The post about my shiner and going back to the basics

Day two of captivity.  I am bored! My gaoler is being very accommodating, yes.  But I can see my incessant demands are grating on his nerves.  He is constantly toying with my emotional well being by flaunting his freedom to run and "do hills".  The inhumanity.  I'm not sure how much of this form of torture I can take, but I must continue to trudge along and accept my fate.  I have to keep reminding myself that this is just for now, not forever...Enough grovelling.  I'm actually not bad, just incredibly bored.  Thank goodness I can borrow smut electronically from the local library.  I also have some literature books to read.  I'll get along to them once I'm done my current bodice ripper. Don't judge me.

So I woke up this morning sore as hell.  I supposed I jostled myself really good when I fell yesterday.  I'm sore everywhere.  From my neck, chest, joints.  Everywhere.  My left knee is also nice and swollen from where I skinned it.  I am getting quite the workout though.  We don't have a main floor bathroom and I'm drinking water like it's going out of style.  So up and down the stairs I trudge (ten times so far today).  My left leg muscles are good.  I'm hopping around on one foot most of the time and leaving the crutches because I also managed to skin and bruise the palms of my hands, so the crutches are a touch painful right now.  I'm giving myself a pass on physio exercises today because I'm so sore.  I'm hoping after a good night's sleep, I'll be ready to go tomorrow.  I'm  moving around as much as possible, but it's certainly not the same as running 50K per week.

It looks like my right cheek is stuffed with cotton. Sadly it is not:(

This morning I also woke up with a nice shiner.  The urgent care doctor suspected that I fractured my cheek bone when I slammed my face against the sidewalk yesterday.  It was very swollen and tender to the touch. It's 100x worse today so I reckon she may be right.  I tell you, when I fall I do it right.  No half assed tumbles for me. No sir.  I make sure I injure myself real good.  I always say that if you're gonna do something, give it your best effort! Well to be completely honest, I only started saying that 2 years ago.

I'm confirmed off work for the next week.  Since I fractured my right ankle I can't drive and I need to drive for work.  My follow up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon is next Wednesday morning. My phone conference with my HR department is the next day.  I want to work from home and they want to ensure that my attending physician says I can do light duties from home.  So I have to get my functional abilities form filled out by my doctor next Wednesday.  I never take time off work...or at least very rarely.  Coming off five weeks of vacation and being stuck at home indefinitely is not a recipe for a happy Leigh, I assure you.

So today was my official first day in weight loss mode.  I am following Phase 1.5 of Dr. Poon's Metabolic Diet, minus anything processed or artificial, and I'm allowing for most veggies.  So I'm basically following the Paleo Diet without fruit, nuts and starchier veggies.  I'm sure that it will prove to be successful for me. Basically, I didn't want to give up tomatoes, onions, carrots or colored peppers.  So to keep myself accountable once again, I'm doing my food diary and pictures.  I know, I know.  So exciting.  My eats are boring on a good day. Now that I'm at the mercy of my husband to prepare my meals, they are going to be super basic. I'm definitely the more creative cook in the house.

Back to the basics for weight loss.

 
I'm not going to weigh myself again until my cast comes off for good.  I weighed 166 on the weekend, so we're going with that as my starting weight.  Lets see what happens with a month of eating strictly and working solely on strengthening exercises.  It could be a month, it could be six weeks, we'll find out on Wednesday.  Although I may be blogging more than normal to curtail my boredom, I promise you, the posts will not be exciting.  Proceed at your own risk!

The post about letting go of my marathon dream...for now

This was me yesterday.  Bringing Julien to school for the first day of
grade 1. Going back to work in my fall clothes...

It's incredible how in the space of heart beat everything can change.  I got up early this morning for my run (8K on the schedule).  I made it out my door and down to the end of my street.  There was an elderly lady walking her dog (at 6am), I swerved on the side walk to avoid them, went onto an uneven piece of pavement, and went over on my ankle.  I fell pretty hard and managed to slam the left side of my face against the pavement.  I hobbled home and immediately started icing my ankle and my face.  I knew that my ankle was more than sprained.  I've sprained that ankle numerous times in the past and it's never swelled up quite like this.

I waited until 9am, had my hubby drive me to urgent care, got an x-ray and was informed that yes, I fractured it.  I'm currently sporting a fiberglass splint.  I have to make an appointment for the fracture clinic next week where I will be given another x-ray and assessed by the orthopedic surgeon.  I am in shock.  I cannot believe that I am destined to be lying around for the next month or more.  It's my right ankle and I'm in a non-weight bearing splint.  I can't drive.  All I can do is physio exercises.  So that is what I'll do.

It sucks that I'm going to lose so much running, but this isn't the worst thing that could happen. There will always be other marathons.  I will heal.  I'll have to start at the basics with running again, but I'll progress quickly.  One thing that made me feel good is that the triage nurse asked if I was an athlete.  My resting heart rate is 49.  Because I'm in good shape, I'm confident that when I am able to run again, I'll be able to start training for the Chilly half marathon and the Around the Bay 30K at the end of November.

I refuse to let my muscles turn to mush though.  That is why I'll do my glute, quad, core exercises every single day.  I'm also going to focus on dropping a few pounds.  I'm going to be more strict about my food consumption.  Since I can't train right now, I'm cutting out nuts and fruit from my diet until I can run again.  I want to get leaner and found it hard to drop weight while I was training. Now's my chance.  Instead of making this the worst thing thing that could happen to me, I'm going to try and embrace it as much as I can.   I have my health, my family is healthy and life will go on.

In the top center pick, you can see how swollen my face on the right is.

The post about a long run in the rain, Plum Petals and spaghetti squash Primavera with shrimp

A rainy back ground for a rainy run.

Even though I swore up and down last week that I would NEVER give away my long run again, I let my hubby run yesterday and I put off my run until this morning.  I did this because a) today was a holiday b) It meant that I could rest tomorrow which meant I didn't have to get up at 5:30 am to run because I'm back to work c) if I ran yesterday, I'd only have had 5 days between long runs d) I wanted to run through the Labor Day parade. I knew it was going to rain and I had initially wanted to run early, but I ended up running later (10 am) so I could run with the parade.  I'm part of a union and I only wish I had thought it out more thoroughly and worn a bib with my local on it.  Oh well. Next year.

My run was okay today.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad.  It was a scale back week so I had 19K on my training schedule.  The age old question of did my toes cramp?  Yup.  They cramped at 13K, and again at 17K.  I was able to walk them out both times and resume my run comfortably after about a minute or so.  It was drizzling when I left the house.  It started to full out pour by the time I joined the Labor Day parade at 6K.  It rained pretty steady and hard for a few kilometers. My fingers were getting pruney, that's how soaked I was.  The rain finally let up and by 12K, the sun came out.  It didn't dry me very well.  I was soaked and sweaty.  When I got home I had to wring out my running clothes in my tub.  Lovely.

All in all my pace was decent (7:13) for a LSD (long slow distance).  I did a double loop through the city and had a lot of lights to contend with as well as 8 hills. I also walked out my toes a couple of times and ate half an energy gel at 10K.  This was my first run where I actually ate an energy gel. I usually eat gummies, but ran out and had energy gels left over from the Chilly Half Marathon back in March.  They gave them out on the route and I got bunch that I stuffed in my coat pockets (it was cold).  I wasn't sure if I would like the gels or not.  I tried the lemon flavored Eload and it was decent.  Hubby likes the vanilla flavored Clif Shot gel, so we're both happy.  I have equal amounts of each.  For those of you wondering what gels are, the are used by athletes to replenish lost electrolytes during long periods of stenuous exercise.  I usually use them for any runs over 14K. Everyone's different though.  My hubby uses them for 10K runs (which I think is totally unnecessary).  I think he just likes the taste.

These can be purchased at running stores or health food stores.

I really loved a comment I got on my last post from Ayesha (Plum Petals) at Workin' it Out.  I love all my comments, but hers had me thinking about her today while I ran.

I kept thinking of you today when I got on the treadmill to do my 1 hour cardio session. I didn't jog the whole time, but during my jogging portions I definitely had you as my motivation. 

She lives in Kuwait and is a total inspiration with all the different forms of fitness she does (as well her own weight-loss journey).  She's a Zumba instructor, loves to box, does body pump, crossfit, is studying to become a personal trainer and is also learning the martial art of Kajukenbo.  Any way, bottom line, she is awesome!  Her comment humbled me to think that someone in Kuwait is motivated by me.  How cool is that?

It also made me think about all the incredible people I care about from all over the world.  I have never met any of these people but I feel so invested in their stories, that I feel a total kinship with them.  I read so many blogs and I think about their writers even when I'm not reading their blog posts.  I may not always comment, but I always read, and I think about these individuals often. People from all over Canada, the USA, the Caribbean, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Europe.  It baffles my mind to think of all the inspiration that is out there in blog land.  I appreciate you all more than you know.

Hubby and I went out on a date night Saturday.  We haven't been out in ages.  We decided to go to all you can eat Japanese.  Although I stayed on plan as closely as I could, I have to chalk it up as a cheat night because there were some sauces involved.  Hubby cheated for sure.  He had sushi.  I stuck to sashimi (raw fish, no rice).  But I also ordered stir fried veggies and some meat dishes that had sauces with them.  All you can eat was completely lost on us.  We did not eat that much at all before we were both saying we were stuffed.  It gets to a point when I eat now where I think I just get tired and bored of eating (unless of course there are nuts involved).  I used to eat just for the sake of eating and now I'm at a point in my life where I just don't want to eat anymore.  I'm satisfied, I'm not hungry, and food means something different to me now.  I am thankful for that.  My mind still wanders to binging, but because I stay away from processed carbs and sugar completely, those thoughts are usually easily redirected.

This recipe is for Melodie and can be either Phase 2 friendly (Dr. Poon),
Paleo or Primal, or just good clean eating!

Last night I made a yummy Spaghetti Squash Primavera with Shrimp dish that I adapted from this recipe. I used spaghetti squash in place of regular pasta, used the veggies I had on hand (eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cherry tomatoes) and omitted the Parmesan cheese.  I used red pepper flakes in place of black pepper and I added chopped garlic and about 1/2 cup of white wine.  It was simple and yummy.  Hubby loved it!  It was light but filling.  Jumbo shrimp was on sale at Fortino's last week.

Tomorrow is the first day of school.  Julien has been acting excited about it, but I think he's also anxious.  I know I was when I was going into grade 1!  I'm going to take him with hubby, then I'm headed back to work.  I've been lucky because I've been off most of the summer.  I'm ready to go back though.  The temperatures are looking like a mix of fall and summer over the next week.  I love the fall.  I love that it's Julien's birthday, I love the clothes, the temperature for running, the build up to Christmas.  It's definitely one of my favorite times of year.  The clothes take precedence though.  I get to wear lots of cute jackets which hide my bat wings.  That is definitely one of the best things about fall:)