Life Update: Injury & New Diet
Hello blog, I have missed you.
The past ten days have been crazy for me, in a really good way. I just finished up a writing order for a website that totaled to 40 articles and 38,500 words! This was completed over the course of the last ten days and it really challenged me. I have realized why I enjoy freelance writing so much: it’s everything that I love about school, but I’m getting paid to do it. Writing papers and doing research was one of my favorite things in undergrad (which was good, since that’s all you do at a Jesuit school), and paper writing/editing was my favorite in grad school. I love having deadlines, and I love to plan my day. I do not love that I procrastinated a little bit more than I should have and woke up at 5 AM this morning to complete the final articles, but, hey, old habits die hard.
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In my never ending quest for increased productivity and list making, I have picked up a new hobby: bullet journaling.
I am obsessed.
Of all the crazy fads I have tried, I actually feel like this one is beneficial for me. I am a crazy obsessive list maker, but not necessarily a productive list maker. I have a tendency to just write down everything I wish I could accomplish in the day, instead of writing down realistic goals. Then I become overwhelmed with how many things are on my list and I become complacent.
One of the things about bullet journaling that I found attractive was the fact that you break up your tasks into daily, weekly, monthly, and bi-yearly planners. Once I realize I won’t be able to complete a certain task, I simply compartmentalize it to a different section of the journal and put it out of my mind - for now. This system seems to keep me better focused.
I am also keeping a habit tracker, which I have been using to track exercise habits (i.e. the things I have a hard time motivating myself to do, like core and foam rolling) and I color in a box every time I complete the activity. This has helped me approach the little things from a different perspective. They are habits I willingly complete and feel like I gained something from doing, instead of being something on the list I have to cross off. Other habits, such as doing something for myself and doing something for Dave everyday are included as well. Things that I am curious about, such as how often I put on makeup, are also there.
Perhaps most beneficial is that I am using the habit tracker to track my food that I eat on a day to day basis. I have an inventory of my refrigerator/pantry listed, and then I color in a box for each food that I eat. This helps me see if I am rotating foods properly (I should technically be doing a 3 day rotation), and also helps me track how I feel day to day. It also helps with meal planning. For instance, I plan my meals for the following day by simply looking to see which ingredients I haven’t eaten in a few days and come up with a meal plan based on that. It’s kind of like being a contestant on Chopped, which I love :)
The third aspect of the bullet journal is “collections.” These are lists that have a single topic. For instance, I have a finance collection that tracks how much money I make day to day vs what I spend; a feelings collection that I write in throughout the day; a grocery list/coupon collection; a blog idea collection; and an “articles to read” collection, among others.
Bottom line, if you are list obsessed. I totally recommend this.
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Speaking of food, I thought I would update where I’m at. I’m starting week 4 of my new diet plan. I am officially past the most restrictive phase and have added in ~20 new foods this week. These are the foods that are considered safe, but were almost reactive.
I can honestly say that I feel amazing.
The first two weeks were terrible. I felt awful, I was moody, I questioned why I was doing this and whether it was worth it; and I was full of negativity and anxiety. Then, about a week ago, everything seemed to come around (which, as I have read, is normal).
It’s hard to truly know if my feelings are based on my diet, especially since I’m only running 10% of the mileage I was just a couple months ago. BUT, I have a strong suspicion that it’s related.
For one, I am injured right now. This would typically cause me to be paralyzed with fear and anxiety. Instead? I’m super zen about this ordeal and finding silver linings. If you had asked me 6 months ago what the absolute worst thing in the world would be to happen to me as an elite runner, I would say injury. In fact, when others suggested to me that I should take time off from grad school to train full time, I laughed at the idea because I couldn’t fathom the pressure of trying to stay healthy and what it would feel like to be hurt or have a bad race. On Friday I wrote this in my “feelings” collection: I have never loved my life more than I do right now.” Is it my eating? Not sure, but I did have extreme anxiety the other night only to find out that I had eaten some leftovers (that I didn’t prepare myself) that contained some ingredients I’m not supposed to have. It could be coincidence, but the only real change I have made is my diet, and I have never felt so happy/at peace/ hopeful/ etc. than I do right now.
I also feel insanely fit, which makes no sense to me. I have been aiming for an hour+ of quality aerobic work per day + core or weights + yoga/stretching + rehab work. Sometimes the yoga and strength work get lumped together if I go to a particularly tough class. I have also been tracking my food and macros to ensure that I am eating enough and getting at least 65 - 75 g of fat per day to help my body recover. I am aiming for a 55/25/20(ish) carbs/fat/protein ratio daily and I know that I always meet or exceed my calorie requirements. The crazy thing is that I am losing weight, and weigh less right now than I did the day of the trials. Now, I want to clarify that the point of my diet is not to lose weight. Not by a long shot. But, a major reason I took the food sensitivities test in the first place was because I was dealing with some major bloating and inflammation that was noticeable to me, and was making me feel kind of blah. Since changing my diet, I have noticed a huge difference, and I am experiencing the same effects I had after eliminating the soy. There are two explanations: either the foods I was eating were extremely inflammatory and getting rid of them helped, or I was running too much and my thyroid started to weaken, causing my metabolism to slow. I have noticed that my metabolism seems ramped up right now - I am noticeably hungry every few hours, but not in a bottomless pit sort of way. No matter the reason, I am happy for the change because I feel healthier than I have since early January, when I feel like many of my problems began developing. (note: I do not feel healthier because I have lost weight, I feel healthier because I don’t have fluid retention).
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That leads me to where I’m at with this stubborn “injury.” Today I bit the bullet and finally saw a physical therapist at St. Vincent’s. After 40 minutes of testing my leg strength and a lot of head scratching (apparently I’m really strong for a distance runner! who knew?), it was determined that my right ankle has zero flexibility and was completely locked, causing a lot of my problems. My degree of dorsi flexion was measured, and it was 37 degrees in my left ankle, and only 30 degrees in my right ankle. For reference, a bare minimum of 40 degrees is required to stay healthy. After performing some chiropractic adjustments on both ankles (and experiencing some of the most satisfying pops of my life), my dorsi flexion rose to 40 degrees in the left ankle and 37 degrees in the right. My knee immediately felt better. I have some PT exercises to do and will go back next week. I’m haven’t tried running yet today, but keeping my fingers crossed that it feels better.
The worst part about this injury was that my right leg was feeling “off” for a while. I was having a difficult time running with proper form, and in fact I couldn’t force my right leg to land properly, no matter what I tried. The PT said that my brain knew the inflexibility of my ankle was a problem and was forcing my right leg to compensate so that my toe wouldn’t catch on the ground, causing me to fall. Instead of the typical running motion, my right leg was swinging out, almost like I was doing a weird sweeping shuffle. SUPER interesting stuff.
I’m very hopeful that after all this I’m back to running soon and that all the cycling/pool work/walking I have been doing pays off!
