Entries tagged with ullrey

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C25K week 7

I hate running. From the way my legs feel like lead at the start, to 5minutes in when my calf muscles try to stop me with pain, or 20 minutes in when I start to feel sick, my body tries to make me quit.

So I run in empty fields and just keep going. After a few more minutes my calf muscles give up trying to make me stop. The wave of nausea passes too. The podcast tells me I'm in the last minute of my run. Victory!

Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings; by Saturday I'm thinking, 'oh good, I get to run tomorrow'.

Because the pain of running is so much better than the ache in my hips and back from sitting still, because it is making me stronger, because moving feels like freedom, I run.

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The other side...

So after another month or more I finally googled Couch to 5K. Confirmation that my parathyroids were 'normal' on a ultrasound (can be resposible for bone loss especially in small bones, fatigue and muscle weakness) gave me the courage to try again. To see if I could finally actually improve with effort as opposed to pass out on the cross training machine.

The challenge being, how to start slowly enough. This is how Couch to 5k came to the rescue. In the words of my Dr. while most people need help doing enough, I need to be told when to stop. With 2hour training sessions figure skating, solo sea kayaking and having LIVED on my bicycle for much of my life... I could not have done the gradual increase in activity of this program on my own. I thought a good easy start was 45 min on a crosstrainer followed by an hour on a rowing machine.

Yeah, I know.
Hello C25K and Robert Ullrey's lovely podcasts.

Sunday morning, I have to take my bone density meds lots of water and nothing else for 30 min. Seemed like a good time to go for a 'run'. Podcast loaded, off I go. Tough going on the first day. Didn't quite make it through the first running interval but managed the rest. Well there's day one done.

OMFG!!! Thighs are in AGONY the next day. Brilliant! Well at least it's a beginning.

The program calls for a rest day between each run/train day. Thighs still sore as day 2 rolls around. But, as skating taught me, building muscles is a good hurt. So I'll stick this long enough to see if my body is able to make gains again. Day 2 and the running is a little easier.

No light headedness, no collapse feeling.

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a new beginning

So to begin with the back story...

I was a kayaking, biking, hiking, figure skating, wood working, instrument making
person.

Then I fell and broke my left wrist. Then my resting heart rate rose to 99bpm and I lost 10 kilos sitting still and eating Christmas food. So I went to the doctor.

Hyperthyroid!

The meds settled my heart rate and metabolism down and I blithely went back to skating.

and broke my right wrist
(I had been skating for 10 years with lots of similar falls & no breaks)

Now bone density scans & consultants. And oh by the way, fatigue and the realisation that for the last year I had been training (3-4 days/week x 2hrs) without gaining strength (jumps, spins footwork all the fancy figure skating stuff).

Bone scan reveals osteopenia in my lumbar spine and hip. That's half way to sneeze and you'll break.

FUCK
bye bye ice

begin 2 years of sitting on the sofa knitting - yes I tried the gym and almost passed out on the cross training machine, fell over in yoga and ...
could no longer trust my body

hello sofa time and bottles of wine looking like single serving containers, and chocolates, lots of chocolates.
(thanks to one dear friend I did become a kick ass knitter)

Fast forward... 2 years of treatment for bone density and thyroid and...

How do I start over? How do I do little enough that I can tell whether it's my lack of fitness or if my metabolism is still broken?

Oh, and at the same time I'm being referred to by the endochrinologist as 'This nice 55year old lady'(slow silent scream)

Where do I find the instructions for a recovering former athlete? When I work out on my own I can't help but base my expectations on the last time I... oh fuck

Yeah, the last time I... was when I was training 4 times a week...

How the fuck do you start over?

And then the person(BFF) who's been helping me avoid complete break down said
'Couch to 5k'