Shoes!!

I'm not much of a shoe shopper. In fact I hate shoe shopping. I buy enough shoes to get me by but I never ever buy shoes just for the fun of it. Jeff owns more shoes than I do. I think the last time I checked I owned 8 pairs. If I didn't work in an office I'd have even less.

Most of the time when I do shoe shop it's for cheap shoes at Payless or Shoe Carnival. I don't spend much on shoes and the ones I have normally only last me a year or so. I do have one exception to the cheap shoe rule though. My exercise shoes tend to be good. I've spent more on one pair of good running/walking shoes than I have on all the other pairs in my closet. I simply can't bring myself to skimp on them.

Jeff and I have started jogging recently. It's a great recovery plan for my ankle along with the added bonus of better cardiovascular conditioning. It's also something that I've wanted to do for a long time. But these past two weeks have been a bit painful. My shoes are old and have lost most of their cushioning. They are also well worn in the heel. I supinate heavily when I walk and the back outside heel wears away quickly (see below for info on supination). The more I walk on that worn down area, the less stable the shoe becomes. My current shoes were hurting both my knees and my back. So Jeff and I went out shoe shopping tonight.

I went to a speciality running store and found a pair of New Balance 883s. I've been loving New Balance shoes for a while now. I buy them the way I used to buy Rykas. But this time I had a professional running shoe fitting. The clerk watched the way I walked and watched the way I squatted and found me the perfect shoe. They weren't the cheapest shoes but they certainly weren't the most expensive. And I love them. I honestly wanted to wear them home and around the house. I'm really excited to get out jogging in them. And that's the best thing I can say about any shoes.

Sweating and Sweets

I'm a hurting person today. My poor recovering ankle is sore. My quads feel like they are on fire. Going up stairs is excruciating. You see, I jogged yesterday and it's been a while since I was out jogging. When I say a while, I really mean about 34 years. I've never been jogging. In fact I've never been in any shape. Well other than round.

So in an attempt to get into shape I've decided to try a Couch to 5K program. Technically I had decided to do the program in January but didn't start running until yesterday. I'm more of a planner than a doer, clearly. The program starts you slow with a mix of jogging and walking and thank god for that. I would have killed myself if I had tried to run the whole time. I was struggling just to finish the 20 minute workout and I really only jogged 8 of those minutes. Then again I've never jogged 8 minutes before so I'm pretty happy with that.

The big thing is that I have to get out there and jog again tomorrow. I know I'll be tempted to skip but part of me wants to develop a little discipline in my life. I've never really been the kind to push myself or keep to a schedule. I've always admired disciplined people. The kind of people who push themselves each day to be a little better. The kind of people who stick with a routine even when it's not going well. So this is my new routine. I'm announcing it to the world. I'll be ready to run a 5K by June. I'll be able to jog for 20 minutes straight. I know that each day will be easier. I hope that I gasp just a little less each day. And my muscle will hurt a little less each week. I'm excited about this.

That said, I bought Girl Scout cookies today. Apparently my discipline only extends so far. I've only had two Tagalongs (I refuse to call them Peanut Butter Patties), but the boxes are calling to me from the kitchen. We'll see how long they last. So far I'm just impressed that I haven't inhaled the box while watching TV. Perhaps there is hope for me.

The Value of Habit

It's been almost nine months since I broke my ankle. Surgery, recovery, and physical therapy have been good to me. I'm walking again and I'm starting to get back to a normal life. I still have some issues squatting on my heels and I still have daily, regular pain with each step. But it's getting better. I can walk, I can hike, I can almost dance.

I started thinking about this when my nephew Keith asked me whether I would ever be able to run again. He's ten and those kinds of things are very important to an active kid like he is. I said that I couldn't at the time, but that I was hoping to soon. And it's true. I would really like to be able to run again. I would like to be able to jump and dance and my real hope is that eventually I won't even have to think about my ankle. But I'm not there yet.

I'm still struggling to recover. My motion is not quite right and there is still a lot of internal scarring. I fell off doing my physical therapy exercises shortly after I stopped seeing my therapist. This week I've just realized how damaging that was. I've lost a lot of good recovery time thinking that walking was all I needed. Now I realize that if I had let the physical therapy exercises become a habit, I would be running by now. I would be dancing. I don't know if I'd be back at 100% but I'd be closer.

Last night I stood in front of the TV doing some of my exercises. It felt good to be stretching and strengthening those muscles. I worked on my calves and on my range of motion. And I'm feeling better today. I feel stronger, even with a bit of discomfort. So tonight I'm going to set aside some time to do all the exercises. Even a half-hour out of my day will hopefully let me improve. I was strong during physical therapy. I want to get back to that again.

All Recovery...All the Time

It's the recovery channel, all recovery stories, all the time!! Sorry I know I just posted about my leg but sadly it's what on my mind recently. And as much as I would like to deny it, a broken ankle (particularly my type of break), is a big deal. I had an interesting discussion with my physical therapist this morning who told me that although she's hoping for a complete 100% range of motion recovery, it often tends to be more like 80 to 90% for trimalleolars. The plates and screws make a huge difference.

All that said, I've had an exceptionally good day recovery wise. The physical therapy is slightly painful and my foot is sore by the end of the day but I can finally see some good movement in the joint. It's faint and no where near where the other one is but I'm able to move it back and forth and side to side. It's day two of physical therapy and I already feel much stronger. I can move the foot more and am now able to put all my weight on it comfortably.

My big news for the day is that I have been walking for most of the day with just one crutch. I had been nervous to get rid of the crutches completely although I know it's the next logical step. So this was a compromise between my daring self that says go for it and the frightened side of myself that said don't rush. So far it has been working beautifully. I limp a lot but that's to be expected. And I can even carry things now. It's the little things. :-)

Mostly I'm just excited about the physical therapy. My therapist is wonderful, always careful and gentle with me, but still giving the ankle a good workout. I'm shocked at how little movement makes it tender. One of my exercises is to use my ankle to draw the alphabet in the air. I started with my good foot to try it and had no issues. But even the shift to make the A on my bad ankle is stretching muscles and tendons I didn't realize I had. It's slow going but it gives me something to work on and the feeling that I'm in charge of my recovery. And that is the greatest feeling of all.

A Cure for All My Ailments

What if I would tell you that I have found the one thing that will help me lose weight, improve my mood, keep my anxiety at bay, increase my energy, and lengthen my life expectancy. It's pretty simple. In fact, I learned about it at the ripe old age of 1 year old. It's walking. The first and only thing that I have ever found that takes care of almost all my issues. You would think with all those benefits it would be something that I would be dedicating tons of time to. Yet for some reason I find it tough to get out the door.

Jeff and I went walking this afternoon. We wanted to try out a path that has been built near the house and I loved just getting out into the trees and putting one foot in front of the other. In fact, I'm always happy when I'm walking. I don't remember the last time I took a walk and didn't enjoy myself. Even though I don't really like to walk along busy streets I won't turn it down. My favorite walks though are when I leave the trails. Strap on my hiking boots and step off the beaten path. This picture is from a hike Jeff and I took along the creek near our house. We found all sorts of interesting plant life, spotted a couple of deer, and found our way a couple miles from the house, just following a creek. It was one of my favorite walks.

But I still find it tough to motivate myself. I look out the door and think that it's just too much work to put on my shoes. Or find a coat. And the couch just seems comfier. So I put off going. And then feel lazy and even worse. A simple walk everyday would be all I need to improve my life. Now I just need to get moving. My plan (kind of like a resolution) would be to take a walk every other day weather depending. I'm not about to become one of those crazy people you see walking in torrential rains or in a blizzard. But on nice days there is no reason I shouldn't get out and walk when I can. When I lost all that weight four years ago I did it simply through walking more and writing down what I eat. And getting out simply makes my anxiety go away. With those bonuses alone, I need to make an effort to get out there and walk. Here's hoping I can keep the pace up.

Not Sitting Down for It

It has been over five days since I got any good World of Warcraft playing in. Yes, for those interested, I'm going through withdrawl. I had family in all weekend which means I didn't get home until after midnight. Normally if that's the case I can only sneak in two hours before my body decides to shut down. I'm a morning person by nature so by 11:30 I'm normally ready to crash. Pushing myself until 2 or 3 involved lots of caffeine and then some seriously jittery hands.

On Monday I got in an hour of fishing (I'm still at level 150) and some cooking material gathering (I'm not even to 150 on my cooking). But as I was finishing gathering crocolisks (yeah pretty pathetic huh?) a good friend that I hadn't talked to in a while called. I knew that if I continued to play and tried to talk I'd get no where. So I logged off and then talked for over two hours. At 10:30 on a work night I'm not logging back on. Last night was knitting and we ended up hanging out talking until at least 9:45. So tonight I plan to get some play time in. I haven't done dailies in a couple days and if I ever want to hit exalted with Oracles and Ebon Blade I'm going to have to start working on those.

But now I have an issue. In October Jeff's brother is getting married. In Jamaica!!! As told Jeff, of course we have to go. It's family. Can you tell I'm a little excited for this? Then again who wouldn't be excited about this?

And I've decided that it's time to get serious about my weight (again!). I'm not going down there with where I'm at currently. (I've lost and then regained a total of 110 pounds in the last four years. 60 on the loss, 50 on the gain.) So here's where it gets tough. One of my favorite activities (WoW) is sedentary. Add to that the fact that I sit all day at the office. And of course I have the terrible habit of eating in front of the computer.

So I'm writing this down so that all of you are witnesses. No eating in front of the computer. If I want to eat I have to stop playing. That should be a good incentive for me. And then my next thing will be buying a balance ball for home. I know they seem silly but if I can work my stomach muscles (even a little) while playing, it's worth it. Who knows it may even improve my posture. Mixing a bit of exercise with my playtime...sounds like a plan to me.

New Toy!

I'm pleased to announce a new addition to our household. A Wii Fit!! After many, many months of searching Jeff and I finally stumbled on one in Target this morning. It just seemed too good to be true. We had both decided that we would splurge on the DVD edition of Star Wars (the originals, of course). When we walked into the video game aisle and saw it. Star Wars went back to the shelf immediately. I stood guard while Jeff went to find a salesclerk. And I was not about to let anyone else pick it up. I Saw It First! Luckily no one challenged me. I'm pretty sure I would have brought out the claws. 

So we got our new baby home and hooked it up. Now I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd heard from friends who had one but never been able to try or even seen the games. I was shocked. By the end of the strength training session I was sweating. By the end of the aerobic section, I was panting. And by the end of my entire 30 minute time playing, my legs were jelly. I'm so out of shape.

And the Wii was sure to remind me how out of shape I am. The game takes your weight, calculates your BMI, and then reminds you (sometimes gently, sometimes not) that you are doing things wrong. My balance was so off that my trainer continually asked me if I was putting my other foot down (I was) and then remind me that balance is one of the most important things for people as they age. Was the thing calling me old? Turns out it was. My physical age turned out to be a decade older than my actual age. Ouch! 

So I have big plans. I'm going to try to get up early every morning to workout with the thing. 30 minutes a day should be perfect. It's cheap (now that I own it), at home (perfect for the cold Iowa winters), and actually fun. I don't even mind the running portion. We'll see how well I do. Right now my intentions are the best.