Saturday, December 18, 2010

Gym Update

Today was my fourth 5K. In my next entry, I will give the full race report. My previous race was on March 20, 2010. I had six months of running behind me and thought I should work on my speed. My speed work was the beginning of the end of running for a while for me. I started the speed work soon after my third race and the same day I started speed work I started having some nagging pain on the inside of my right knee.

I kept resting my knee, icing it, and compressing it without any success. Ibuprofen didn't give me much relief either.

I finally went to physical therapy after a few months and that helped a lot. I also learned to swim and that was a tremendous aid in my recovery.

My physical therapist Nita explained to me that my hamstrings and thigh muscles were weak and needed to be strengthened. I hated strength training back then and thought it so boring.

Nita and the orthopedist I visited thought that my knee itself was fine and that I'd strained my thigh muscles. After physical therapy and working out on the big machines I started to like the way my knee felt. It felt stronger and I liked that my muscles started to look more toned.

I decided to join a nearby gym to prevent re-injury. I didn't know how to use any of the equipment so I hired a trainer. Her name is Ildi McShae and I love her; she has helped me so much. Unfortunately though, I never have the time to run more than once or twice a week and it's usually on a treadmill.

Nevertheless, I have had great success at the gym. I love strength training. I used to be a hater (of strength training.) :)

I have made some minor changes in my diet upon Ildi's suggestions and my body fat has decreased from 27% to 16 %. I attribute that to aiming for 30 grams of protein per meal. One major factor, too, is that I consume a one egg/four egg white omelet six days a week, at the least. I throw in a little salt, freshly ground coarse pepper, onions, and yellow, green, orange, or red peppers. It is so filling, low in calories, and cheap. The other thing I've done is to decrease my sugar consumption. I don't crave it the way I used to now that I'm consuming more protein.

I also eat roasted chicken breast and a huge salad for dinner every night. I eat my heaviest meal at lunch and not at dinner. Additionally, I consume no carbs after 3 PM in general. Ildi explained to me that carbs are not needed after 3 PM and that "they just stick to your gut."

I've also lost an inch of my waist, dropped two dress sizes. The width of my hips has decrease as well as my brasserie size. TMI? Sorry. I'm a nurse.
:)


Race report to follow.

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