Category Archives: Workouts

One-Legged Karen

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I spend a lot of time focusing on what I can’t do with this broken leg. It’s toxic, and I know it, but I fuel my own anger and frustration because I just don’t have my usual outlets in the form that I’m used to.

Is she really writing about this broken leg thing again? Geez, doesn’t she care about anything else any more? I don’t come here to read whining about injuries that don’t relate to me.

Yes, I’m still writing about my broken leg. I’m sorry. It’s all-consuming right now since I spend a lot of time sitting and thinking about it or struggling with it when I’m trying to do something and drop my crutches or fall over or hurt myself some other way. It’s also easy to fall in the trap since I’m not able to do just regular things as quickly or as easily as I have in the past.

But there are a lot of things that I can do and appreciate, and there is a bright side to the whole broken leg thing.

For example, last night I did Karen in CrossFit. That’s 150 wall balls.

Here’s what wall balls look like:

I did them seated with one leg–and I’m pretty sure it was WAY harder than being able to use two legs. It took me 14:38 to finish. I was the last one working, but I did it.

I was planning on stopping at 75, but I noticed a lot more people (uninjured) were still working. So I figured I’d just continue until I couldn’t or until everyone else was finished. I was at 121 by the time the last person finished, so the coach told me to just keep on going since I was so close to 150. It was not easy. I used a 12# ball, but my elbows are a little worse for the wear this morning.

During a normal “wall ball,” your squat as you catch it, which distributes the weight of the catch throughout your whole body. When you can’t squat down with the catch to distribute the blow, it makes the wall ball much more difficult (in my opinion).

My new “cast off” date is supposed to be June 26. I say “supposed” to be because we all know what happened last time. Hopefully, I’ll be running again by the fall, so I can participate in the annual “Run Like Hell” at the Oakland Cemetery. Maybe I’ll start crafting my costume early since I have all this time on my hands.

 

Beach Vacation and Cast Off!

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Hey! Long time, no see. Sean and I took a break from real life (sort of), and headed to the beach last week with his family. We spent a week in Garden City, SC, a little beach just south of Myrtle Beach. I like it a lot there. We visited Sean’s parents for a weekend a few years ago when they were there, and it was nice to go back and stay for an extended period.

Garden City Beach, South Carolina

It was a lot less fun than it could have been since I’m still in a cast, but we tried to make the best of it. I hate the feeling of constantly being in the way, and that’s definitely how I felt crutching around. But, I did get to go out on the beach and sink my toes in the sand. The house we stayed in was right on the coast, so it made getting out there a lot easier!

Broken Leg on the Beach

Check out the bag over my broken leg.

The weather didn’t cooperate the whole time, so Sean and I ventured out to shop around, took naps, and played games with the family. We made a stop at the Tervis Tumbler store and I got myself a new water bottle, because you can never have too many water bottles. We also went through an ENORMOUS candy store. I made a point to try a little bit of everything. Sour gummies are the bomb.

The rain was a bit of a damper on beach time, but afterward it meant the sand was hard enough for me to crutch out and stick one set of toes in the ocean for approximately 5 seconds and then smile the cheesiest smile ever because Sean never gives me a warning when he’s going to take the picture. Men.

Crutching on the Beach with a Broken Leg

We decided to leave Friday afternoon since the weather had been gloomy all day. As soon as we got in the car, the clouds went away and it was sunny and nice. Classic. We made it home around 10:30pm and crashed for the night. I was too tired to head to CrossFit on Saturday. That’s generally not characteristic of me, but I could barely crutch around the house without falling all over myself. I didn’t want to injure myself even more with a tired, clumsy mistake at the gym.

We ended up taking about a 4-hour nap Saturday morning/afternoon, and then had the most delicious lunch ever–PB&J sandwiches, apple sauce, and broccoli slaw. Hello, childhood.

It’s going to be hard getting back into the groove of work this week, but I have something to look forward to…

Wednesday morning is CAST OFF! I’m so excited at the prospect of standing on two legs, walking up the stairs, and doing things for myself. It will be glorious!

Broken Leg Crutches

Happy Monday!

Vegetarianism and Broken Bones

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After breaking my leg, I got a lot of feedback from people that my diet was the culprit of my injury or that my diet was going to impede my recovery. I’ll admit, it did have me worried, so I scoured the internet for information on it. I even found a website called Ask a Nutritionist, and asked a question about the issue. I was really surprised to find my question was answered:

Question:

I have never broken a bone before in my life. Two years ago, I decided to become a vegetarian. I’m very active–in the gym, playing soccer, running–and recently broke my fibula playing soccer. Family members kept telling me that my diet is weakening my bones (lack of animno acids, regular protein, etc.). Are they right? Does a vegetarian diet put you at risk for things like osteoporosis and broken bones?

Answer:

Currently there is conflicting evidence whether vegetarian diets can lead to lower bone mineral density. Some studies have suggested vegetarians are at higher risk than meat eaters, whilst other studies say the opposite.

What has been shown is that people who consume large amounts of protein are actually at a higher risk of osteoporosis than others. Consuming large amounts of protein can result in a more acidic blood PH, and the calcium in the bone is often used as a buffering agent to normalise blood PH.

Consuming sufficient Calcium and Vitamin D is more important as vegetarians can be deficient in these two nutrients. It is worthwhile making sure you do plan your diet to include these nutrients, as the bulk of scientific research shows that these are important factors in bone development.

Other important factors for building strong bones, are engaging in weight bearing exercise, avoiding alcohol, soft drinks and not smoking, all of which you already do. Overall I think that you are following a healthier lifestyle than most, and with that the overall health of your bones is likely to be better than most. Sports injuries occur to the best of athletes, and realistically I think you can put your injury down to bad luck, rather than your diet choice.

To help my body speed the process along, I’ve been taking extra calcium and vitamin D and trying to load my diet with foods rich in those nutrients. Here’s to hopping on board the train to healing!