Runners that need some nutritional accountability
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I've been trying to use up the protein powder and BCAA powder I have on hand so that I can switch more permanently to "real" foods 100%. I've been doing pretty well the last 3 months with an all animal diet (except coffee with sucralose and cinnamon added). And since I need to lose some body fat at the moment, I've been trying to combine these 2 things. Mon. and Wed. this week, I just had coffee and protein powder (also BCAA powder Wed.).
Today, I am having my normal breakfast coffee and had a meat / cheese stick already this morning for a snack. For lunch, I'll cook up some chicken breast on the counter-top grill (probably will take some BCAA powder to better help that protein synthesize). For dinner, I haven't decided yet between more chicken breast or eggs and sausage. It will probably depend quite a bit on how I feel, but I'm betting I'll choose the higher fat option (eggs and sausage) unless I don't feel the energy to cook it. Throwing chicken breast on the counter-top grill is easier and faster. Tonight's plan calls for 8-10 miles, which is towards the high side for distance right now as I continue to ramp up.1 -
Less running = less rungries, so I'm just kind of going with that while I figure out my racing situation for the rest of the year. My IT band is giving me fits, so lots of rolling and two easy recovery runs so far.1
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Breakfast today = more oatmeal & fruit. I'm out of frozen blueberries now, need to pick up more today or tomorrow.
Lunch will be out. Probably a chicken souvlaki wrap, around 500-600 calories but I'm doing intervals tonight so I have the calories.
Supper is baked potato with bacon. And other toppings of goodness. And maybe a side of honeydew.
No idea about the weekend. In-laws will be here and they kind of take over the kitchen. I'm hoping my father in law gets a bee in his bonnet about my broken KitchenAid mixer and fixes it, haha.2 -
@fitoverfortymom Something I've learned with my ITB issue is that 1) the ITB itself is not very stretchy, 2) stretch surrounding muscles like the glutes, hip flexors, hamstrings ect and that may also offer some relief. (For me it's that dang hip flexor).
Of course, I am assuming yours is at the hip that bothers you. If it's at the knee @7lenny7 would be the guru for that knowledge.
Good luck with it!0 -
@Elise4270 It starts in lower back and hip. I also get a niggle on the inside of my knee, but that usually resolves with rest.0
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fitoverfortymom wrote: »@Elise4270 It starts in lower back and hip. I also get a niggle on the inside of my knee, but that usually resolves with rest.
That's how mine started. But I had outside knee pain.
Definitely try stretching the ITB and surrounding tissue, I like the obers stretch, Thomas stretch and another one that i like (and seems to be my docs favorite) is the opposite of obers. I may have a pic of it on my PT paperwork I can share. I can't remember what it's called.
I saw you mentioned the possibility of a PT visit in the MRC thread. I think that's always a good idea.
ETA I have a pelvic lock thing that happens and it always aggravates my ITB/hip flexor/SI joint (which could be some of your pain). The cat/cow is excellent for that.
And the stretch is called lying pigeon.0 -
@fitoverfortymom where is your ITB pain showing up? My ITB issue was caused by weak glutes and showed up as a sharp pain on the outside of my right knee, just above the midline. The PT had me run on a treadmill and recorded it in super-slo-mo and determined that I had a 7 degree hip drop, which caused the ITB on the opposite side of the dropped hip to take on more tension than it was ready for. I've been given glute and core workouts to do three times per week. Each time I see my PT she gives me progressively harder exercises. I've been amazed with the results. I've never had such strong *kitten* muscles or abs in my life.
She also told me to increase my cadence from 160 to 170 (eventually to get to 180) as that would decrease stress.
Work on properly foot landing under the hips, not in front of the hips. If you have your ankle, knees, and hips in perfect vertical alignment when you land, then all three joints will help absorb the impact.
For good running posture, run tall, as if there was a string on the top of your head pulling you up. This is more challenging on trails than on pavement.
Run with your hips thrust forward to help engage the glutes. As @Stoshew71 says, imagine clenching a quarter between your cheeks when you run as well. This also helps engage your glutes.
When mine ITB issue first popped up I was told to stop running trails until I started seeing improvement. The doc said I could run through minor pain, but to stop when it gets sharp. I think he said on a scale of 1-10 I could run at 2 to 3 pain, but not 4 or higher. I don't know what that means, but I have a pretty good sense of what I can run through and what I can't.
While most of my Zumbro race was power hiking, it was on pretty tough terrain and I'm happy to report my ITB was never an issue the entire day. I had plenty of issues, but thankfully that was not one of them.
Gook luck and let us know how it goes!
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Dodo... I hate it when it pops up some one replied and you are in the middle of a reply and it thinks you wanna go read the reply and lose everything.
Ok.... I second @7lenny7 suggestion on cadance.
The butt quarter thing didn't work for me. I wonder if that works on a male pelvis?
For me I had to get okay with walking like a girl. If I allow myself to swing my hips just a little, engage the obliques and glutes, get my elbows up, I actually can feel everything engage, even my lower abs. I also remember the skateboarding push off. It's a lot to think about, but luckily I'm mostly walking.
Of course you don't want to overdo the swing. Or it may not even apply to your imbalances.0 -
@Elise4270 The pain extends down the outside of my leg, but then feels like it crosses to the inside. It's definitely IT band tightness on the side, though.
@7lenny7 I've been to PT before when I tore my MCL several years ago. I was severely overweight, so most of the exercises were focused on very basic core strength to relieve it. I wonder now that I'm an athlete and running is extremely important to me if the PT approach will be different and include something like evaluating my stride and cadence. I would LOVE to have stronger glutes and abs! I do the quarter-*kitten*-cheek thing when I take on hills, so I'll keep that in mind as I'm just tooling around.
It actually hurts more at rest. I've done two short runs since my race on Saturday. It was a little tender, but nothing sharp that made me stop in my tracks. The first run was on pavement, the second on trail. It0 -
The butt quarter thing didn't work for me. I wonder if that works on a male pelvis?
That I don't know. I do know that to train muscles to fire which aren't used to firing, clenching them helps. In some of my exercises (Superman) I was getting my hamstrings firing and interfering with my glutes so she had me clench the glutes before the exercise and that helped quite a bit.
The same concept applies to the quarter thing. It initiates a butt clench to consciously fire your glute and in time, they'll fire without thinking about it. Pushing the hips forward also helps because it makes your glutes easier to fire, while improving posture.
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The butt quarter thing didn't work for me. I wonder if that works on a male pelvis?
That I don't know. I do know that to train muscles to fire which aren't used to firing, clenching them helps. In some of my exercises (Superman) I was getting my hamstrings firing and interfering with my glutes so she had me clench the glutes before the exercise and that helped quite a bit.
The same concept applies to the quarter thing. It initiates a butt clench to consciously fire your glute and in time, they'll fire without thinking about it. Pushing the hips forward also helps because it makes your glutes easier to fire, while improving posture.
I'll keep that in mind. It may be the way I just mentally process the quarter. I feel like I'm trying to hold a poop.
But I do have some misfiring... The pelvic floor muscles engage and don't relax. That might be why I don't feel the contract/release of the glutes unless I make my core engage. There was some pudendal nerve scaring, so that could be why my experience is a bit different. Kids- they'll ruin you from the inside out.
I also have the very same problem with the hamstrings.0 -
I'm sure most of my problem is the fact that one day I just decided to run, got some shoes, and have been going ever since (almost a year now, I think). I've put very little thought into it...well, I've put much MORE thought into it now, but I also kind of wing it sometimes and try different things on my run to see what works. Sometimes things work well and I improve, other times not so much so I try different things.
I do know though, that when pain wakes you from sleep you should probably do something about that, so that's what I'm going to do!0 -
A sling shot is a great way to get your glutes firing. I use one to warm up on glute day. Never tried before a run though. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B014GNPY5W/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=12
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RunsOnEspresso wrote: »A sling shot is a great way to get your glutes firing. I use one to warm up on glute day. Never tried before a run though. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B014GNPY5W/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Ha! My first thought was you were talking about the swimsuit. I wondered how that would work.
I do something very similar at work but I use one of the cheap fitness bands, cut to length and tied in loop. I use it while I'm sitting at my desk, either doing isos by holding my knees apart or doing reps by slowly moving them in and out. I have to put it above my knees because putting it below my knees just aggravates my ITB. It does a great job on the glute medius
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I have a very bad pronation on my right side where my ankle collapses in taking my knee with it. This is the root cause of the problems I have all on my right side. The orthotics help as do all the strength training but my hip flexor gets very tight. The chiropractor had me start with a kneeling pigeon pose and work into the lying pigeon pose. It is amazing how much that has helped. I also do glute bridges (double and single leg), double, single and side planks and donkey kicks pretty much every day. I was having lots of hamstring pain (right side) but have never, thankfully, had an ITB issue. Doing all of that above religiously has helped significantly. I have also found that the quarter squeeze doesn't do much for me but when I improve my posture (making sure my shoulders are squeezed back) and drawing in my abs tightly, my glute engage more and my stride improves.
I tried the Tera's Whey protein powder. I put it in my pancakes yesterday and couldn't taste it at all. Today I mixed it into my Greek yogurt (saw it in one of the reviews). It made the yogurt a bit thicker but the taste was great. It really doesn't have that protein after taste I have come to expect. I just wish it wasn't so dang expensive!
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Today's foods...
Breakfast coffee with some ghee.
Lunch? Not really sure. I grabbed some protein drinks. I over ate yesterday, fried chicken. So I'm not super hungry today. Maybe a tuna salad from Subway if I decide I'm peckish. Fishy Friday.
Dinner? No plans. (Still a stand off, and I'm out of town all next week- so I'm waving my arms like i just don't care). If it's up to dh, and he has no meetings tonight, it could be veggie pizza. Which I now can limit myself too one or two peices easily. Better.
I do think I'll try to "run" after work. I have some tightness/soreness about the peroneal tendon/maybe muscle, (lower outside North of ankle). I'm sure it's my gait. So I'll run with care.
What's everyone else eating?0 -
Breakfast of champions for me. Tim Hortons oatmeal and a hash brown...
No idea about lunch. I'm hoping to leave work early if I can finish signing off some validations and entering some sample results by noonish.
And then I get to go shoe shopping and then I'm going to find the muddiest, sloppiest trail I can find and go try out my new shoes.
My weight is trending down this week so that's a yay.1 -
I forgot coffee for work so I got a caramel macchiato. Last day of work before vacation so I figured it was a good treat. LOL1
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Today, I'm having coffee for breakfast, zero carb protein powder for lunch and dinner. I may not use all of my powder up this month anyway.
Yesterday was a disaster... I woke up early AM with low BG several times and kept having to add glucose tablets to treat. Coffee for breakfast. During the work day, I was so hangry all day that I ended up getting several items from vending - all meat / cheese, but the flavorings and cheese had carbs. I had boneless skinless chicken breast for lunch (perhaps the only good part of the day). Since I was going to be running with some higher intensities mixed in, I had a UCan bar and reduced basal rates hours before running. That worked pretty well and I started the run with high BG to end at a normal / good BG... but spiked again as soon as I finished. Then ate >1,300 calories of sausage for dinner. After the run, I was still within calorie goals despite that carbs were quite high (50g net carbs for the day).1
