Apr/092
Because we’re all interested in my knee problems
Through research, I’ve decided that I have tendinitis of the patellar tendon. It fits perfectly. Read:
Knee tendon injuries range from tendinitis (inflammation of a tendon) to a ruptured (torn) tendon. If a person overuses a tendon during certain activities such as dancing, cycling, or running, the tendon stretches and becomes inflamed. Tendinitis of the patellar tendon is sometimes called “jumper’s knee” because in sports that require jumping, such as basketball, the muscle contraction and force of hitting the ground after a jump strain the tendon. After repeated stress, the tendon may become inflamed or tear.
Symptoms
People with tendinitis often have tenderness at the point where the patellar tendon meets the bone. In addition, they may feel pain during running, hurried walking, or jumping. A complete rupture of the quadriceps or patellar tendon is not only painful, but also makes it difficult for a person to bend, extend, or lift the leg against gravity.
I was sure that I had done all of the exercises as close to form as possible! I knew it had to be all the jumping around Jillian has me do. With the jumping jacks, jump rope, etc. This patellar tendonitis thing proves it! I doubt I will do level one that many days in a row again, because there is a LOT lot lot of jumping in it. Level 2 has less jumping, so I’ll stick to that one, and trade off sporadically between levels 1 and 3 from now on.
I’m glad to know it’s something that will clear up on its own, which was my biggest fear. At this point I’m hoping my stupid knee will feel better by Sunday so I can continue exercising. Today, in an effort to burn some calories, I took Hamlet for a walk. Big mistake. My left knee BURNED, and hurt so badly it was becoming numb. I was so close to calling my mom to come pick me up. On a positive note, working the tendon a little seems to have made it feel better in the long run. It doesn’t ache quite as badly anymore, but it still hurts a lot. At least my right knee decided to be normal today.
Okay, going to sleep. I’m very tired, and I think it may be coming across in this post.
xoxo, Jessy
Apr/091
FA + Denmark
I’m not going to lie. In order to study abroad, I am relying on financial aid. In fact, without the financial aid, studying abroad would be impossible for me. My family isn’t poor, but they also don’t have the money to be paying for all of my expenses while abroad.
I have known for a while that I would eventually study abroad. It’s something that I have wanted to do for a long, long time. So every semester when I would get a financial aid check I would save some of it, and every time I got paid (you know, when I had a job), I would save some of my check.
Still, I don’t have enough money. Fortunately, the government is giving me a lot of financial aid for the 09-10 school year. And, being the sneak I am, I went to go visit the financial aid office today to see if I could procure some more money. Unfortunately, I am all maxed out. But fortunately, I am eligible for the stafford loan, and I have decided to most definitely get it for just in case. I would be fine without it, but what if I need the money? My mom said to me, “what if someone dies and you have to come home unexpectedly?” Great example, right? hah. But she’s right. I’ll need the extra money for padding. And the stafford loan is perfect, because if I end up not using it, I will be able to pay it off right away, interest free.
I never mentioned that a couple of weeks ago I learned that I won a scholarship! It was just a baby $500 one, but money is money! I never expected to win it, and almost had a heart attack when I read “Congratulations, Jessica!”
And don’t forget, my birthday is on Saturdayyyyyy. We’re (my mom and I) going to San Francisco tomorrow night, and staying near SFSU. This way we don’t have to wake up super early on my birthday to go to the study abroad orientation. It’s like 4:30AM versus 7am, home versus hotel. What would you pick on your birthday?
Apr/091
Level 2
I’m bored of level one of the shred, and my knees have been dying because of it, so I did level two today.
Level two was… not difficult, because I was able to do it (yay!), but just intense. I’ll admit I cheated and sat out for a minute on circuit 2’s cardio. But I only did that because I was feeling lazy, not because it was hard. I did finish out the rest like a big girl though.
I think I’m done with shredding for awhile. My knees just hurthurthurt. And it’s getting worse. I don’t think it’s actually my knee, but it’s a tendon or something on the outer part of my knee. And all of the bouncing on it just kills me, and it’s getting worse. Sooo, I’m going to walk for exercise until it heals. Then I’ll resume level one and go from there.
I really do not want to quit. I’m already losing weight and getting compliments, but I don’t want to continue to hurt myself so badly that I can’t even walk quickly for exercise. I’m hoping I’ll wake up tomorrow and feel great!
I also tried to do Billy Blank Jr’s Cardioke today, but that also killed my knees with all the bouncing around. So I’ll walk. Maybe yoga. That’s it. I better still lose weight or I’ll be pissed.
edit: I may do the shred tomorrow. Just measured myself and I lost a whole inch around my stomach and my thighs, and a half inch around my arms and neck! I don’t like the idea of stopping, and my knees will survive, right?
Apr/092
Oh my, my knees hurt
I didn’t shred today. =(
My knees have been hurting me during the cardio parts, or more specifically, jumping jacks and jump rope. I have never had knee problems, but for whatever reason it just hurts. So I skipped today, but tomorrow I plan on shredding no matter what. When I shredded yesterday, I made sure I was following all of her instructions so that I wasn’t damaging my knees, but they still hurt. I’ve come to the conclusion that my knees aren’t used to being used the way they are now- like all of this jumping and stuff. So when I shred tomorrow (which I will, hold me to this please!), I will not do jumping jacks or jump rope, I will do leg kick things instead.
Andhari asked what shredding is, and basically it is a 20 minute workout video instructed by Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels. It uses the 3, 2, 1 method, which is three minutes of strength, two minutes of cardio, and one minute of abs. You repeat three times, and then cool down. The whole video is actually about 25 minutes long with the warm up and cool down.
If it weren’t for the knee issue, I would be gliding through level one. I’m dying to try level two. My body, minus knee, has already adapted to level one. The first day, my heart was beating so hard and I was sweating buckets and it took forever for my body to cool down. Now, six days in, when I am done I almost want more (but not really). When I’m done, my heart rate isn’t up very high anymore and it only takes a few minutes for me to cool down.
I would move on to level two now, but I really want to do ten days of each. So if all goes as planned, and I shred for the next four days, I will move on to level two on Friday.
I will skip Saturday, of course, considering it is my birthday and I will be in San Francisco at the study abroad orientation. But I plan on shredding on Sunday, and every day after that until the thirty days are up.
I’m really interested in doing Bob Harper’s yoga video. I love yoga, but I can really only do it in a class setting. All of the yoga videos on OnDemand have a beat in the background, which is really distracting. For me, yoga is about finding my center and focusing; I pay no attention to what I am doing. I hear dog pose, and that is what I do. I don’t think. It’s great exercise for my body and mind, but when there is a distracting beat in the background it ruins it for me; I can’t focus. I watched a two minute snippet on youtube, and there is no distracting beat in Bob’s yoga video, so I may shell out the eight bucks and buy it. Or I may make my mom shell out the eight bucks for me. Muahahaha.
Okay, I have a precis and a reading response to write, so I should really start that.
xoxo, Jessy
Apr/091
A Week of Shredding
Dear Nature,
Please make up your mind. Hot OR cold, not both. Nature is not a Katy Perry song. It cannot be 99 degrees out one day, and then two days later be cold, windy and rainy. Just no.
Love, Jessy
—–
Hello blogging world! I kind of didn’t post for a few days. School has been stressful. Wednesday I had two exams and an essay due, and it was INSANE. I didn’t finish my essay until just before class started, and I think I may get a B. Won’t be that big of a deal, because my A streak is over. How did this happen? Well, also on Wednesday, I received an essay back and I got a B+ on it… which, yes, is an awesome grade, but I was hoping to get A’s on all of my essays this whole semester. And now that goal is totally ruined. Sob.
Last Friday I decided to start Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. Only do this if you feel like dying. It’s only 20 minutes, but it feels like forever! I’ve learned several things from one week of shredding:
- DO NOT eat or drink excessively (or at all) within an hour before working out. It makes you feel nauseous and it makes you feel like passing out.
- DO NOT wake up and immediately start shredding. You have no energy. You need to eat (but of course, at least an hour before!). I had a half assed workout today because of this. And I know it was because I had just woken up because shredding the past few days has actually become easier (but it’s still hard, trust me)
- Exercising is new to my body. I haven’t exercised since… high school PE? Unless you count a yoga class I took last year… Anyway, at first, the exercising made me very tired all the time. And now I have all of this energy. And it’s keeping me awake at night. I layed (sp) in bed for four hours the other night trying to sleep. It was horrible.
- Exercising makes you lose weight. I got several compliments after only three workouts!! It really works!! And is so worth all of the muscle aches!
So I have it in my head that tomorrow I will run a mile. I’m curious to see how long it will take me. In high school PE my ultimate goal was to make it under ten minutes, and just as the school year ended I did it. Obviously, running is not my thing. So I shall try it. I think I might be around 12 minutes or so… but with all the shredding I’ve been doing, I might be able to do it faster. We’ll see. I’ll blog about it unless it’s a totally embarrassing amount of time.