I'm cross training again. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was on the treadmill doing jog/walk intervals and watching the swimmers in the pool below. It felt good to be doing that again. I hadn't been jogging since all of my neurological stuff started happening three months ago. I hadn't been biking much either for the same reasons, but two weeks ago, I felt ready to try it again. Oh, I've been walking regularly and swimming on occasion, but I wanted to get back on the bike and go jogging. I think I got a little addicted to the speed, slow as I was.
This time, though, I'm taking things slow. I was pushing myself a little too hard last time. I don't think that I was quite ready to do the triathlon, and with all of the outside pressures and stresses, I think I did a little too much.
Well, now I have a good 9+ months to get ready, and I've already built a small foundation. It's been a lot easier this past couple weeks starting up again then when I started almost a year ago. My body remembers things that it had to learn last time. (After all, you never do forget how to ride a bike.) So far, it's been really easy. And if all goes well, I'll be planning my triathlon debut next summer. Wish me luck.
And for those of you who are wondering, most of the neuropathy is gone now. I only notice it, very mildly, every now and again-it's almost like it isn't there any more. Hopefully it's going for good. I get to go in and see the neurologist in a couple of weeks, and I'll give you another update then.
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
More Then I Can Chew
It all started on a beautiful Monday morning by the lake. . .
I was jogging along, happy as can be, when I got a pain in my right leg and my foot started to tingle. OK. Nothing new there. It was just like my shin splints that I'd had a week before. I kept jogging.
Then my right arm had a pain in it, and my hand started to tingle. That was new! I stopped jogging and walked the rest of the way back to the car. The pain and the tingling disappeared on my way.
When I got home, I e-mailed my father in law (a family doctor) to see what he thought about it. While waiting for his reply, I set up an appointment with my doctor and went on with my day. Not long after, my hand started tingling again, and it didn't stop. The pins and needles spread up my arm as well, and occasionally it was back in my foot too. Nothing too painful, just annoying.
My father in law thought that it was just over use type injuries. I hadn't told him about the persistent tingling. I thought I would just sleep on it and see if it went away. Other then the pins and needles, I felt perfectly fine. It even subsided during the night.
Tuesday morning, I decided to go swimming. I wasn't likely to have any over-use symptoms there. I've been swimming for years, after all. Well, turns out the elevation in my heart rate set the pins and needles going stronger.
I was getting worried. I called up my doctor's office to see if I could get an earlier appointment. When the receptionist found out why, she put me on the line with a nurse. When the nurse found out that my Mom had heart surgery at a "young age", she told me to go to the ER, and not to drive myself.
Panic attack! When I was done crying, Seth and I took our kids over to a friend's house and went to the hospital. They checked me for a heart attack. None. Pregnancy? None. Stroke? None. My physical came out all clear. They couldn't find out what was wrong with me, so I got to go home and was told to come back if it got worse.
Things seemed to be getting better, but Wednesday night I figured my father in law ought to be told what was happening. His response, go see a neurologist. My doctor concurred. So, now I get to go in for an MRI, have more blood work done, and talk to a neurologist to see if they can figure it all out. It will take about a month to go through all of these steps. Hopefully, it's just a one time trauma.
When I got home, I e-mailed my father in law (a family doctor) to see what he thought about it. While waiting for his reply, I set up an appointment with my doctor and went on with my day. Not long after, my hand started tingling again, and it didn't stop. The pins and needles spread up my arm as well, and occasionally it was back in my foot too. Nothing too painful, just annoying.
My father in law thought that it was just over use type injuries. I hadn't told him about the persistent tingling. I thought I would just sleep on it and see if it went away. Other then the pins and needles, I felt perfectly fine. It even subsided during the night.
Tuesday morning, I decided to go swimming. I wasn't likely to have any over-use symptoms there. I've been swimming for years, after all. Well, turns out the elevation in my heart rate set the pins and needles going stronger.
I was getting worried. I called up my doctor's office to see if I could get an earlier appointment. When the receptionist found out why, she put me on the line with a nurse. When the nurse found out that my Mom had heart surgery at a "young age", she told me to go to the ER, and not to drive myself.
Panic attack! When I was done crying, Seth and I took our kids over to a friend's house and went to the hospital. They checked me for a heart attack. None. Pregnancy? None. Stroke? None. My physical came out all clear. They couldn't find out what was wrong with me, so I got to go home and was told to come back if it got worse.
Things seemed to be getting better, but Wednesday night I figured my father in law ought to be told what was happening. His response, go see a neurologist. My doctor concurred. So, now I get to go in for an MRI, have more blood work done, and talk to a neurologist to see if they can figure it all out. It will take about a month to go through all of these steps. Hopefully, it's just a one time trauma.
In the mean time, I still have homeschooling with my kids, something that's not easy to do when I'm stressing out. Sierra knows something is going on that's making me stressed, and it stresses her, sending her into unnecessary panic attacks. We both had a total melt down yesterday. Bailey only finished half of her school work before I called it quits. Sierra, bless her, stuck it out and finished her morning work while I cried my eyes out in my room.
I'm slowly feeling better though. I've been taking it "easy" for the last few days, and my symptoms are almost unnoticeable now. Today we took off of school, and we cleaned up the house. Cleaning always makes me feel better. I should be able to cope with school by Monday, and then we leave for vacation on Friday. Life will go on.
But, I'm afraid to go running again. I don't want to cause another episode. I'm even leery of biking because I've put my foot to sleep while peddling and have even tweaked my wrist before. So much for my Triathlon Training! I've decided to pull out of the competition. I only had a little over a month to finish getting ready, and it will be a few weeks before I have any firm idea as to what's going on. The worry would stress me out too much. I'm getting close to my limit.
All is not lost, however. Walking and swimming I'm OK with. I've been doing those for years, and the ER doctor told me to keep exercising. I just need to keep it low key for now. One step at a time.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
My Way
It’s official. I am now registered for my first ever triathlon!
The one I’ve chosen to participate in is My Way or the Tri Way on Saturday, July 25th down at the Aurora Reservoir. There is a 750 meter swim, 14 mile bike, and 3.5 mile run. Participants can compete in any mixture of the three events. They can do the standard triathlon of swim-bike-run, or they can mix it up in any order. There is also the option of doing only two events, doubling one (i.e. bike-run-bike or swim-bike-swim, etc.).
Me, I have chosen to do a reverse triathlon; run-bike-swim. I figured I’d do the hardest first and easiest last, so that when I’m dying, I can at least take it easy.
You see, I swam competitively for over ten years, so that’s my easiest event. Biking, I don’t think is going to too be much of a problem, I just have to work on distance. Running, well, I’m still working at it. I can currently jog for only 2 miles straight, so I’ve got a ways to go.
I get to start my training next week. It’s a twelve week program that has swimming, running, and biking twice a week, weight lifting once a week, calisthenics twice a week, and a brick (transition from one sport to another) once a week. Workouts vary in length, generally getting longer as time goes on. The first swims are 20 minutes long, later ones are 40 minutes. Runs start at 35 minutes, increasing only one of the days in the week and keeping the other at 35 minutes. The longest run is 60 minutes. Biking also only increases the time on one day in the week, starting at 45 minutes with the longest at 90 minutes. Oh, and supposedly I’ll need an extra hour of sleep every night.
Sound like fun? Wish me luck.
The one I’ve chosen to participate in is My Way or the Tri Way on Saturday, July 25th down at the Aurora Reservoir. There is a 750 meter swim, 14 mile bike, and 3.5 mile run. Participants can compete in any mixture of the three events. They can do the standard triathlon of swim-bike-run, or they can mix it up in any order. There is also the option of doing only two events, doubling one (i.e. bike-run-bike or swim-bike-swim, etc.).
Me, I have chosen to do a reverse triathlon; run-bike-swim. I figured I’d do the hardest first and easiest last, so that when I’m dying, I can at least take it easy.
You see, I swam competitively for over ten years, so that’s my easiest event. Biking, I don’t think is going to too be much of a problem, I just have to work on distance. Running, well, I’m still working at it. I can currently jog for only 2 miles straight, so I’ve got a ways to go.
I get to start my training next week. It’s a twelve week program that has swimming, running, and biking twice a week, weight lifting once a week, calisthenics twice a week, and a brick (transition from one sport to another) once a week. Workouts vary in length, generally getting longer as time goes on. The first swims are 20 minutes long, later ones are 40 minutes. Runs start at 35 minutes, increasing only one of the days in the week and keeping the other at 35 minutes. The longest run is 60 minutes. Biking also only increases the time on one day in the week, starting at 45 minutes with the longest at 90 minutes. Oh, and supposedly I’ll need an extra hour of sleep every night.
Sound like fun? Wish me luck.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
If the Shoe Fits
My husband and I have decided to do a triathlon this summer. I am a swimmer. My husband is a biker. Neither of us are runners.
Well, today we went on the adventure of finding running shoes for our poor feet. We knew that we needed to get good shoes. (Everyone who has done serious running says so, and we believe them.) So, we took a trip down to Boulder to a shoe store that we've noticed before. It's at the corner of 28th and Pearl Street and is called Boulder Running Company.
We got there a bit later then we expected to, and found ourselves entering the door right as a guy was running over to turn off the OPEN sign. Oops. We felt a bit sheepish, and when they asked if there was anything we could do, we told them we were interested in running shoes, but that we didn't want to make them stay open late. No need to worry. The guy just smiled at us, said "No problem", and ushered us over to some benches. Another guy came over to help.
I must say, I've never had better service. They asked us what we were planning on using the shoes for, how often we planned to use them, our experience level, and what type of surface we'd be running on. (They git a lot of triathletes, and we had some fun conversation about it.) With shoes off, they had us stand on the floor with our feet shoulder width apart, squat down, and stand up again a couple times. Then we stood on one foot at a time. They were checking how our feel were aligned with our legs and ankles. Turns out we are both have overpronation (our feet roll inward). After that, they measured our feet and were in the back finding some shoes for us.
My first pair was a bit tight. I have wide feet. That was soon remedied, and we were taken over to the treadmills to see how we ran in the shoes. While we ran, they videotaped our feet to check that they were in proper alignment. They would pause the video on each foot and make a mental line from the heal through the ankle, explaining what they were doing all the while. All in all, I tried on about six pairs, ran in four, and found a perfect fit. My husband also found a pair that fit well (the first ones they had him try on, actually). All this took about 20 minutes, without feeling rushed. (I have spent hours before trying to find a good walking shoe at chain sporting good stores, and the fit was never this good).
Wonderful experience! The only problem was that the shoes were rather expensive (about $100 a pair), but when we thought about the service and the injuries the shoes would likely prevent, it seemed quite reasonable.
Well, today we went on the adventure of finding running shoes for our poor feet. We knew that we needed to get good shoes. (Everyone who has done serious running says so, and we believe them.) So, we took a trip down to Boulder to a shoe store that we've noticed before. It's at the corner of 28th and Pearl Street and is called Boulder Running Company.
We got there a bit later then we expected to, and found ourselves entering the door right as a guy was running over to turn off the OPEN sign. Oops. We felt a bit sheepish, and when they asked if there was anything we could do, we told them we were interested in running shoes, but that we didn't want to make them stay open late. No need to worry. The guy just smiled at us, said "No problem", and ushered us over to some benches. Another guy came over to help.
I must say, I've never had better service. They asked us what we were planning on using the shoes for, how often we planned to use them, our experience level, and what type of surface we'd be running on. (They git a lot of triathletes, and we had some fun conversation about it.) With shoes off, they had us stand on the floor with our feet shoulder width apart, squat down, and stand up again a couple times. Then we stood on one foot at a time. They were checking how our feel were aligned with our legs and ankles. Turns out we are both have overpronation (our feet roll inward). After that, they measured our feet and were in the back finding some shoes for us.
My first pair was a bit tight. I have wide feet. That was soon remedied, and we were taken over to the treadmills to see how we ran in the shoes. While we ran, they videotaped our feet to check that they were in proper alignment. They would pause the video on each foot and make a mental line from the heal through the ankle, explaining what they were doing all the while. All in all, I tried on about six pairs, ran in four, and found a perfect fit. My husband also found a pair that fit well (the first ones they had him try on, actually). All this took about 20 minutes, without feeling rushed. (I have spent hours before trying to find a good walking shoe at chain sporting good stores, and the fit was never this good).
Wonderful experience! The only problem was that the shoes were rather expensive (about $100 a pair), but when we thought about the service and the injuries the shoes would likely prevent, it seemed quite reasonable.
Friday, February 6, 2009
How Many Calories Does it Take . . .
For all of you calorie counters out there, I found a website that should interest you. For all of you that aren't counters, this might be fun to check out anyway.
Fitness Jumpsite has a calorie calculator that will calculate how many calories you use in a certain amount of time during a vast number of activities. All you have to do is enter your weight and the desired time allotment, and it will give you a huge graph of over 200 activities and the calories you would expend on each.
Want to know how many calories it takes to sleep for an hour? It tells you. Reading, mowing the lawn, driving your car, grocery shopping? Yup. All there. Oh, and they haven't forgotten exercise either. It tells you how many calories you would use running at 5 mph, 6 mph, 7 mph, 8.6 mph, and 10 mph. For biking you get indoor training at 150 W and 200 W. Outdoor biking comes in 12 mph, 14 mph, 16 mph, and >20 mph. In swimming, they break it down not only by speed but by stroke as well. (Did you know that breast stroke is more calorically expensive then back stroke? I didn't.) Walking has six different speeds. They also have things like fencing, volleyball, step aerobics, canoeing, hiking, whitewater rafting, calisthenics, bowling, etc.
Check it out. I bet you'll be surprised by some of the things you find.
Fitness Jumpsite has a calorie calculator that will calculate how many calories you use in a certain amount of time during a vast number of activities. All you have to do is enter your weight and the desired time allotment, and it will give you a huge graph of over 200 activities and the calories you would expend on each.
Want to know how many calories it takes to sleep for an hour? It tells you. Reading, mowing the lawn, driving your car, grocery shopping? Yup. All there. Oh, and they haven't forgotten exercise either. It tells you how many calories you would use running at 5 mph, 6 mph, 7 mph, 8.6 mph, and 10 mph. For biking you get indoor training at 150 W and 200 W. Outdoor biking comes in 12 mph, 14 mph, 16 mph, and >20 mph. In swimming, they break it down not only by speed but by stroke as well. (Did you know that breast stroke is more calorically expensive then back stroke? I didn't.) Walking has six different speeds. They also have things like fencing, volleyball, step aerobics, canoeing, hiking, whitewater rafting, calisthenics, bowling, etc.
Check it out. I bet you'll be surprised by some of the things you find.
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