Change from Monday 11/9/09 : +2
Yes, it's been a while since I checked in, and with good reason - this is the High Season for not only holidays but birthdays, end of soccer season, etc. etc. I won't detail everything from the past three weeks, but here's a run-down of what's been going on:
- some time after the last time I checked in (Monday 11/9), Ness & I decided to start hosting our own Thanksgiving dinner. I've lived in California for 14 years now, and if I managed to stay in CA at the time I've been borrowing everyone else's Thanksgivings since then - and if that includes you then thank you very kindly for making me part of it. However, I felt it was finally time to start building my own tradition, so naturally - that added another thing on top of the march of birthdays and holiday fare at the end of the year that I had to stress over - happily so, as it turns out.
- The week beginning 11/9 was the 2nd-to-last week of Macy's soccer season, and on Sunday 11/15 the team decided to have a party at a local field - the coach rented out the very nice artificial field at Mather Sports Center in Rancho Cordova, CA. We had pizza and cake (I portook modestly, of course), and we played a bit of free-for-all four-team soccer on half the field while the other half was being used by a football team. After cake there was an awards presentation, Macy got a trophy and I got a very nice "thank you" card signed by all the girls to "Coach Dennis" for helping out so much at the end of the season (sniff...) Sometime toward the end of the party the football guys left and we took over the whole field for a full-field game, Happy Feet plus coaches (including me) vs. the Parents/Friends team. Now....it's been about 15 years plus since I played on turf, and I totally forgot about how unforgiving it is. Also...like a total idiot, I had warmed up but didn't do my usual 10-minute stretching routine to get ready (we will undoubtedly review that this week). As a result, I wound up with 4 separate leg injuries from running around trying to get the kids to organize (btw Macy scored once, and I missed two wide-open shots, something I'll hear about for ages now). My ankles have always been bad since I sprained each one pretty badly in the past, and my right knee had been sore since I slightly strained it a few weeks ago goofing around with the kids at practice, that is all routine soreness I deal with on occasion. But the last one was a doozy - there's a muscle that connects your hip with your upper knee called the sartorius muscle. You use it when you bend or flex your hips and knees, a good example of when it's working correctly is if you're able to easily sit in the lotus position for yoga; I currently can not because this muscle is too tight (and now it freakin hurts). A few months back, I had been doing lunges on my right side and felt a slight "pop" come from my hip joint in the front. That was the sartorius on the right side, and it took 3-4 weeks to come back from that to full strength. Well I guess my left side felt left out because I went to make a cut on the turf like I used to 15 years ago and POP, that sartorius went too. The funny thing about this particular injury, it doesn't hurt right away. So I was able to play for another 20 minutes or so after that happened. But about an hour after I stopped playing, it swelled up so badly that combined with the other various aches and pains I had from not stretching, I could barely walk, and it didn't get better without ibuprofen for 3-4 days afterwards. So needless to say, I haven't done much in the way of exercising since then.
- Also on the agenda was Macy's birthday party, exactly one week after the injury occurred. Fortunately I felt well enough to get around on it easily, it was actually the first day I woke up and didn't feel any immediate pain from my lower extremities. Really wish I'd been fit though, would have been nice to bounce around with the kids (we went to Sky High in Rancho).
- Thanksgiving came and went, I made my first turkey among other things, we had some family over and it was a great success. Probably wasn't the greatest time in the world to be injured due to the holiday being practically dedicated to over-consumption, but I took it easy most days before and after so I've managed to maintain my weight somewhat (only gained two more pounds when it could have been much worse).
- Finally, and I have to admit this - I think I got a little sick of this. It's really stressful on top of everything else I do in a day to have to detail every little thing I do PLUS try to find some way to inspire you AND me to keep going. So I took some injury time to go off the ranch, lax up on the tracking a bit, heal up and get some stuff out of my system, particularly Taco Bell and Chipotle. And yeah, Thanksgiving was a food and booze fest. But I know the party's over and today marks the start of getting back on the wagon.
- If anything, this whole ordeal will give us all a good teaching opportunity on how to deal with injuries and how to warm up properly, some advice I wish I had followed a couple weeks ago. We'll get started with that tomorrow.
Diet for Monday 11/30/09:
Breakfast (home)
- Fiber One Original w/fat-free milk
- 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
Breakfast (work)
- Bagel w/"smart butter" spread
- work mug of coffee
Lunch
- Turkey sandwich from Ratto's
- Sun chips harvest cheddar flavor
Dinner
- The Big Chicken Caesar Salad
- 1.5 glasses red wine
Dessert
- 1.5 servings fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt
- 1 cup fat-free pretzels
Exercise for Monday 11/30/09:
- 30 min walking around Oakland
Sleep for Monday 11/30/09:
- 5 hours
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