Taking the time to Recover from an Injury

So it's been about 7 weeks since I wrote that I was going to focus on rehabbing my hip until it was truly better. Ever since then I've been religiously attending physical therapy at Atlantic Physical Therapy, getting my knots worked out at Kinetic Health, and attending sessions at Range of Motion with Nick. Now this sounds like I'm trying to do advertising for my sponsors but I'm not. These are people who have been a huge part of me getting back to doing what I love (running fast!!!!). When my hip hurts its hard to be motivated. I can stand pain..........just not this kind. And let me tell you, if you stay committed to getting better, then its going to work for you. As runners, cyclists, ect. sometimes we feel that pain is a part of it but it doesn't have to be. Your knee doesn't have to hurt and your hamstring doesn't have to be tight. But considering all the time, money and effort we put into training it is so worth it. I've learned that I have to take care of my body. I'm getting older (yes I know I'm still young but I've been running since I was 14 and that is a lot of miles on my body) and I have to realize that it is going to talk longer to recover and it's going to get easier for me to get injured if I don't start taking care of myself NOW.
So these are just some thoughts to think about. Have you had to take some time off? Why did you have to slow down or take it easy? Is there someone out there who can help you get back to doing what you love?
Here's another thought. Preventing injury. This is so important b/c once you are injured its going to take weeks to get back to being healthy. So maybe it's important to take steps to stay healthy. Once I'm healthy I'm going to continue seeing Nick (Range of Motion) and Jim (Kinetic Health). I want to stay healthy.
B/c all I wanna do is have some fun (running fast)

Bike to Work

Hey guys, tomorrow is bike to work day. I don't have to work but I do have to do my long run. Thinking I might try to bike to Final Kick and then to my long run and ride my bike back home. Could make for a long day, lol. Maybe I can get my running partner to just drive me home. haha

Complete vs Incomplete Protein

A few days ago I was talking to a brilliant neurosurgeon (this man is very intelligent and I would totally trust him with my brain) and we were discussing my running and my hip/glute injury. As we were talking, he told me that part of my problem (the slow healing of my leg) could be because of my vegetarian diet. He thinks that because I'm not eating meat that my leg muscles can't repair themselves as well as they could if I ate animal protein. He based this off of the idea that the body needs and wants animal protein to heal. At first I shrugged his comments off but I have to admit that the comment stuck in my head. Here I am days later still struggling with the comment.

"Am I hurting myself?", "Should I start eating chicken again? That isn't as bad as red meat and what harm could it do" And I'll only eat it every once and awhile and isn't running way more important to you." As these thoughts ran through my head there was another side of me struggling with the idea of eating meat again. I don't want to eat meat. I stopped eating it not only for my health but also because I believe its wrong to mass produce meat and I hate the way animals are being treated.

So I began conducting some research and I've found that a vegetarian diet can supply quality protein as well. Instead of just eating chicken and getting your protein a dinner of beans and rice is just as good and the heart benefits are numerable. Yes, it requires a little more thought and planning but its worth the work. Most research says that Americans eat way too much protein thinking they need it and that all that nice protein is helping their muscles be nice and strong but that's not true. All that extra protein is just turned into fat and it's causing a high protein and low carb/vegetable diet which is far from healthy not to mention the environmental problems it's causing.

This subject is something that really means a lot to me. I grew up on a farm where we raised cows that we sent to be slaughtered and I hated it. I still hate it to this day. As proud as I was (and still am) I could never be a part of it with my family. I would love to hear your comments and thoughts but I'm off to track practice. But let me know what you think.

Cycling

Taught my first spin class last night at Range of Motions. It was tons of fun. I was a little nervous. I was afraid my class wouldn't be hard enough. Turns out it was just the right amount of difficult. I recieved a huge compliment from one of the participants. He said, "It was just the right amount of difficult. You took us to our edge and you could tell when to bring the level of difficulty down a bit to keep us going". Cycling is a great workout for everyone. The level of difficulty is controlled by the participant with the instructor just being there to lead you through the workout.
Cant wait for the next class.

Weekend

Had a fabulous weekend! My new strategy is to fall in love again with racing. So I spent the weekend running hard and getting focused again. Ran a local 5k on Saturday (Cinco de Mayo) and then ran a local 8K on Sunday (Jewish Family Services). Had the greatest time hanging out with friends and enjoying the weather. Also picked up some great prizes for winning Overall Female Divisions like a gift card to Final Kick and a gift certificate to The Shoe Box.
I had a reason for racing this entire weekend. I like to use them as tempo runs and to get me use to racing. To remember not to take any race for granted.