It’s a good week for a complete overhaul. Well, it’s at least a good week to think about one! This past week has been challenging for me: I took a break from running to help heal my hammy, the boys had pink eye (yes, both of them!) and I started physical therapy. I’m definitely looking forward to some holiday downtime (oxymoron) to re-group, re-boot and just re-lax!
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 17, 2014
RUNNING: Non-existent. I did however get a plethora of physical therapy exercises that I’m doing like a boss, each and every day, twice a day. #rebuilding
Just doing a little eccentric bridge walk-outs…
*I may have done a ‘test run’ on the treadmill on Saturday and it may have gone pretty well 🙂 maybe…
CYCLING: In addition to my spin classes this week, I set up the bike trainer (rebuilding!) and got my first indoor ride on! Ok, so it’s not that exciting. It’s actually depressing since I wasted so many beautiful days of outdoor cycling on running. I’m torn between two loves and in desperate need of a coach to keep me on track with my cycling. *sigh*
SWIMMING: I’m still loving my pool workouts and jumped in three times this past week, since you know, no running. In case you missed it, here’s a pool workout for you to pin and enjoy!
RACING: Next up is the Santa’s Run 5k+. I add the ‘plus’ since they call it a 5k (3.1 miles) but it’s a 3.5 mile course, which matters a lot! You may recall my husband ran this festive race with me last year. I have yet to try to talk him into it this year. I think it’s best to wait until the last minute and then bribe him with a sitter and the promise of beers and burgers afterward.
FUEL: I officially have a serious problem with whole wheat fig bars. Apparently I have a reputation at my local natural food store and the (new) owner came out to meet me when I placed my ‘bulk’ order for my beloved bars. He was happy to know how much I loved them, took my order and upon my return to pick up my fix, I found this:
I now have a six month supply (maybe?) and a full on addiction. This is definitely going to take some rebuilding.
THINGS I LOVE: Running shoe deliveries. Not Santa in his sleigh (hopefully that too!) but the best running specialty store in my area has just announced they can ship shoes to your door at no extra cost! #ChristmasComesEarly
THINGS I DON’T LOVE AS MUCH: The entire health care system. Talk about something needing a complete re-build! In short, my insurance requires I have signed paperwork from my doctor to have physical therapy on my hamstring. My PT sent the paperwork to my primary care physician. This is the doctor I see only if I have a raging cold, infection or poison ivy (as you may remember he under prescribed medication and it lasted over two weeks!).
He refused to sign the paperwork without seeing me in person. You know what that means – copay. I’m furious with the ridiculousness of this. My PCP knows next to nothing about athletic injuries. He’s an older man in the last years of his practice, and I only go to him because he’s close to my house. The fact that the insurance company demands I get signed paperwork from him, which will go like this…
Him: “What’s the problem?”
Me: “I need PT for my hamstring that I injured last spring.”
Him: “Ok” *head down signing paperwork*
…is insane! Insurance companies operate on zero common sense, create huge time sucks, make it supremely difficult to get the basic help you need and then profit 10-fold directly from it. Connecticare? Connecti-doesn’t-give-a-shit. Rebuild!
MUSIC: Lorde – Yellow Flicker Beat from the soundtrack to Mockingjay. The last time my husband and I went to a movie, I was six months pregnant! On Saturday night we actually were able to go to a movie and then dinner. It was pretty amazing. I read all The Hunger Games books (which I absolutely loved!) and luckily, my husband has loved all the movies and actually suggested we go see Mockingjay. #TrueLove
READING: In addition to A Prayer for Owen Meany I’m dabbling in reading Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerarald. Like a lot of athletes I struggle with adding variety to my diet while also maintaining my weight, and making sure I’m getting all the nutrients I need, to stay healthy though a tough training cycle. It’s very interesting reading and Fitzgerald references a lot of top Ironmen and Triathletes, telling tales of both what to do and not to do!
RANDOM QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It ain’t cool bein’ no jive turkey so close to Thanksgiving.” – Eddie Murphy, Trading Places
In honor of being a jive turkey myself, I’m taking a little blogging hiatus this week. I’ll be entertaining family and laying low for the reminder of the week. See you back here next Monday and have a fantastic Thanksgiving!
What do you need to rebuild?
What food are you addicted to?
How are you celebrating the holiday?
Enjoy your blogging vacation!! I hope you get hubby to do the 5k with you!! I agree our health care system us way more difficult than it needs to be and since I work in benefits I hear it all day every day. I do have a post coming up this week on health care but it’s ok because you will be on vacay! 🙂 sorry both the boys had pink eye but happy they got over it in time now to infect your entire family for Thanksgiving 🙂 have a great holiday Allie and keep smashing that PT!!
Oh I will HAVE to read your post about Healthcare!! I think healthy people should get a break in benefits too…of course, I could go on all day about that one!!
Thanks Nellie and have a fantastic Thanksgiving with your beautiful family!
Justin is starting to get his indoor trainer rides on too. He HATES them. I think of it as more bonding time in the garage… me treadmill, him trainer!
Happy Thanksgiving Allie!
At least he has you on the treadmill! I just have screaming kids…not fun:-(
DON’T even get me started on healthcare and the last “professional” I saw. He tried to get me on diet pills to help with my obesity since my BMI is “really high.” THEN, he put all my claims and blood work through out of network. Fighting the $3700 claim now.
Ugh! I have an awesome recipe somewhere for fig bars. I think it was a recipe I got out of a magazine from whole foods. Will try to find it. I ate them by the batch full when preggers with Avery.
The whole system is a complete mess and doctors don’t have a clue how to treat healthy people. It’s truly insane!!
If you can find that recipe, it would save me a lot of $$$ 🙂
Don’t get me started on the healthcare system, especially pediatricians with how they recently handled Emma being so sick with pneumonia-that is a story unto itself, but still I am right there with you on this and definitely not a fan in general. Have a great week and am also taking some downtime myself from blogging as the week goes on. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Everyone has an awful story, and that is unacceptable!! I’m really sorry you had a bad experience with Emma – when it comes to our kids, all bets are off!!
Glad to hear you’re taking a much needed break too. Enjoy the holiday!
yep, I know that exercise very well, I have been doing lots of PT and rebuilding too. I managed to get in 66 miles last week, which may sound like a lot, but I am really feeling frustrated with my running as my hamstring is so temperamental and I just want to get on to the part where I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I know slow running doesn’t bother it, so I should just be grateful I can run an hour without any issues, but it is annoying me….I am spoiled! UGH! Lets get those hammys better together Allie, and hopefully your tester runs continue to go well….and turn into regular runs 🙂
Exactly! I’m so sick of even thinking/worrying about it and I just want to get over it. I know I have to be patient but I’m not so good with that. I did another slow treadmill run today and it was fine so there’s hope!!
Oh those bridge walkouts are so, so familiar! Do them each and every day. Hamstrings love them!
And I hate the h/c system as well. We recently changed ours and now I must submit a receipt each and every time I see a doc or PT. My son, too. With both of us seeing a PT regularly…ugh! Not to mention my acupuncture receipts. Hate it.
Enjoy your downtime. Getting away from the blog always feels good and reenergizes me for a return. Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m doing them and they are helping already!! I guess they need to be a regular part of my routine from now on.
Healthcare is ridiculous. I think it adversely effects healthy people more then it does those who are chronically ill. Annoying.
Enjoy your holiday and rest. Here’s to an energized comeback next week!!
I went the chiropractor route just because I didn’t want to have the hassle of a seeing my PCP, getting a referral, etc. I did end up going to PT too BUT my PCP was nice enough to just send the the referral without seeing me. Woohoo!
Most of them do that but I guess I just got lucky with the one doc who doesn’t!! A friend of mine has a really good chiro she suggested so at least I have options! Thanks Angela.
Oh my gosh, I love love love whole wheat figgy bars! I’m so obsessed! I kind of want one right now.
That is ridiculous about your doctor! My insurance is pretty good about not needing too many referrals but they keep harassing me about whether I have other insurance. I guess they don’t like paying for all that maternity care!
I can send you a care package! I have enough for an army over here and you need your strength with you’re newborn!! I hope you’re having a great time with him and getting some rest!!! And I love how we pay though the nose for healthcare and then, when you need it for something like maternity, they get annoyed. Priceless!
Those fig bars look YUM!
Happy Thanksgiving!
They are heavenly!
I would say “happy thanksgiving” to you but I’m not sure you celebrate???
Damnnn youuuu, woman! Now I want fig bars. It’s literally been years.
Send me your address and I will ship you a care package!!! :-)))
I love fig bars!! I’m going to need some serious rebuilding after this holiday season! Have a awesome Thanksgiving Allie!
We all will! Thanks Kris!
I am very proud of you for rebuilding. I know it sucks but so important to do! I need to take some time to do that now that all this running business is over…for now haha. We went to see Mockingjay on Friday night and thought it was good. Except that we went to see if opening weekend with all the teenagers and OMG can they scream loudly! Happy Thanksgiving!
That is too funny about Mockingjay! Just another reason why I sometimes love living in a small town – no screaming at our theatre 🙂
I hope you enjoy your downtime this week! And eat some whole wheat fig bars for you. I love when you find a good thing and it’s local and it’s just…good.
I have that cold to end all colds right now. I am looking forward to feeling better, and I am cautiously optimistic that I will by Thursday night. Oh, I hope.
My kids and I really enjoy Lorde!
Love Lorde!…and all yummy local things.
Yes, you will be better by Thursday. The holiday demands it!! Sending healing vibes your way my friend…
Hi there! New visitor. I love your pool workout idea. It is so warm where I live we can swim year round.
Hi and welcome! Thanks for visiting and commenting. Let me know if you do the pool workout!
Oh man, don’t get me started on the healthcare juggles! Had my MRI for my back/hip/hamstrings last week, that was from seeing the PT I had to wait 2.5 months to see. Appt, for follow up with PT is tomorrow…most likely will be bridging more too. 😉 Now with the kids, Finnie’s ER visits were all *separate*, yet under the same few weeks of the same issues. Each ER visit is more $$, even with insurance. Crazy town. However, aren’t we lucky to be in a country with so many incredible progressive sports doctors? Verses the “don’t run and you’ll be fine” method. 😉
Enjoy your break! Glad you are in the pool again! Take time to take care of you!! 😉 xox
Oh Erin! It’s all so crazy but yes, we are lucky to have good doctors sprinkled into the network to keep us in “running” shape! As for Finnie – I hope there’s no more ER visits for that little doll.
Happy (and healthy) Thanksgiving to you and your family! xoxoxo
Holy fig bars!! Haha that’s awesome…. I would loveeee to have an indoor bike to workout in my living room with! Maybe one day I’ll invest in one.
As boring as those workouts can be, it’s a great “go-to” when the weather or your schedule don’t cooperate with going to the gym!
Those .4 bonus miles of a 5k do matter. Even an extra .1 matter so I understand that completely. I was a public health major in college so I have so much to say about our health care system. None of it I approve it. HA.
Oh Hollie – we could TALK! Ha ha ha! And I know you SO get it about the “extra” mileage 🙂
I have to go to my primary DR just to get a referral anywhere else – I’ve been waiting for over 3 weeks to have someone else look at my leg. I always call and try to get them to send me directly to our orthopedic surgeon but they never do – they bring me in, drag things out and then a couple months later I finally go to the orthopedic.
That is exactly what I’m talking about!!! It’s a broken system and healthy people are becoming unhealthy because of it! What kind of “health care” is that?? I really hope you can get that leg looked at soon Kim!
I always want to swim for a workout. I even joined the YMCA so I could have a pool to use, but I have yet to use the pool. If I had an injury I am sure I would be in there swimming for recovering and rebuilding.
I started out swimming because of a running injury years ago, and I now I just love to swim. It’s such a great break from running and all the pounding on your joints! I feel like the pool is a treat for my body. I hope you can hop into yours soon! You won’t regret it!
I am rebuilding with some chiropractic tomorrow. Everything feels a little off so I am working on gettin back into balance. yoga is also on the menu too 🙂 Love your pool workouts. I need to get back in the pool and will have to start trying some of these! Hope the pink eye has cleared up and that your hammy is back to feeling as good as new soon!
Thank you! I hope you can get back into balance as well. I’ve been promising myself yoga for about a month now. If only my yoga studio had a day care…
The pink eye is gone and I did another treadmill workout (slow/easy 5 miles) and it seems to be getting better. Fingers crossed!
I just need to rebuild my entire body. Now I’m dealing with a hip flexor issue…SO FRUSTRATING! Glad you are in PT and getting healthy. I feel you on the healthcare situation. It is such a scam if you ask me!! And won’t change which is the frustrating part. Hope you are liking your skoop! Have you still just been drinking it or have you tried it other ways? And I havent’ read the Hunger Games, I know, I know. I did watch the first movie and loved it though. I love that new Lorde song, I hadn’t heard it before till just now!
It is so, so frustrating but we’re all in good company since it seems like everyone is healing some body part at this point in the season! I am absolutely still drinking my Skoop! I have it with just Almond milk and it’s really good. I need to sign up for the monthly thing because my husband is stealing it!!!
If you liked the Hunger Games movies, you will LOVE the books. Seriously.
Those fig bars look like fig newtons – but healthier, I’m sure. I’m heading to the beach tomorrow with my crew, my sister’s, and my parents. Looking forward to a relaxing Thanksgiving! We do our own 5K around the neighborhood, so it’s not all about eating. Have a great holiday, Allie!
Yes, they are definitely healthier and not as sweet as the regular bars.
Your Thanksgiving sounds perfect! Enjoy and run hard!! 🙂
Oh never mind about my reply comment on my blog….. HERE THE FIG BARS ARE………. ha ha ah! While I was preparing to totally RIP INTO THE BARS…….. They are not the WORST THINGS I have seen in my life – minus the corn starch but eh, what can ya do, right?! OH wait, you COULD make your own perhaps?? I don’t like that they only have 1 gram of fiber by the way………………… Regularity is always a wonderful thing – BAH HA HA!
HAHAHHA!!! I eat extra fruit to make up for the lack of fiber because yes, regularity is a wonderful thing:-)
Nut butter. It’s the only food I can think of that I sincerely wish I could eat with reckless abandon. We’re going to see Mocking Jay Sunday and I cannot wait! The family read the series together kind of alternating reading times or whatever and we’ve seen the movies. I don’t know what I love more the series or the fact that it’s been a family thing all along 🙂
No words about the health care system 🙁 I’m trying to reboot my fitness. I don’t know. After my last race I’ve been missing “something”. Longest post race blues ever!
Good luck with PT and a speedy feeling good!
I hope the holidays (and the Mockingjay movie!) got you out of your post-race blues!!
Don’t even get me started on the healthcare system. Since my doctors set out to figure out why I have blurred vision while running, and a couple other symptoms, I am out thousands upon thousands of dollars this year, no answers, and the last time they sent me to the hospital, they wanted to run the EXACT SAME TESTS they had run a couple of months before that I still owed thousands of dollars for. I said no thank you. And, after all that, I still have no answers whatsoever. Oh, and I also found out, I could go to a different place other than where my doctor sent me for these tests (after the fact of course) that would have been a lot less expensive. I will NOT be getting my yearly xrays for my neck fracture where she sent me! Then, I received a notice telling me due to the new health care, my insurance will now be increasing, double + a little more at the beginning of the year. Not sure where I am supposed to find this money. It’s a substantial increase. Apparently if you are self employed and must self insure, you are getting a big hit. 🙁
That is truly awful Michelle and SO SO frustrating. My husband and I both work at home and he owns his own business so yes, I know all about those new big price increases. Not cool at all, especially with a broken system.
So you are feeling the same hit?! I am truly sorry. It blows.
Swimming is the best workout! Okay, as an ex swimming coach, I might be slightly biased, haha. But really, it is a complete sport with a very low risk of injury.
The food I am addicted to is chocolate… although I have learned to control the cravings.
Good luck with your hard work! 🙂
I have to agree about swimming! It’s such a great workout for my body, especially as I get older.
I hope you had plenty of chocolate over the holiday 🙂
What a surprise that you had a sneaky “test run” to see how the hamstring was doing! 😉 I can’t even begin with the healthcare system. It really feels broken beyond repair. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break, lady!
You know I had to test it out! I’m happy to report that it’s only gotten better – whooohooo!!! I had a great holiday and hope you did as well 🙂