So far this week has been better. I had side effects again last night, but they didn't come on nearly as strong. Dr. M said I could have it for another week or so.
On Sunday I went for a city bike ride. I rode through downtown. I did not wear my clips because I was too worried about clipping in and out at all the intersections and traffic. It felt weird biking in regular shoes--not as comfortable. I have gotten used to clips. There were so many lights that I felt significantly safer. I only did about 12 miles and it was a lot of stop and start. But I am getting more comfortable on the bike. On Monday I hiked about 5 miles with the kids at Silver Falls. Despite Kara throwing up on the way there (she gets motion sickness) and then having to find a second hand clothes store (forgot an extra outfit) we got a later start. We still got a good hike in and went to four of the ten waterfalls. Yesterday I swam with Tracy. I am keeping track of my distance and I got in about 1500 yards which is a little less than a mile. Today Tracy and I ran. I went 4.80 miles and I thankfully had no IT band pain. I think it was coming on slightly near the end, but not like last week. I am using my foam roller 2-3 times a day and doing IT band stretches. I am icing after workouts. It is all helping significantly. I may move up to running twice a week after school starts up but still keeping my mileage around 4-5 miles at least until winter.
Eating has been so much better. Dr. M and I talked about eating. She recommended cutting back on caffeine and sugar. I have really cut back on caffeine the past 2 weeks...just a cup or two of coffee in the morning. I don't eat a lot of sweet treats but I did at camp and on vacation. It was hard to break that. I've been having sweet potato breakfast burritos and vegan salads at lunch again. My friend brought us fresh cucumber & cherry tomatoes. The kids & I have been snacking on that. Dr. M agreed with me that these shake diets and cleanses are trend diets and only selling an image--I really get annoyed with them. I think the companies take advantage of people. She said maybe look into being magnesium deficient because there are some connections with this and anxiety. I really see Hailey moving towards the clean eating on her own initiative. She would rather have a bowl of yogurt and berries or a salad instead of processed stuff.
My sleep is getting a lot better to. Dr. M is pretty sure my insomnia was due to side effects and not anxiety itself. I had no problems sleeping earlier in the summer. I still wake up maybe once or twice, but I am not up for hours. I fall asleep pretty quickly.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Biking and Power and less running
So the side effects are still there but much, much less. Last week was actually a good week in terms of exercise. I actually made it to Power twice, swim once, Ride once, and I went on 20 mile bike ride Sunday afternoon on the Willamette Scenic Bikeway which was awesome! I am so glad I hit 20 miles! It was tough near the end but I pushed through it.
This week I ran with Tracy on Monday morning. It would have been a great run except my IT band started acting up bad around Mile #4. I did have to stop and walk a bit. It throbbed every time I started running again. I am rolling it and it seems to help. I'm wondering how long it is going to take to heal. I am only running once a week right now. I did not go to Swim Tuesday morning because I had people over Monday night. They ended up staying until after 11 which was fine--we were having fun! But I was not about to get up at 4:45 AM. It was a pretty busy day and I couldn't really get away at any other time. Wednesday I went to Ride. I am enjoying Ride SO much more. I am getting really used to the tracks and finally enjoying biking for once in my life. Thursday I planned on going to Power but I slept instead. It is VERY hard getting up Thursday mornings when I play hockey Wednesday night. Hockey has been going until around 8:30 and then I had a meeting right afterwards that went to after 10. Wednesday I cleaned literally all day. I don't think I sat down hardly at all. Yesterday we were supposed to go hiking in the Detroit Lake area, but the weather was bad. So we postponed it. I swam in the afternoon and worked on some arm drills--not sure if I'm doing them right. But it felt great to get in the pool. This morning I went to Power and it was SO hard. I felt like so much weaker than normal. I think it is just an "off" day. I still tried to push myself, but I had to take way more breaks than normal. I had a mild head ache and just felt fatigued.
I lost about 1 1/2 pounds and am eating better. Zucchini bread is my biggest temptation. It is my "go to" food before early morning workouts. I am going to make some homemade protein bars this weekend. We've not been eating out nearly as much since we got back from vacation and trying to utilize the fruits and veggies in our garden and what's in season too. I know I can get back to my marathon weight. I have cut back a little on diet pop and I don't know if it makes any kind of difference, but I've not craved it like I did on vacation.
The last two nights of sleep have been bad. I think it is due to my sleep schedule being way off. The time I get up my early mornings and the time I sleep in is like a 3 1/2 hour difference. I need to get up and go to bed around the same time. This was the cause of my insomnia in college. It also could be a side effect to the medication. I haven't napped during the day really at all. Once fall comes, it will be a little bit easier to stick a schedule especially with working. If I can implement it now, it will help even more with the adjustment into fall. Last year the first weekend of the school year I had such an anxiety ridden day I hardly left my bedroom--It was awful. Want to avoid that.
This week I ran with Tracy on Monday morning. It would have been a great run except my IT band started acting up bad around Mile #4. I did have to stop and walk a bit. It throbbed every time I started running again. I am rolling it and it seems to help. I'm wondering how long it is going to take to heal. I am only running once a week right now. I did not go to Swim Tuesday morning because I had people over Monday night. They ended up staying until after 11 which was fine--we were having fun! But I was not about to get up at 4:45 AM. It was a pretty busy day and I couldn't really get away at any other time. Wednesday I went to Ride. I am enjoying Ride SO much more. I am getting really used to the tracks and finally enjoying biking for once in my life. Thursday I planned on going to Power but I slept instead. It is VERY hard getting up Thursday mornings when I play hockey Wednesday night. Hockey has been going until around 8:30 and then I had a meeting right afterwards that went to after 10. Wednesday I cleaned literally all day. I don't think I sat down hardly at all. Yesterday we were supposed to go hiking in the Detroit Lake area, but the weather was bad. So we postponed it. I swam in the afternoon and worked on some arm drills--not sure if I'm doing them right. But it felt great to get in the pool. This morning I went to Power and it was SO hard. I felt like so much weaker than normal. I think it is just an "off" day. I still tried to push myself, but I had to take way more breaks than normal. I had a mild head ache and just felt fatigued.
I lost about 1 1/2 pounds and am eating better. Zucchini bread is my biggest temptation. It is my "go to" food before early morning workouts. I am going to make some homemade protein bars this weekend. We've not been eating out nearly as much since we got back from vacation and trying to utilize the fruits and veggies in our garden and what's in season too. I know I can get back to my marathon weight. I have cut back a little on diet pop and I don't know if it makes any kind of difference, but I've not craved it like I did on vacation.
The last two nights of sleep have been bad. I think it is due to my sleep schedule being way off. The time I get up my early mornings and the time I sleep in is like a 3 1/2 hour difference. I need to get up and go to bed around the same time. This was the cause of my insomnia in college. It also could be a side effect to the medication. I haven't napped during the day really at all. Once fall comes, it will be a little bit easier to stick a schedule especially with working. If I can implement it now, it will help even more with the adjustment into fall. Last year the first weekend of the school year I had such an anxiety ridden day I hardly left my bedroom--It was awful. Want to avoid that.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Side effects and healthy eating
It has been a weird 24 hours to say the least. Yesterday I started back on my medication. I swam in the morning with Erica and Tracy and it was a great workout. Aside from my quads feeling very sore from Group Power and a little nausea, I felt pretty normal. I did child care all day and all the kids including my own did awesome. We had a fabulous day and I couldn't ask for anything better. By 5 PM I felt weird--intermittent anxiety, dizziness, nausea, head ache, and my quads felt like lead. I felt like how I did after I climbed Mount Defiance. It just got worse. The anxiety was intense at times that I could not really do anything but lay on the couch. The nausea would increase the anxiety. I hate side effects!
I went to bed at 10 PM and slept pretty well aside from waking up a few times. I did get up at 5:45 am to meet Tracy for a run. The run was really hard. I did maybe three miles. I felt tired, anxious, and slow. My quads hurt. I really just wanted to walk. I am so thankful I got up and went anyway. I am grateful I pushed through it. The routine and consistency is what I need--not running is almost worse. I came home and the jittery anxiety, nausea, and muscle aches were in full swing. I laid on the couch from 7:15 AM to 8:15 AM. When I woke up I felt significantly better. I think it is going to be off and on like this until my body get used to the medication again. The anxiety and the muscle aches are the worst--I can handle the weird appetite and nausea.
I started eating healthier again and tracking calories just until I get back down to my normal weights. I had oatmeal for breakfast yesterday and a vegetarian quesadilla for lunch. It is not the meals though--it really is the snacks. I'll probably get back into the vegan salads and make some protein bars again next week. I love having fresh stuff from the garden--that helps too.
My sleep has not been terrible but not great. I think it will get better once these side effects dissipate.
I went to bed at 10 PM and slept pretty well aside from waking up a few times. I did get up at 5:45 am to meet Tracy for a run. The run was really hard. I did maybe three miles. I felt tired, anxious, and slow. My quads hurt. I really just wanted to walk. I am so thankful I got up and went anyway. I am grateful I pushed through it. The routine and consistency is what I need--not running is almost worse. I came home and the jittery anxiety, nausea, and muscle aches were in full swing. I laid on the couch from 7:15 AM to 8:15 AM. When I woke up I felt significantly better. I think it is going to be off and on like this until my body get used to the medication again. The anxiety and the muscle aches are the worst--I can handle the weird appetite and nausea.
I started eating healthier again and tracking calories just until I get back down to my normal weights. I had oatmeal for breakfast yesterday and a vegetarian quesadilla for lunch. It is not the meals though--it really is the snacks. I'll probably get back into the vegan salads and make some protein bars again next week. I love having fresh stuff from the garden--that helps too.
My sleep has not been terrible but not great. I think it will get better once these side effects dissipate.
Monday, August 3, 2015
Today
We are back from vacation. Today was pretty productive and brought some answers. I saw Dr. V this morning and decided I am going back on my old medication. If I get any side effects (which I had very little before) or my anxiety gets out of control (which is also likely as this medication helped), then we'll try something new. For now he recommends not trying anything new and not going back to the SSRIs which did give me unwanted side effects.
While on vacation I ran once in the evening and did an open water swim. I swam about a half mile. I did not do much else. I think if there were others who wanted to run or swim, it would have been more motivating. We stayed up late playing games and everyone was in such a relaxed mode--it was hard to do much beyond that. I did a lot of swimming with the kids and walking back and forth up the boardwalk. It was not all sitting around. All in all it was a fabulous vacation. I loved being with Rob's cousins especially...I got to know some of them much better. I only had one major anxiety moment and Rob & I were able to work it out quickly. It didn't ruin that day or put a damper on the trip. Thankfully we didn't have to drag others into it either. It was so minor. I felt in control of my anxiety. There have been times I have been able to tell Rob: "I am getting anxious because of this--" I don't need him to soothe me or calm me down. He can recognize what is causing it. It greatly helps to not overreact.
I have been doing OK since we got home. I have moments of being jumpy and jittery. I have weird sleep again. I have been pretty good about not overreacting, but I still have the noise sensitivity.
I decided not to do a triathlon this fall. I really want to do it and I know I could. My training has not been consistent, but I have the ability and strength to complete it. It was a hard decision. I honestly felt in church yesterday God was telling me not to do it. When I talked to Rob about it he suggested not doing it either. The main reason is the long drive...it is past Portland. It would take up a whole weekend in September. Some of the factors is the cost though I had been saving for it. I still feel burnt out from the marathon even though it was two months ago. I love triathlon and I want to do more of them. I am postponing it until the spring. I really need a break from training for anything.
Right now I am really enjoying Group Power...like more than I ever have. I increased my weight on every track and it was very motivating to go the last few weeks. I went this afternoon and loved it. I'd love to go twice a week for awhile. I can't do that if I have to do brick workouts and squeeze in extra open water swims. I also want to continue to work on my biking because I have done so well the last couple weeks. It might do me some good to back off on the running and focus on other things. I can still run with Tracy once a week. We've only been doing four to five miles at a time. So we'll see what the end of the summer/the fall brings. I do know the kids want to do one or two of the Bush Park races and the Turkey Trot again so I can run with them too.
My eating got bad again over vacation and I've gained about five pounds since last spring. So I need to get that back off again. It will be easier now once vacations are over. I need to get back into my healthy breakfasts and lunches and back off on desserts. I was surprised I had gained that much though I really should not be when I look at all the ice cream we ate on vacation.
I hope I can stay motivated even though I'm not training for anything. Having exercise buddies helps with that. My friend Anna may even start going to Group Power with me which help too.
While on vacation I ran once in the evening and did an open water swim. I swam about a half mile. I did not do much else. I think if there were others who wanted to run or swim, it would have been more motivating. We stayed up late playing games and everyone was in such a relaxed mode--it was hard to do much beyond that. I did a lot of swimming with the kids and walking back and forth up the boardwalk. It was not all sitting around. All in all it was a fabulous vacation. I loved being with Rob's cousins especially...I got to know some of them much better. I only had one major anxiety moment and Rob & I were able to work it out quickly. It didn't ruin that day or put a damper on the trip. Thankfully we didn't have to drag others into it either. It was so minor. I felt in control of my anxiety. There have been times I have been able to tell Rob: "I am getting anxious because of this--" I don't need him to soothe me or calm me down. He can recognize what is causing it. It greatly helps to not overreact.
I have been doing OK since we got home. I have moments of being jumpy and jittery. I have weird sleep again. I have been pretty good about not overreacting, but I still have the noise sensitivity.
I decided not to do a triathlon this fall. I really want to do it and I know I could. My training has not been consistent, but I have the ability and strength to complete it. It was a hard decision. I honestly felt in church yesterday God was telling me not to do it. When I talked to Rob about it he suggested not doing it either. The main reason is the long drive...it is past Portland. It would take up a whole weekend in September. Some of the factors is the cost though I had been saving for it. I still feel burnt out from the marathon even though it was two months ago. I love triathlon and I want to do more of them. I am postponing it until the spring. I really need a break from training for anything.
Right now I am really enjoying Group Power...like more than I ever have. I increased my weight on every track and it was very motivating to go the last few weeks. I went this afternoon and loved it. I'd love to go twice a week for awhile. I can't do that if I have to do brick workouts and squeeze in extra open water swims. I also want to continue to work on my biking because I have done so well the last couple weeks. It might do me some good to back off on the running and focus on other things. I can still run with Tracy once a week. We've only been doing four to five miles at a time. So we'll see what the end of the summer/the fall brings. I do know the kids want to do one or two of the Bush Park races and the Turkey Trot again so I can run with them too.
My eating got bad again over vacation and I've gained about five pounds since last spring. So I need to get that back off again. It will be easier now once vacations are over. I need to get back into my healthy breakfasts and lunches and back off on desserts. I was surprised I had gained that much though I really should not be when I look at all the ice cream we ate on vacation.
I hope I can stay motivated even though I'm not training for anything. Having exercise buddies helps with that. My friend Anna may even start going to Group Power with me which help too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)