Knee taping and recovery smoothie

Most likely, I'll be graduating physical therapy tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about this as physical therapy is incredibly time-consuming and painful. I do feel like my knee is slowly healing and my lower body is getting tons stronger.

Yesterday I ran with my knees taped for the first time.



I plan on posting a how-to video on this soon but please see a professional before you start knee-taping. It looks weird but the tightness of the tape nudges my kneecap into the correct place. My quads are nudging my patella out of place when I run. (Gross!)



Here's the tape that I bought. Not a ton but I don't plan on running with my knees taped forever. Eventually my body will be stronger and I will be able to prevent injury better. I might look into knee sleeves at some point, not sure yet.

I ran 2 miles in 27 minutes which I know it's breaking any records but it's the fastest I've got since my injury. I was STOKED! I would be happier than a fangirl at a Justin Bieber concert if I could finish the 5k in October running a 13 minute/mile pace. No shame in my slower-paced game.

The fastest mile I've ever ran is a 10 min/mile but that was before I injured my knee and developed plantar fasciitis. (The PF has disappeared! Knock on wood.)



Jay Robb's protein powder is amazing. I tried a scoop of pina colada in a green recovery smoothie today and it was magnificant.



And it was GREEN!



(ignore my dirty dishes, gah.) I mixed in one frozen banana, 2 frozen strawberries, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 huge handful spinach, 1/2 cup almond milk and 1/2 cup P.O.G. juice. (Passion, Orange, Guava)

So good!

Have you tried knee taping before? How did you like it?

coffee, yogurt and running

Yesterday Andy and I spotted this sign while out doing errands. I had to stop and get some pumpkin pie frozen yogurt. It's my favorite!



I got a taste of pumpkin pie and cheesecake yogurt with some captain crunch on top. You can't tell but this is only 1/4 of the HUGE self-serve cup they give you.



Andy got blood orange. It was so delicious. Next time, I'm getting that flavor. Yogurtland gets two thumbs up. I love how creamy it is.



I was still craving yogurt this morning so I had some blueberry chobani with my morning coffee.



I found this coffee at Whole Foods. I was inspired by a post I saw on Heather's blog. It's great! I'm pretty happy. Thanks Heather!



Blueberry chobani is my second favorite greek yogurt flavor. I think my favorite is pineapple chobani. I'm addicted.

Andy went on a run last night (his first since his surgery) and it inspired me. I seriously cannot wait to start training again. My plan is to take it slow and easy. I was considering doing the Couch to 5k plan again since I know I'm not slow enough to just go out and run 3 miles.

Have any of you started running again after an injury? How did you get back out there?

I have physical therapy tomorrow, I have a list of questions for him.



This is how I've been spending my time in therapy. Hooked up to electrodes and ice.

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome and banana soft serve.

Yep. I went to the sports medicine doctor and finally figured out what's going on in my knees. I suspected patellofemoral pain syndrome a while back after reading about Caitlin's experience with it but wanted to make absolutely sure.

Treatment starts soon with physical therapy and they promised that they'd get me running again! Seriously, you have no idea how happy those words made me. I may not run fast but I sure do love running! I'm also getting custom orthotics for my feet to help with the plantar fasciitis pain. Things are looking up.

We won't mention how old this all makes me feel.

We are super behind in posts due to going back to work, school and a regular schedule. This drives me nuts.



I have been making tons of guacamole lately. I am obsessed. I added a 2 lb box of avocados to our CSA list for next Saturday.



And I bought some corn and black bean salsa from our local farmer's market. This is the BEST salsa I've ever had. We're planning on buying more from him later today.



I made steak tacos to go with the guacamole and salsa. I used a packet of Trader Joe's taco seasoning to give the steak some flavor.



Yes, I am holding the plate up in my kitchen....



Seriously delicious. I used an organic onion and bell pepper to give it a little bit of veggie power. Next time I might try an all veggie taco.



Andy made us margaritas using Trader Joe's margarita mix. Have you tried it yet? It's got decent stats and is so tasty! I love that it's not super sweet.



Dessert was banana soft serve. To make this please read Gena's post on banana soft serve I'm telling you this was AMAZING. I added a little vanilla extract and some white chocolate wonderful pb to mine and LOVED IT! I can't believe this was made with frozen bananas!



Seriously Gena, you have changed my life. I love dessert but don't need all that dairy. This is such a perfect and cheap replacement!

Has a blogger recipe ever changed your life? Please share!

I caught Andy's cold!

Thanks for your support and sweet comments on my Almost Famous Chef entry. You guys are the best!

Yesterday, I subbed a kindergarten/first grade class and then had 6 hours of class. So I just didn't have the time for a normal blog. I have 150 blog posts to read on my google reader! (CRAZY!) I hate Mondays and Wednesdays when I work and have 2 long classes. If it was up to me, I'd get sub jobs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays only. Working on days with short classes isn't a problem. At this point, I'll take what jobs I can get though.

I started to feel really sick yesterday so I'm pretty sure I caught Andy's cold. My eyes are watery, my nose is stuffed up, I feel light-headed and my head hurts so bad. Blah. I'm going to have to leave the apartment soon to get some cold meds in me. (Andy is still not 100% either.)



Breakfast tuesday morning was half a grapefruit with a teeny bit of sugar. Honestly, I like grapefruit without sugar, it's just a bad habit of mine!



I should probably have grapefruit this morning too. Vitamin C to the rescue!



And I had a pom chobani. This was my 2nd time having it and I really enjoyed it this time. At first I didn't like the texture of the arils on the bottom but this time? Loved it!



While enjoying breakfast, I iced my knee with my new friend.



Peas cold therapy! My dad is a marathon runner and has always used a bag of actual frozen peas to ice after long runs so I thought imitation peas would be good for me!



Later, I had the urge to make cookies. So I brought out the silpat from Andy's mom and tried it out.



Oatmeal chocolate chip goodness! My cookies never turn out actually looking like cookies, I am so impressed! Thanks again Josie!



After the cookies, I decided to make dinner because I am backwards like that. I made dinner at 5 and left for class at 6. So I didn't have much time. I roasted corn.



With 1 tbsp dijonnaise, 1/2 tbsp light olive oil mayo, chili powder, cumin, garlic salt and a dab of butter. Yes, a dab.



Slathered it on the corn, wrapped the corn in foil and baked in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.



Ignore my messy kitchen. I put some asiago cheese on the corn afterwards. It was so delicious and spicy! We had some chicken sausage and peppers n onions with it.



But the corn was the star of the show. I can't wait until corn is actually in season so I can recreate this again.

Right now, I'm icing my knee and preparing to run my last day of Week 3 for Couch to 5k. My knees are definitely not enjoying the runs but the rest of me does. I am hoping to do 3 miles in 30 minutes by the end of March. But if my knee continues to feel this way, it will probably be more like 35-40 minutes. And that is okay. Slow and steady finishes the race!

Arms and Abs Day

So last night, I decided to work against my knees. I got on the treadmill and just walked for 25 minutes at an incline. I figured it would be safe for my knee and still burn some major calories at the same time. Eventually walking got boring so I ran a little bit too. Then I did 15 minutes on the elliptical, stretched and called it a day.

My knee hurt so bad it kept me up all night. So I'm going to make a doctor's appointment. I'm pretty sure the doctor is going to say that I need to rest and lose weight because my knees can't handle the pressure of running with all that extra weight. Blah...

So I declare today, "Arms and Abs Day." I figure I can work out my flabby arms and my gut without bothering my WITCH of a knee cap. We'll see.



Last night I took these (best canned refried beans in the world!)



This. (yellow squash and zucchini)



Several shakes of the HOT stuff.



And made a big egg scramble using 3 eggs. (This served both me and Andy.)



And made breakfast for dinner burritos. I just added sour cream and salsa to the egg scramble and refried beans. It was so good! And filling.



and I added half of a crumbled up burger for the other night for protein. I'm gonna need it after today. I plan on pumping some serious iron after working today. What are you favorite arm or abs moves?



My sister Sarah who I love dearly, brought me some cupcakes.



And not just any cupcakes, Sprinkles Cupcakes!



One red velvet and one chocolate peanut butter.



Andy and I split these while watching Dexter Season 3. The chocolate peanut butter was fab and totally worth the calories. But the red velvet tasted artificial and gross. Must be all the food dye or something.

Thanks Sarah! Check out Sarah's dating blog here. See? I told you I would link up to you!

As for now, I'm on my way out the door to sub for an elementary school. I'm only subbing a partial day and I have NO idea what grade, what to do or what to wear. I am semi-stressed.

Just don't make me watch that bloodborne pathogen video ever again. PLEASE

ugh!

Sorry for the lack of posting. I don't have any good food pictures for you because;

1. Due to the Challenge I have been eating a lot of leftovers. Yesterday's eats included an apple, white chocolate wonderful, some hummus, some crackers, pom arils and later dinner out with friends.

2. The dinner out is one of the dinners that I'm not counting towards the $100 total.

3. Andy and I aren't going to grocery shop until after we return from The Foodbuzz Festival

4. I hurt my knee running again. It's not so bad where I can't run but it does need to be iced often. I have been icing 3x a day.

5. I am taking the day off running today.

6. I lost 1.8 lbs at my weigh in last night!!!!!!!! I have 1.4 lbs to go until I reach my first goal of 10 lbs. Woohoo!!!

I will update later. For now I am icing my dang knee. I have a test in an hour, wish me luck!