Plantar Fasciitis

Lunch!

Friday Lunch

Lunch today was a simple spread.

I enjoyed homemade tuna salad on top of a toasted bagel with green peppers and smoked almonds on the side.

Tuna Salad

Fishy Bagelwich

Good-for-Me Fats

I followed this yummy lunch up with a quick trip to Mochi.

Ryan was downtown visiting the DMV and when I received his text requesting a Mochi meet up, I jumped at the chance to join him for a quick 15-minute fro yo date!

I opted for cake batter/cheesecake swirl frozen yogurt, topped with mango, strawberries, rainbow sprinkles and cheesecake bits.

Mooooochi

Ryan and I also swung by Starbucks to share a grande Tazo Chai Créme Frappuccino because we’re sweet-tooth soul mates.

Chai Tea Frapp

Those of you non-coffee lovers should give this lil’ baby a try. It’s delish!

I enjoyed most all of the whipped cream and about a third of the Frapp.

Yum!

Now on to some less-than-exciting news…

Plantar Fasciitis

This just in: I may have plantar fasciitis. 😦

Yesterday around noon, I started to experience pain in my left heel.

I thought it was kind of odd and figured it would probably dissipate by the evening.

Unfortunately that was not the case.

I went to bed thinking it might feel better in the morning… Not so.

It doesn’t hurt at all when I am sitting, and the pain is pretty dull when I’m standing, but when I walk or run, the pain becomes fairly intense.

After BodyPump this morning, I approached the instructor (who is a personal trainer, marathon runner and knowledgeable about muscles and sports-related injuries) to ask for her insight about my pain.

After explaining where I felt pain and when the pain started (several hours after my morning run), she said it sounded a lot like plantar fasciitis, a condition characterized by inflammation of the band of tissue that connects the heel to the toes.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition is “particularly common in runners.”

• The good news: Ninety percent of people recover from plantar fasciitis.
• The bad news: Recovery usually takes several months.

This doesn’t exactly mesh well with my half marathon training plan.

I am really, really bummed. I am supposed to do a long run (10 miles) in the morning and I don’t see how that’s going to be possible if my heel still feels this pained.

I really want to run the half marathon in Chicago on August 1. I am hoping with all of my heart that the pain will be a passing pain that goes away soon. Cross your fingers!

In the mean time, I plan to ice my heel, stretch it and massage it.

I want to keep my cardiovascular strength up just in case the pain goes away in time for the half, so I will follow the advice of several orthopedic and running articles I read and supplement my running with cross training (swimming, biking, elliptical) until I feel like my heel is healed (Gotta love a good pun!).

I am trying not to be too dramatic about this injury, but I cannot help but remember when I had bursitis in my hip and literally couldn’t walk without pain for an entire summer. It was miserable and I was so upset. I don’t like not being able to walk without discomfort since walking is such a huge part of daily life and poor Sadie needs her morning walks!

"What am I supposed to do? Walk MYSELF!?"

I’m trying my best to look at this as simply an obstacle I must overcome.

It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, though it’s really upsetting to me right now. I’m mostly upset because I’m supposed to be running the half marathon with my girlfriends at the conclusion of my bachelorette party in Chicago and I was really looking forward to doing something so neat with all of them.

Bummer!

I am injured, injured bad. 😉 (<– Click that link for a flippin’ adorable video that you’ve probably seen 5 billion times already.)

Question of the Afternoon?

Have you ever been sidelined from a sport or athletic training plan due to an injury? How did you cope?

(If any of you out there have experienced plantar fasciitis, please, please let me know how long it took for you to heal and how you recovered!)

I Got My Braces Off!

Today I feel like an eighth grader.

I got my braces off!!! 😀

No More Brace Face

(The cup I’m holding is the awesome eco-friendly reusable coffee cup from my orthodontist that I got back in December. LOVE it. Best promotional item everrr.)

Bright and early this morning I headed over to my orthodontist’s office to get my braces off!

For those of you who are new to the zee blog, I’ve been going through Invisalign (clear braces) treatment since April 2009 and now, 15 months later, I’m D-O-N-E!

I can’t help but  remember the days when one of my friends from junior high or high school got their braces off.

“My teeth feel so slick and slippery!”

They always seemed so happy and relieved to no longer be a metal mouth.

Though I never had a “metal mouth,” I am happy that I will no longer have “attachments” on my teeth that stick out awkwardly. I’m happy that I will no longer have to brush two sets of teeth (my real ones and my aligners) every day.

Just in case any of you out there are considering Invisalign, I do want to add that overall my experience was very positive. It probably helps that my orthodontist was basically the jam and promised me she would work with me until I was 100 percent satisfied.

As far as pain and discomfort are concerned, I honestly experienced very little. Overall, I’d highly recommend Invisalign to anyone who is a candidate (unfortunately Invisalign is not right for everyone, such as those patients with serious crowding, etc.).

Workout + Breakfast

Before high-tailing it to my orthodontist’s office, I hit the gym to take my usual 5:45 a.m. BodyPump class.

It was a doozy! I’m not sure why, but I’m really feelin’ the song played during the squat track. It’s so flippin’ catchy!

After pumpin’ it up, I headed home to shower and make myself a super-speedy breakfast.

Friday Breakfast

On the menu today was a banana and a veggie bacon and cheese English muffin sandwich made with MorningStar Farms veggie bacon strips and a wedge of Laughing Cow light original Swiss cheese.

Simple 'n' Speedy

“Git in mah belly!!!”

Question of the Day

If you had braces, do you remember the day you got your braces off? How did it feel?