My ITB Is A B*TCH

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Coco

I am about halfway through my scheduled physical therapy for my ITB/piriformis/SI issue and my condition is improving.  With each visit, my physical therapist finds less and less to work on–although I don’t mind when she finds a tight spot in my back because then I get a mini-massage. 🙂

I have been working hard on my recovery. I stopped running for two weeks. (My beach run was after I took two full weeks off, although it was before I was officially cleared to run again.) I’ve done all of my physical therapy exercises every day – even though that means 45 minutes of core work. I’ve been focusing on tightening my core throughout my daily activities, sitting up straight, and standing evenly on both feet instead of putting all of my weight on one leg like I tend to do.

On Tuesday, my physical therapist thought I was ready to start running again. She watched me run on the treadmill for a few minutes, and confirmed that my gait and motion looked good. We agreed on a 4 mile test run, which I did today. All in all, it was a great run. The weather was amazing for late June (in the upper 60s with low humidity and a nice breeze!) and Tiger Lilly was a good companion–until she nearly dragged me into a water sprinkler that was too tempting for her to resist at the top of a hill!

I started off slowly (at a 10+ min/mile pace) and didn’t notice any twinges until about one mile into my route. It was then that my ITB spoke up, with the same nagging that has been plaguing me for months now. 🙁 It never hurt and it may have gotten better as I continued, but it never completely went away. The good news is that the pain is gone now, but that’s how it was before I started physical therapy–my ITB would ache during a run, but not otherwise. Hopefully my physical therapist will let me keep running, and will have some suggestions for my ITB.

In the meantime, I will continue plugging away with my exercises. My current routine includes:

fitball glute bridges (3 sets of 10)
fitball roll-outs (3 sets of 15)
front planks on elbows ( 3 sets of 8)
prone heel/glute squeezes (3 sets of 8)
side planks with feet elevated (3 sets of 8)

I hold each rep for 10 seconds, so each set of 8 takes about 2 minutes, while each set of 10 takes about 2.5 minutes. Adding a bit of rest between sets and exercises, it all adds up to about 45 minutes. 

Tonight I was jealous of Linsey when I saw this tweet:

https://twitter.com/wordpressdotcom/status/218131128316461057

Hopefully I will be saying that soon.

Have you ever had problems with your ITB?

What worked for you?

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Tiger Lilly Strikes A Pose

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Coco

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Posted in Life | Tagged , | 4 Comments

My Formula For Lunchtime Success

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Coco

I’ve always packed my lunch for work, but I’m not sure why. Maybe because I always brought my lunch to school, maybe because I grew up watching my Dad pack a lunch for work (a sandwich, a yogurt and an apple, if I had to guess), or maybe because I just can’t stomach paying $10 for a sandwich day in and day out. When I was dieting, bringing my own lunch was the only way I could be sure to follow my plan. Now I see bringing my lunch as the best way to guarantee that I will have a yummy meal that will get me through the afternoon.

I don’t have much time to spend fixing my lunch, but I’ve developed a formula that makes it easy to put something together quickly.

  1. I start with a Chobani yogurt for a mid-morning snack. (Can you believe I didn’t like Greek yogurt at all until I discovered Chobani?)
  2. The large plastic container has a simple salad (lettuce, tomato, a spritz of dressing)
  3. The small plastic container has leftovers from dinner (for this picture it was a stuffed pepper)
  4. The orange is to satisfy my sweet tooth after lunch.
  5. The apple is to tide me over through my drive home from work.

I also have a stash of snacks at work–like my favorite Cliff Chocolate Brownie Z-Bars–if I need an afternoon snack.

Since my family doesn’t like to eat leftovers, I usually have plenty of options for my lunch, but if we’ve had a busy week and I haven’t cooked dinner at home (or if we’ve had a hungry week and there aren’t any leftovers) I always have Lean Cuisine “spa cuisine” entrees or Amy’s meals in the freezer.

I enjoy my lunches so much that I even bring them to lunch meetings at the office. I’d rather eat something I know I will like than risk having to eat gloppy pasta or greasy stir fry. (Although if they serve my favorite type of brownie, I’m not too ashamed to take one of those!)

What do you eat for lunch?

Posted in Food, Work | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Crispy, Salty Chuao Chocolate (Product Review)

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Coco

When I was exploring the boutique shops at my hotel last week, I was not disappointed to find this one.

I was drawn to the unusual varieties of the Chuao bars. After browsing the extensive selection, I chose this one.


While I don’t usually like nuts or dried fruit in my chocolate, the combination of dark chocolate, a bit of crispness and salt sounded like it could satisfy all sorts of cravings.

It was good, but it wasn’t spectacular, so the next day I went back for this one.

I expected it to be similar, but was enticed by the promise of milk chocolate (perhaps it would be smoother?) and kettle chips (which I love). I definitely liked it better. 🙂

In case you think I am not dedicated to the pursuit of the finest chocolate, I paid $9 for each bar (including tax). I would only do that under the influence of a resort boutique shop!

Have you tried an unusual chocolate bar lately?

Have you bought something at a resort that you would never pay that price for at home?

Posted in Food, Product Reviews | Tagged , | 11 Comments

The $75 5K That Wasn’t

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Coco

This week I am at conference in San Diego, staying at a resort hotel that extorts me at every turn. ($4.75 for a cup of Diet Coke? No thanks. $4.25 for a tall Starbucks brewed coffee? Yes, please!)  Knowing that I would have to squeeze some work in between conference sessions, the only “acitivty” I signed up for was the 5K. The $75 entry fee is above my price point for a 5K, but it is for a good cause and my law firm will cover it.

I attended this same conference last year and actually “won” the 5K, but this year I had to take a different approach. My physical therapist doesn’t want me running at all, but I couldn’t resist the temptation of a run on the beach on a cool, overcast morning. I decided to treat it like an easy run, and had no goals for a finish time.


I was pretty impressed that the hotel had its own branded race bibs, but that didn’t make the course measurement any more accurate than last year’s course. (In all fairness, since we had a wide swath of flat, hard sand to run on, it’s possible that we didn’t follow the route that was measured.)

I reached the “finish” in under 25 minutes, so I kept running for an extra out-and-back segment to make sure that I ran at least 5K. (If I was going to break my physical therapist’s rules, I wanted it to be worth it!) I ended up covering about 3.6 miles in 33:30 (about a 9 min/mile pace). Even though we ran on packed sand, my shoes managed to get full of dry sand from the short walk to and from the shoreline.

Maybe next year I’ll remember to bring old shoes to use on the beach.

I have to confess that my SI joint has been bothering me since this run, but I can’t say that it wasn’t worth it, or that I wouldn’t make the same choice again.

Do you like to run on the beach?

Have you ever violated “doctor’s orders” about exercise restrictions?

Posted in Fitness, Race Recaps | Tagged , , | 7 Comments