shop for inspiration! Admit it. A run just feels easier when you’re wearing a badass new tank with parrots on it.

parrots.

yes, parrots.

2. Switching it up at the gym – or even joining a gym in the first place! After 4 years of embracing the streets and the living room as my workout spaces, I finally bit the bullet and re-joined a traditional gym this winter, and I couldn’t be happier. Knowing that I can disappear in a warm room filled with every kind of workout equipment known to man for as long as I want – there’s nothing like it.

3. New music – When those long runs are breathing down my neck (these days, mostly on the treadmill too), I take to Facebook or Google to find a batch of 5-10 new songs to mix up my running playlist. This recent find turned out to be an awesome middle-of-the-run “get it done” song that I find myself replaying over and over again:

4. Involving a friend – This one is my favorite! A month or two ago, I started going to our local Lululemon for free yoga classes on weekend mornings, and now I’m going with two other friends and having a blast! Knowing that one friend has been up since 4am taking care of her sick 4-year old and doing an Insanity workout before yoga? Yeah, I’ll do my damnedest to drag my hungover ass out of bed and meet her there. That’s motivation.

These are just a few of my favorite motivational tactics through these cold winter months. Do you have any other go-to’s? Instagram feeds, inspirational quotes, etc? Share the love in the comments!

Weekend Recap: A Frozen Run, Yoga, and Whiskey

/ Jess / 2 Comments

This weekend has certainly been an adventure! After celebrating Valentine’s Day Friday night, I woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday for the Manasquan Mid-Winter 2-Mile Beach Run. It was a huge surprise to wake up to clean pavement – they had predicted 2-4 inches overnight and I was dreading a snowy run. Yes, it’s been a full year since my ACL surgery, but I’m still so scared of doing something to damage it – or to hurt my good knee! – that I take extra care when it comes to the snow/ice.

But, the weathermen were wrong (in other news, the Pope announced he’s Catholic), and we had a nice easy drive down to exit 98. Then just before the start of the race, the rain decided to join the party. In a big way. With some sleet. And whipping winds. While we waited for the gun, I popped my headphones in and wouldn’t you know it, my new favorite run-dancing song came on and lit up the day:

I’m gonna paint you a picture. Imagine if you will: you’re standing in a herd of soaked runners, icy rain pelting you from all angles with each wind gust. You think to yourself, “Why do I do this? I’m paying to do this?? I must be a special kind of stupid…” When suddenly, the girl in pigtails and an over-sized snow parka standing next to you jumps up into the air and lands with a shimmy, shaking her hips as she points to each of her neighbors and urges them to “clap along if you feel like a room without a roof”.

No, seriously, that's exactly how it happened.

No, seriously, that’s exactly how it happened.

As you can see, I pretty much smiled like a fool the whole time. Even with the skies raining Liquid Ugh (TM) all over us for the full 2 miles through puddles, potholes, and over frozen sand. Ordinarily I would have complained. But this was a whole new experience, and since I’ve technically never “raced” at this distance, I set a brand new PR for myself too!

Then, in keeping with this weekend’s active theme, I woke up nice and early again today for free yoga at our local Lululemon. This is about as perfect as it gets, because hey, free yoga, and hey , post-yoga shopping spree! I met up with a few friends and had a blast. But the three of us are clearly not allowed to take the class next to each other again, because we couldn’t stop pinching each other and giggling when one of us ate shit when tumbling out of crow pose. While we did have fun, I currently can’t feel my calves or remove my hoodie without tears of agony thanks to spending what felt like 80% of the class in down dog. So, mission accomplished?

After class I picked up a cute new post-practice wrap sweatshirt and finally joined the local YMCA too. Given the approximately eleventy billion tons of white bullshit covering every square inch of hope outside, I seriously doubt I’ll have clean pavement to run on before my half marathon in April. Add this ridiculous weather to the fact that I’m seriously afraid of slipping and twisting my knees on the ice, and my training situation is getting pretty dire. So $24/month later, I’ve now got a great little gym around the corner from my house that has a great view of the waterfront and a nice Olympic-sized pool too!

this blog post wouldn't be complete without a ymca selfie & obligatory cat picture

Clockwise: ymca selfie, new lulu shorts & mula bundle wrap, furry friend Emma, Cocoa Diablo & BWW time!

The rest of the weekend was normal weekend-y-type stuff: MarioKart (I suck), laundry (it sucks), Buffalo Wild Wings (does NOT suck!), etc. I even met up with my parents this afternoon and joined them for a Cocoa Diablo, or a highball of hot cocoa spiked with about 3 shots of Fireball Whiskey. It is about as delicious as it sounds, and twice as potent as you’d expect. Which brings me to now!

So how was your weekend? Did you manage to stay active? Tell me all about it 🙂

“80/20” or, “Liz Lemon is my Spirit Animal”

/ Jess / 2 Comments

OK, so I’m the first to admit that I’m not perfect. I try my best to eat healthy, clean, non-processed foods but sometimes (okay, most of the time) it’s a struggle. It takes a lot of time and effort to select and prepare healthy food to consistently stay on track. Also, let’s be honest: brownies, cupcakes, chocolates…? Yes, yum, and more please. I mean, come on:

Liz Lemon is my spirit animal

           Liz Lemon is my spirit animal.

Full disclosure: I totally understand the benefits of clean eating. I did the Whole Life Challenge back in September and it was a truly life-changing experience. You can check out their website for the details, but the short version is this: for 8 weeks you focus on your diet, exercise, and mindfulness habits to become a better you. The exercise and meditation parts are great, yes, but I found the most benefit from the eating part. You cut all processed foods, dairy, sugars, and starches out of your diet – no bread, sugar, cheese, potatoes, pasta, etc. Instead, the focus is on vegetables, fruits and pure protein. Sounds simple, but let me tell you: it was HARD! But to stay compliant, I found a ton of new (delicious and super-healthy) recipes that I never would have tried if it weren’t for the WLC: crab cakes made with almond flour, beef and spinach stir-fry, mashed cauliflower – days of tasty meals that have made it into the regular meal plan rotation and expanded our culinary horizons!

After the challenge, it was tough to stay compliant. As a compromise, I resolved to stick to the 80-20 rule when I eat now: 80% of the time, I eat clean, non-processed “good” food, while the other 20% is non-compliant “bad” food. I hate classifying it like that, but you get the idea. 

Which brings me to today. As I write this, New Jersey is smack in the center of a diet-ruining hat trick: a 2-day long blizzard, Valentine’s Day candy week, and Easter candy’s release week. Add to that the rungries I experience during half marathon training, and I’m in the eye of a perfect storm here. So to give myself a healthier option than eating every piece of chocolate in this house and that in all of the houses in the immediate area, I decided to bake my go-to 80/20 treat: black bean brownies.

I first discovered these little squares of magic (no, not that kind of magic) at a friend’s party a few years ago and fell in love. Yes, they’re made with a box of brownie mix, which is loaded with sugar and other processed things. BUT, instead of adding eggs, butter, and/or oil like you normally would, you simply mix it with a can of pureed black beans and voila: brownies! Delicious, dense, fudge-like brownies that are loaded with filling fiber. I usually make these for pot-luck parties or work functions – the trick is to not tell people what they’re made with before they try them. I’ve found that when I say they’re black bean brownies, people immediately wrinkle their nose and turn them down. “Hell no!” they say, “No way I’ll eat a brownie made with beans!” But then, they try it, and the clouds open up and angels sing and before I know it I’m holding an empty tupperware lined with bits of brownie. 

So trust me. You may need to make them a few times to perfect them, but I promise they’ll be a hit in your house. Bonus: no eggs in the mix means you can eat as much batter as you want. I may or may not have eaten half the batter tonight before baking my batch. No judgement here. Let me know how you like them, and feel free to share your favorite 80/20 recipes in the comments!

Black Bean Brownies

oh doughboy, you cheeky little bastard

          oh doughboy, you cheeky little bastard

Ingredients: 
1 box of brownie mix any flavor (13×9 pan size)
1 can black beans (15.5 oz)

Directions:
1. Strain and rinse beans, put beans back in can and re-fill can with water to top.
2. Pour can of beans and water into blender/food processor (I use the magic bullet) and purée til liquefied. 
3. Combine box of brownie mix and puréed beans in a bowl and mix with a spoon til lumps are gone. It’ll take a while. Consider this your arm workout for the day.
4. Bake according to box, checking towards the end. Might take a few minutes longer than it says on the box, but stick a toothpick in the center – when it comes out clean you’re ready for brownies.

…and away we go!

/ Jess / Leave a comment

After wanting to start my own blog for quite some time now, I’ve finally decided to dive in and join the “blogosphere”! Or whatever technical jargon-y term the kids are using these days. Seriously, I have no idea. My knowledge of what’s “in” rivals that of Liz Lemon.

The last time I blogged regularly, I can honestly say it was for lack of anything better to do. I recently revisited my old LiveJournal and found that the majority of the entries were about one of four things: my ex (and the fact that he never returned my calls), Joaquin Phoenix (and the fact that HE never returned my calls), my cat, and college life. All pretty mundane, self-centered things that any normal 20-22 year old would blog about. Most of it is pretty cringe-worthy, but it’s pretty fun to go back in time and laugh about myself; did I REALLY write that much about the pizza at the dining hall?

But now, 10 years later, I find myself with something to say. Sure, I could write about pizza (god I could write about delicious, cheesy pizza…), but I’ve experienced a lot in my 30 years and I think people might enjoy hearing about some of my adventures; most notably my journey to fitness.

Since 2003, I’ve lost 100+ lbs and gone from not being able to take the stairs to eyeing a full marathon next fall. Sure, my story isn’t so uniqure that I should get a lifetime movie – hell, thousands of people have lost weight and turned their lives around. But I like to think that by sharing my journey I may be able to help someone else find the same happiness I’ve found in being healthy. I don’t claim to be perfect (no, I’m too busy stuffing my face with a brownie batter stuffed donut to say anything like that), but that’s the point – you don’t have to be “perfect” to be happy.

So – welcome to my blog! I’ll try my best to be funny, inspirational, or just plain entertaining along the way. And I promise I’ll only write about pizza like once, maybe twice a month.