NPR Fitness Group

[Phoebe]

Nice work! Yeah it feels much better to be the weight you want when it's a strong weight, born of doing nice things for yourself!

[Tahlvin]

Yeah, Eliahad! Keep it up!

[Tahlvin]

There may be a slight derailment in my fitness routine. I think I broke my little toe on my right foot. Stubbed it against a chair this morning (after my morning workout and run), and it's swollen, bruised, and hurts like the dickens. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be 90 minutes of yoga followed by a short 4 mile run, so I'll see whether it's able to handle the lower impact routine or not.

[Tahlvin]

Yep, it's broken or something along those lines. I was able to do yoga this morning with a few modifications and only skipping a few poses that required aggressive balancing on one leg. But I couldn't even do a brisk walking pace, let alone a jogging or running pace. So it looks like I'll be taking a little break from walking/running.

[Mike]

Oh no! That sucks.

[Phoebe]

Oooh - what happened today? Not good for runner to break toe!!!

[Tahlvin]

Not sure if it's broken, dislocated, just jammed, or what. Was moving it around a little bit in the shower while trying to wash between my toes and felt it pop a little bit, and it's hurting a LITTLE bit less after that, but that may just be me getting used to the pain and starting to tune it out most of the time. I did pull on it yesterday after stubbing it, and it seemed to pop a few times, but evidently didn't stay in place. The toe itself is dark purple and a little swollen, and the bruising extends almost all the way over to the toe next to the big toe along the top of the foot. I need to ice it again and see if that helps any.

[Tahlvin]

Absolutely no working out or running for a week, and I've gained 5 pounds during that week, but I think that's leveling out. I certainly need to be much more careful about how much I eat when I'm not exercising daily.

Meanwhile, the toe is improving, but still a bit swollen and sore. I'm going to wait until Monday to start working out again, and I'll see if I'm able to start running at that point or if I need to do the stationary bike for a week or two before I start running.

[Mike]

Oh that sucks, T. I mean, obviously you'll get through it and be right back on track in a couple weeks, but it can be demoralizing to lose progress like that.

[Mike]

So now I'm making a decision. I'm up to 5 miles a day, walking. I just did 5 yesterday for the first time, and my problem is that it was pretty easy. I can see that after a week of walking 5 miles a day, it's not going to be challenging. It will be great for me, but I want to keep improving. I have 3 options:

1. Walk more. But 5 miles is already just over an hour. I can go a little longer, but there's a limit. I can't give up too much time. I mean, I started all this with getting up at 4:45 to do my morning walk, and then pushed that time back as I added more distance, but again, there's a limit.

2. Run. But I hate running. I tried running this morning, and it was effective, but I just hate it.

3. Go full Bill and just add some leg weights.

I'm leaning towards the weights. But the running would also be good for me if it didn't suck so much.

[Tahlvin]

I'm a big fan of running for the calorie burn and cardio benefits, but realize it's definitely not for everyone, either for preference or due to health reasons. I also think adding some resistance to your fitness routine is a good idea as well. So if you don't want to run, and walking more than 5 miles doesn't make sense for you, then adding some weight work would be a good idea. Holding weights while doing leg squats, doing some push ups, some arm and shoulder work, some assisted pull-ups if you're able. Start with light weights and try for 12-15 reps per set. If you eventually want to build some muscle mass, rather than lean muscle, increase the weights to where you can do 8-10 reps max per set.

[Phoebe]

YES! LIFT HEAVY!!!

For light stuff in high reps, if you have a cat, the "Cats Pride" litter in the green jug is the cheap kind and it is THE best lightweight kettlebell in the world, preferable even to real kettlebells. Alternating one arm snatches of that cat litter, or lunges while holding one aloft? Perfect. It has the most comfortable handle to the point that surely they must have designed it for this purpose as well. This is as much of a fallacy as other intelligent design hypotheses, but damn is that a great handle.

[Tahlvin]

Started working out again this morning. The strength training workout went fine. Then I ran 4 miles at a slow (for me) 6.5 mph pace. I got the pace up to 7 mph, but the toes started hurting a little too much after maintaining that pace for about 1.5 miles, so I backed it back down to 6.5 mph. The toe is a little tender after the run, but didn't hurt too much during or after, so hopefully I didn't do any additional damage to it. But it still feels weird, almost like I tore some tendons or ligaments in it, and it's just a small sack of flesh containing some bones that is flopping around on the side of my foot. I think I'll try to get an appointment with the doctor just to make sure there isn't something seriously wrong with it.

[Stan]

[Phoebe]

[Tahlvin]

Saw the doctor this morning, and they took an X-ray. The first bone of the toe, the bone that's up in the foot, is fractured. It's showing early signs of healing, and there's not much else to really do for it. So I need to wear shoes with good support. When I run, I can tape it to the toe next to it for extra support if I want, but that's not critical. I just need to run every other day instead of every day, keep the distances and speeds low to start out and gradually work up. But at least I can keep running.

[Phoebe]

Good news! And bad news, but also good news! Glad it is healing and heal-able.

Regarding cheap kettlebells, I seriously think I have tried for kettlebell substitution purposes. If you have a cat or a need to use litter to soak things up, keep two of these in stock at all times - bonus, you'll never run out of litter in a pinch - and you'll have the ideal 15 lb kettlebell set. You can use just one at a time, or both. Pretty much every exercise you can do with a KB is great, and basically fun. Swinging a cat litter jug around only enhances the experience.

[FlameBlade]

Saturday to SAturday this week, I'm kidless and wifeless, so I have a lot of freedom. Gonna be interesting.

Sunday: went disc golfing, played two different courses, did some fieldwork. Then went on a looooooong walk. Probably total 10 miles of walking/hiking.

Monday: Left work at noon, played two courses in the afternoon, followed up with some fieldwork to figure out some mechanics, then sword class. Arrived home extremely hungry and tired.

Tuesday, eyeing a course in the heavily wooded/hilly area, will be fun.

Wednesday -- planning on skipping day of work, and play 27-hole course in a state park.

[Tahlvin]

Skipped my plyometric workout this morning, in order to give my foot a break, and instead spent an hour on the stationary bike. I should be able to keep up with most of my other P90X workouts.

[Phoebe]

Actual photo of Tahlvin's foot: