Not a Lot of This and Not a Lot of That Friday

Figured I'd post on my journal even though there's not much to post as I'm still nursing my bum ankle which doesn't hurt  as much as  last Sunday, but still get twinges here and there so still taking it easy.  Didn't do the stairs at all Monday which killed me but did do them Tue, Wed & Thu, and did allright but had to gently walk down them which took forever and didn't do nearly half as many as I'd liked to have but reminded myself I was in healing mode.

Healing mode hasn't been that bad actually as I've been forcing myself to get at least 8 hours sleep a night which my body agrees with.  My diet's been 100% spot on with an emphasis on more Omega threes from Salmon and Chia Seeds as well as a nightly portion of chicken broth.  Why chicken broth you ask?  Why I'll tell you.  Broth has collagen and anti inflammatory benefits which makes it worth its weight in gold to me.  I always have some on hand and keep them in individual freezer bags in the freezer and take them out whenever I feel a cold coming on or an injury.  Making it is super easy too as all I do is put the bones in the crock pot, cover with water, add a little apple cider vinegar and let it simmer on low for 24 hours.  Strain, refrigerate until solid and then voila, broth on demand and in nifty single servings.  I've also been increasing turmeric in my diet and according to Zach Bitter it does help with injuries and part of his protocol.  Will be interesting to see how Zach treats the Achilles flareup he got his weekend after Breaking yet another record in the ultra-running community.  Another staple I've been having is my nifty coconut hot chocolate (ingredients in the photo above).  So easy to make and super delicious.  1 cup coconut milk, 1 heaping teaspoon cocoa power, dash cinnamon, dash vanilla and a teaspoon of raw honey, warm it up and you have a great cup of cocoa that's not only delicious but healthy too.  Not sure if it will help my ankle but its helped my spirits and my throat which has been sore lately due to allergies.

During my down time, I've added a couple of new things to my running/working/other bird clothing collection including the nifty Easter Socks above (notice me elevating my ankle)  ;-)

And of course being a birder  I had to see if I could ID them so imagine my delight when I thought I had a Boat-tailed Grackle!  Having my doubts now as these birds were found at the dollar section of Target which probably means they're from China and these grackles are not native there so who knows but do know they're awful cute!

Another bird related item for running which are customized head bands and all the way from the UK!  Got them both for $14 total with shipping being under $5 so thought it was a bargain.  Love head bands for running as they help keep the hair in place and not fly in your face so was super excited to get these.

But the best package I was waiting for had yet to arrive until Thursday.  I was so excited I ran upstairs with it (ankle didn't hurt doing so either, woot!), opened it up and there before my eyes.

Were my Functional Fitness Bands!  These my friends are going to be my ticket to getting back to doing full unassisted pull-ups again which I was doing at CrossFit but have lost the strength since.  Pull-ups and gymnastics rings were my favorite thing to do at CrossFit and something I was really good at with my Gymnastics background so going to incorporate some of it into my workouts and not the CrossFit stuff that screwed up the back of my knee which took almost a year to heal so no more of that for me.

I got home all excited and decided to do a video demo for my large blogging audience plus YouTube as there are not that many unassisted pull-up videos on there so wanted to demo and promote them as I consider pull ups, push ups and dips to be the three most vital upper body exercises one can do and beats the gym any day.  It would be easier said than done of course as I took six takes of the video as I sounded really stuff due to my allergies.  I'd also realize I didn't have the camera up high enough so you couldn't see the top of the bar so on my 7th try I got it right and probably had a perfect video  but after I was done I realized I didn't have the camera turned on.  I'd be kind of frustrated at that point but determined to get some decent video despite my arms burning as I was well over 100 pull-ups but once I make up my mind to do something I do so it was onto take number 8.


Which would turn out worse than any of the 7 before hand.  Allow me to introduce to you the first ever blooper video on my blog (probably more to come for those who know my Lucille Ball ways).  I wasn't going to post this but after seeing it a few times I now find it funny and think it's nice to show a different side to one's persona every now and then so why not!  The end of the video fades out some as I had to censor something I said so don't worry there's nothing wrong with your audio, I just can't figure out how to do a better audio slicer in Microsoft Movie Maker yet.  Also notice the video is blurry.  Have no idea how that happened as all of my other videos have been crystal clear so I guess that just ads to how this video just wasn't meant to be.

I wound up shutting down the movie studio after this resigned in defeat and had some dinner but watch out next week as I'm going to do a proper demonstration even if it kills me!

And last but certainly not the least are the Mourning Doves in my yard when I got out of work tonight.  I've been throwing birdseed out the window and need to fill the feeders but with all the ice on the pathway I haven't in fear of the ankle.  Thinking by tomorrow morning it will all be gone so can do a huge fillup to last at least a few days until the storm we're supposed to get.  Grrrrrrrrr..

Chilling in typical Mourning Dove fashion.

And doing what they do best which is resting which is exactly what I plan on doing the rest of the evening.  Don't know what the weekend has in store for me with the ankle but if it feels better tomorrow I'm going to at least go for a hike with the warm temps and most of the snow gone....for the time being at least......

Take care all.