"No Bake Cookie Oatmeal" Recipe!

2/25: 2 mile run (I have shin splints now)

2/26: 8 miles at a 12:28 pace. I'm pretty sure I looked like I was running from zombies because the look on my face must have been that of horror. I have shin splints, but have to run anyway. Did 8 miles on shin splints, baby! I feel great now. Yesterday was killer, but I feel okay. I don't know if I just ran through it or what. I probably didn't. It's probably going to hurt like a beast tomorrow.

I partially dislocated my right knee last night. I felt it happening and was able to stop my knew rotation mid dislocation and I just collapsed on the floor and put it back in place. Dislocate my right should yesterday morning and my right elbow this evening. oh, and my jaw. I dislocated my jaw joint yesterday. But no amount of running is going to improve that. It's kind of a bad streak, but up till this point I had gone a long time without dislocating.

What I am training for takes just about all the fun out of eating. When deciding what to eat I have to think about what its purpose is. Is this going to repair my muscles? Aid in recovery? Give me energy? Yah, zero fun. But I came up with a few recipes that put the fun back into it. They probably aren't entirely "legal" with what I am training for. But you can only so much before it's too much.

"No Bake Cookie Oatmeal." Basically, I started making no bakes and ate the oatmeal before refrigerating. haha

Here's what I did. It fed a family of four with some left over:

5 cups of water
2.5 cups of oatmeal (the real deal, none of that quick stuff or microwave stuff)
dash of salt for the cooking water
5 Tablespoons of sugar
2.5 Tablespoons of baking cocoa
2 Tablespoons of butter
3-4 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter

I cooked the oatmeal until it was thick. I added the sugar , baking cocoa and butter. Then I took some out because my husband doesn't like PB. Then I added the PB. After putting it in the dishes I topped it with chocolate chips. Life is good again. ;)

Don't mind the invisalign trays in the upper left corner. . .

And no breakfast meal is complete in our house without Mickey Mouse imprinted toast.

I stepped on a piece of glass on Thursday morning. :( So I took off Thurs and Fri to let that heal. I ran 7.6 miles on Saturday. I felt great and felt like I could go further, but I had a date with two little people to see the Lego Movie. Which was doubly awesome, by the way.

Today I ran 5.37 miles and I think I'm wearing out my shoes. One of my toe nails tore half way down. (that isn't why I think my shoes are wearing it. Just happenstance). There is something in my left show that is rubbing against my arch. My "arch" (flat feet woes. . . ). And that's why I think I have worn out my shoes. I bought them a year ago for $200. So I guess it was time for them to be warn out. But at $200, this pass time is an investment!!

Tonight's run was kind of funny. Well, now it is, but it wasn't at the time. I forgot my water bottle and could tell I was starting to feel a little dehydrated. There was a point in the run when all I could think about was pop tarts. I was like, "Seriously, Melissa? Focus! Time. Speed. Steps. Don't dislocate. Poptarts. Strawberry poptarts." And for the next mile all I could do was name every kind of pop tart I knew. Then I knew I needed water.

I'm feeling really good. My legs don't feel like lead weights anymore. I sleep really well now. That is not something that has ever really happened for me. I am so glad for that. It makes life so much easier.

Tomorrow is a 10 mile day, I hope. I normally run in the mornings before my kids wake up, but tomorrow I will be running while my kids do swim lessons. So I will have to go down there mid run to get them showered, etc and back to childwatch. So We'll see how successful I am.

All I can say. . .

All I can say about today is that I ran a 10k. Again. The end. Going to soak my poor legs in a hot bath.

2/18

Good things. I haven't dislocate anything from my waist or lower in I don't even know how long. It's been a long time. I've been focusing so much on my running now that I haven't been doing too much on the strength machines. So I did dislocate my shoulder this morning when I got out of bed. It was pretty miserable.

I was going to take today off to rest, but my legs were just screaming for a run. So I ran for the 40 minutes that my kids were in their swim lessons. And now my body hates me!

I could only run 4.09 because I had to get my kids. Realistically, I dropped them off, then walked to the track then had to end a bit before lessons were over. So I ran a total of 27 minutes.

Mile 1: 10:15
1/8 mile recovery
Mile 2: 11:00
1/8 mile recovery
1/2 mile cool down

I was surprised! My legs felt like lead weights after yesterdays great run and I thought I was running so slow. But it ended up being a 10:15 mile. Then when I started my second running mile, it felt like I was trudging through mud and it was an 11:00 minute mile. Not bad! Now I just have to be able to do that for 26.2 miles in a row. Ha!

A few weeks ago my husband and I were talking about racing and he said, "I think it's physically impossible for the average person to run an 8 minute mile, let alone someone with EDS." I completely forgot the EDS part and just thought on the level of "average person." I thought, I wonder how many people don't even know they can do it because they haven't tried. So I thought I'd give it a try! Not only am I getting there, but I have EDS. Rock on!

2/17

Today was so great! I was feeling a little discouraged on Saturday and feeling disappointed in myself. I would often leave the gym feeling the same as when I came in and frustrated that I hadn't pushed myself harder. But today I did it and with great results.

10K
Mile 1: 9:58
1/8 mile recovery
Mile 2: 10:45
1/8 mile recovery
Mile 3: 11:20
1/8 mile recovery
Mile 4: 10:20
1/2 mile recovery
Mile 5: only ran half because I drank a ton of water during my 1/2 mile recovery and ran half a mile in just under 5 minutes/vomit inducing speed. I didn't vomit, but I knew I would if I didn't stop. So I slowed down significantly, and then walked the rest.

But one HUGE thing happened today. When I was approaching mile 4, I was walking really fast during my "recovery" time and I thought, "If I can walk fast I can certainly run slow." So I started running slow instead of walking fast and I maintained that speed for a while feeling very warn out. And it ended up being my 10:20 mile! I thought I was going super slow and it felt like trudging through mud. So I think my recovery times should be slow running instead of walking and maybe I'll improve my speed as I go! I'll have to try that out on tomorrow's run.


One HUGE thing that kept me going was remembering something from a summer Olympics commercial for Nike. The Olympians in the commercial said, "I don't stop when I'm tired. I stop when I'm finished." So when I was approaching 3/4 of a mile and felt like I couldn't go on, I just said this to myself knowing that the mile mark was when I was done. Trying to get that Olympic spirit into my runs!! ;)

Snowmageddon

We got 22" on Thursday and Friday. Holy smokes! Basically, I didn't run for two days. One night I went out and ran in the snow. It was a great run. Really worked out my legs. But I didn't end up going very far.

But this morning we were finally able to get out of the parking space. But Garren didn't want me to drive. So he drove me to the gym and ran with me. He tried to get me to do 8 minute miles today. I said, "Not quite read for that. . ." But I gave it a try. We did one at 8 minutes then started another, but I could only make 1/3 mile at that pace. Then I slowed down. We averaged about 11 and a half minute miles.

Altogether we ran 4 miles today. Not going to cut it To stick to my plan I was supposed to run a half marathon today with 9 miles at marathon speed. Today's run made me realize I have a lot of hardwork ahead of me. I'm really going to have to stick to it. Can't take off any days.

Also, I think I'm just going to go ahead and make those support wraps. I want to try them. See if I stop focusing on each step so much. My shoes are great (Aesics) and help me feel like I don't need to think about it so much. But I'd like to be a little more reassured.

Judging by the look on my husband's face after mile 1, I think I can do this. He was like, "I'm done!" I said, "I can do this, huh?" He said, "yah. . . " very exhaustedly. :)

Today's stats:
Distance: Four miles and maybe 1/3-1/2 mile
Time: 54 minutes 3 seconds This includes warm up and cool down time
Rate: Average running speed (not including warm up and cool down): 11:30

This won't do! I've decided that in addition to my daily work outs at the gym in the morning before my kids wake up, I will be walking them to and from school and doing sprints home. I'm hoping to increase my speed in these short distances. I'm hoping to build up the endurance during the 2 hour morning work outs. Then finding time to do the weight machines since it's the only thing keeping me in one piece. ugh. This is beginning to feel impossible. I guess if it were easy everyone would do it.

Day 2

Well, today was a disappointment. But I definitely learned something about hydration.

I ran 1/2 mile at a speed of 10 miles per hour and had to stop to get water. Then I stopped about every half mile after that to get water. I thought I hydrated PLENTY after my run yesterday. But I didn't. I've trained for a half marathon and never had this happen to me. But I realized today that when I felt like that before I'd just slow down and run at a comfortable speed. But because I'm really trying to push my speed I've realized that I can't neglect my hydration anymore. It was the craziest thing. I used to be able to get by doing the bare minimum. But now I realize that I can't push myself to what I'm capable of if I don't take better care of myself.

So today was a disappointment. But I did run a total of 3.25 miles. And courtesy of Monty Python, I get a pitiful, "yea. . ."

 

 

 

Today's stats: 3.25 miles

1/2 miles at 10 miles per hour rate

1.5 miles at 6.5 miles per hour rate

1.25 miles (including the warm up and cool down) at 4.5-5 mile per hour rate

 

yea. . . It's a good thing I've given myself a lot of time to figure out these things.

I am devoting a lot of, well all of, my personal time to this. I wake up at 4:30 and go to the gym until 6:30. Every day. I have tried to make more of my work time so I have more time to focus and learn more about my upcoming goals. I have eliminated Facebook and chat from my life, which I miss terribly. I loved keeping in touch with my seamstresses on google chat and seeing what people are up to on FB. But I have been able to get much more work done in the amount of time that I have and am still successful at focusing purely on my children when they are home from school.

New goals

Hello,

I am returning to this blog with new goals and aspirations. A friend said I should aspire to do less sometime and see how it feels. I might try that next year. . . ;)  But anyone who knows me knows I can't sit still and always have a project in the works or a goal I'm trying to reach.

My husband (and daughter) and myself at Blarney Castle in Ireland after the half marathon

My next goal is huge, beyond huge. It's huge for a normal person. Having EDS makes it that much bigger. I won't say what it is yet. I am giving myself 8 weeks to see if it is physically possible, then I will share. If it isn't possible, I will still share, but the disappointment won't feel quite as bad if I can just say, "well, I had this thing I wanted to do and it didn't work out. . . " That's easier to say than building up a dream and then having to face that it won't happen. So all I'm doing right now is taking 8 weeks to even see if it is possible. Then I will work toward it with the actual possibility in mind.

Me with my family right after the race

I am returning to the blog for this for several reasons. One is to keep track of my progress. If this does pan out, I'm going to want to see the progress I've made. And two, I need help from my fellow EDSers who know what it feels like, have experienced all of the aches and pains and dislocations, and also encouragement from those who have experienced what I have and overcome it through exercise.

I'll start here: It involves running. And fast. Very fast. For long distances. I have avoided all injuries in my marathon training and also have avoided any injuries since then as I have continued to run. I have learned how to run and focus on my ankles to make sure I avoid injuries. This extreme focus does slow me down. So now that I need to focus more on my speed and can't slow down I fear injury. A couple of posts ago I told you about my sister in law who makes Crossfit wristwraps. I've contacted her to see if she'd make me some for my ankles and see if that eases my mind when I run. I haven't heard back from her yet as they have recently had a death in the family. But I'm hoping after a few days she'll be able to be of some help to me as my "training" is now in FULL swing. In the mean time, I am using an ace bandage, but it's too much. Too bulky. Even if I cut it down in size. It's a lot wider that I would like around my ankles.

My mom and I before the race. My favorite pic :)

So my question is: what do you use for ankle support? Have you made anything yourself that helps? I may try making my own support straps. Is there  product or tape that you like to use? I haven't had to use any tapes yet to keep my joints together or from dislocating, but I am not opposed to it. So if anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear about them!

And today's results:

Total miles run: 5.34
Time: 50:15
break down: .5 warm up mile at 5-6 miles per hour, one full mile at 9 miles per hour 3.5 miles at 7.5 miles per hour, .34 miles cool down at 4.5-5 miles per hour speed.

I felt great when I had to finish my run, but I had to go home as my kids were going to be waking up. I plan to go in to the gym earlier tomorrow and see if I can maintain an 8 mile per hour speed for as long a distance as I can before I have to go home when my kids wake up. It's been 7 hours since I did this run and my legs don't hurt at all. I probably could have gone on for a long time. After the 9 mile per hour mile I did feel like I was going to die. :) but When I was running at 7.5 miles per hour and got into the second mile, I started to get into the groove and felt like I could run for hours.

My mom and my son on the Luas (public transportation in Dublin)

 

I know the doctors have been telling us not to run and not to do high impact, but I have never felt better. I dislocate extremely rarely now. I feel great and I don't feel loose when I walk. I feel strong and capable of anything! I don't know if I'll be paying for this later, but it has made me a better mom now. I can play with my kids, I can take care of my family because I physically feel well.

 

Let me know what straps or tapes or supports you use and recommend. I look forward to hearing from you and trying out new products.

M.