Today I finished my 12 week Bikram yoga challenge. So for 12 weeks I have done 4 sessions of bikram a week.
I finished with the Christmas class, which was a lot of fun! There was a competition to see who could hold awkward pose (the second variation) for the longest, and I was one of the last ones standing, though I didn't win. It's something to aim for next year!
And I got a singlet top! Score!
Tuesday 23 December 2014
Monday 22 December 2014
Finished the Cumulative Half Marathon
Finished the cumulative half marathon!
Dates and distances:
15.12 - 2.51 - 2.51 (treadmill)
17.12 - 3.38 - 5.89
17.12 - 1.30 - 7.19 (treadmill)
18.12 - 3.38 - 10.57
21.12 - 3.38 - 13.95
21.12 - 3.38 - 17.33 (ruck with 10kg)
22.12 - 3.38 - 20.71
22.12 - 0.75 - 21.46 (treadmill)
Dates and distances:
15.12 - 2.51 - 2.51 (treadmill)
17.12 - 3.38 - 5.89
17.12 - 1.30 - 7.19 (treadmill)
18.12 - 3.38 - 10.57
21.12 - 3.38 - 13.95
21.12 - 3.38 - 17.33 (ruck with 10kg)
22.12 - 3.38 - 20.71
22.12 - 0.75 - 21.46 (treadmill)
Thursday 18 December 2014
Foam Rolling
My arm is my second exercise injury. Both occurred in the second half of this year. It's not that surprising, I only started exercising September 2012, and I wasn't ABLE to push the way I can now. My first one occurred when I ran the Age Run Melbourne Half Marathon. I got a pain in my left heel, which lasted for about 5 weeks.
Like all runners I decided that I'd do some reading on it, especially as I extra, extra hate doctors.
The thing that helped the most with the heel was that I read an article that said that pain in the heel could be caused by tightness in the calf. I figured that I had nothing to lose by giving my calf a good foam rolling at the gym. So one Sunday, when I had about a two hour stay at the gym (due to the bus timetable), I gave both my calves a really good roll, especially the left one.
And it WAS tight. Really, really tight.
I hoped that it would make a bit of a difference, as it was hurting to walk.
Well, the next day it hurt to walk. But not because of my heel. My heel felt fine. But my calves - oh! They HURT! It was like having DOMS. And it lasted not only for that day, but the next one too.
And then it got better. And my heel was fine.
Anyone got any ideas on any spots to roll out for elbow pain?
Like all runners I decided that I'd do some reading on it, especially as I extra, extra hate doctors.
The thing that helped the most with the heel was that I read an article that said that pain in the heel could be caused by tightness in the calf. I figured that I had nothing to lose by giving my calf a good foam rolling at the gym. So one Sunday, when I had about a two hour stay at the gym (due to the bus timetable), I gave both my calves a really good roll, especially the left one.
And it WAS tight. Really, really tight.
I hoped that it would make a bit of a difference, as it was hurting to walk.
Well, the next day it hurt to walk. But not because of my heel. My heel felt fine. But my calves - oh! They HURT! It was like having DOMS. And it lasted not only for that day, but the next one too.
And then it got better. And my heel was fine.
Anyone got any ideas on any spots to roll out for elbow pain?
Tuesday 16 December 2014
Finished my Cumulative Marathon
At the moment I have an arm injury, and as a result I can't do anywhere near the amount of weights that I was doing before. It's tempting at times to be really frustrated by this, especially as weights help my syncope more than cardio (that said, cardio help my asthma more). Instead, I decided to use the time as some time to get in some more runs.
To motivate myself I signed up for the Indigenous Marathon Project Virtual Run - Three Distances! I signed up for the cumulative marathon, the cumulative half marathon, and the 10km.
And today I finished the cumulative marathon!
1st - 5.58 - 5.58
3rd - 3.38 - 8.96
6th - 5.58 - 14.54
8th - 3.38 - 17.92
10th - 5.58 - 23.50
10th - 1.00 - 24.50
11th - 5.58 - 30.08
14th - 8.96 - 39.04
16th - 3.38 - 42.42
Photos of some runs, but some I forgot!
To motivate myself I signed up for the Indigenous Marathon Project Virtual Run - Three Distances! I signed up for the cumulative marathon, the cumulative half marathon, and the 10km.
And today I finished the cumulative marathon!
1st - 5.58 - 5.58
3rd - 3.38 - 8.96
6th - 5.58 - 14.54
8th - 3.38 - 17.92
10th - 5.58 - 23.50
10th - 1.00 - 24.50
11th - 5.58 - 30.08
14th - 8.96 - 39.04
16th - 3.38 - 42.42
Photos of some runs, but some I forgot!
Monday 15 December 2014
On Being Tired
Syncope is a funny illness. It ranges from those who faint (or even just feel faint) at the sight of blood to those who faint uncontrollably for a variety of known and unknown causes. I fall into the second category, though my syncope is slowly coming more and more under control (mostly through exercise).
The thing is that when people, including doctors, think about syncope, they concentrate on the pre-syncope and the syncope. They want to know how you feel before you faint, and how often you faint, and how long you're unconscious (which isn't always easy to tell). They occasionally ask about unusual symptoms you have (mine include what resemble absent seizures of 1-2 seconds, which I notice occasionally as it's like a skip in a movie, but no one around me notices, and intermittent numbness in my hands and feet). They almost never ask about how you feel afterwards.
And the fact is, THAT'S where the biggest impact happens, at least for me.
After any syncope or pre-syncope symptoms, whether mild or severe, I get tired. Really, really tired. It's actually one of the ways I can tell the difference between syncope nausea and other types of nausea I get.
When I quit work, 9 months ago, I was having nausea 85% of the time, visual disturbances over half the time, along with at least three severe dizzy spells a day.
I also slept 10+ ours a night. And had a nap of at least 4 hours a day. And the only reason I was limited to that amount was that my Dad thought that that amount of sleep was bad for me and found lots of activities for us to do.
I'm a lot better now. I've started working again, and I have a lot less pre-syncope symptoms, and I haven't fainted for a while (though I have about an hour of continuous partial faints on one occasion, and on another I also had tachycardia). The result is that I need a lot less sleep. While I'm working in the week I manage with a fairly standard amount (8 hours), but on my days off and weekends I catch up. This weekend I slept 10 hours each night with a 2 hour nap each day.
It sucks. In a lot of ways, it sucks more than actually fainting. I missed both of my new works' Christmas parties. I was asleep at the time of both of them. I missed a close friend's 30th. I didn't even have any kind of 30th for myself. In dancing circles I am actually known as "sleeping girl". Yes, several people were surprised that I had a name - and that I was occasionally awake.
It sucks being tired all the time. No two ways around it. It just does.
And I'm off to bed.
(But I'll still go for a run in the morning)
The thing is that when people, including doctors, think about syncope, they concentrate on the pre-syncope and the syncope. They want to know how you feel before you faint, and how often you faint, and how long you're unconscious (which isn't always easy to tell). They occasionally ask about unusual symptoms you have (mine include what resemble absent seizures of 1-2 seconds, which I notice occasionally as it's like a skip in a movie, but no one around me notices, and intermittent numbness in my hands and feet). They almost never ask about how you feel afterwards.
And the fact is, THAT'S where the biggest impact happens, at least for me.
After any syncope or pre-syncope symptoms, whether mild or severe, I get tired. Really, really tired. It's actually one of the ways I can tell the difference between syncope nausea and other types of nausea I get.
When I quit work, 9 months ago, I was having nausea 85% of the time, visual disturbances over half the time, along with at least three severe dizzy spells a day.
I also slept 10+ ours a night. And had a nap of at least 4 hours a day. And the only reason I was limited to that amount was that my Dad thought that that amount of sleep was bad for me and found lots of activities for us to do.
I'm a lot better now. I've started working again, and I have a lot less pre-syncope symptoms, and I haven't fainted for a while (though I have about an hour of continuous partial faints on one occasion, and on another I also had tachycardia). The result is that I need a lot less sleep. While I'm working in the week I manage with a fairly standard amount (8 hours), but on my days off and weekends I catch up. This weekend I slept 10 hours each night with a 2 hour nap each day.
It sucks. In a lot of ways, it sucks more than actually fainting. I missed both of my new works' Christmas parties. I was asleep at the time of both of them. I missed a close friend's 30th. I didn't even have any kind of 30th for myself. In dancing circles I am actually known as "sleeping girl". Yes, several people were surprised that I had a name - and that I was occasionally awake.
It sucks being tired all the time. No two ways around it. It just does.
And I'm off to bed.
(But I'll still go for a run in the morning)
Sunday 14 December 2014
Exercise Goals for 2015
I don't do resolutions. I find them really vague, and in my experience they're rarely kept beyond January. Think of all the people who want to "lose weight" in the New Year. How many of them actually have a diet plan, and exercise plan, or even a target weight goal.
Yeah, not that many. And so come February they're as fat (or smoking, or unfit, or poor) as ever before.
I also find that having one goal puts a lot of pressure on me. If you stuff up with one goal, you can be tempted to think that it's all over and there's no longer any point in trying. Which isn't true, but people (including me) tend to act on feelings rather than facts. So I have a variety of goal areas (exercise, diet, art, writing, work, financial, and other), all with at least one goal in there. (Actually, I don't have anything for diet yet. I eat pretty well, given that anything with gluten or dairy is immediately off the menu).
So here are my exercise goals for 2014!
1. To leg press 5* my body weight (250kg)
2. To run a 25 minute 5km (current PB: 27:51)
3. To run a 57 minute 10km (current PB: 59:56)
4. To run a 2:15 half marathon (current PB: 2:17:37)
5. To complete all three Spartan distances (sprint, super and beast)
6. To run 3 Tough Mudders
7. To do a short (sprint?) triathlon
8. To be able to do 20+ pullups in a row
9. To be able to do 20+ double unders
Notes on goals:
1. I currently press 160kg, and my original goal was 200, or 4* my body weight, but I've revised that goal when I made a bunch of massive improvements in a very short space of time.
2-4. These times don't seem MASSIVELY different from my PBs, so some may not think they're really challenging. However, all of my PBs are from 2013 - i.e. BEFORE I got sick with my current syncope. I am running slower at the moment. For example, a recent 10km I ran was 1:09:05. My most recent half marathon time was around 2:39:16, so that's a long way from my goal for next year. (Actually, my 5km time was only a second off my current PB, but it hurt a lot more than the PB did).
5-6. Travelling will be difficult, as I don't have any money saved, I have a small debt, and I'm aiming to actually have some savings by the end of the year (they're my financial goals). So I'm not 100% sure that these will both happen. Tough Mudder has changed the date of their Melbourne event which will make this more difficult as it would be easier to travel later in the year than earlier (i.e. it'll be easier to travel when I can pay for plane fares). But all the same I'm going to do all I can to move forwards in this goal too.
Yeah, not that many. And so come February they're as fat (or smoking, or unfit, or poor) as ever before.
I also find that having one goal puts a lot of pressure on me. If you stuff up with one goal, you can be tempted to think that it's all over and there's no longer any point in trying. Which isn't true, but people (including me) tend to act on feelings rather than facts. So I have a variety of goal areas (exercise, diet, art, writing, work, financial, and other), all with at least one goal in there. (Actually, I don't have anything for diet yet. I eat pretty well, given that anything with gluten or dairy is immediately off the menu).
So here are my exercise goals for 2014!
1. To leg press 5* my body weight (250kg)
2. To run a 25 minute 5km (current PB: 27:51)
3. To run a 57 minute 10km (current PB: 59:56)
4. To run a 2:15 half marathon (current PB: 2:17:37)
5. To complete all three Spartan distances (sprint, super and beast)
6. To run 3 Tough Mudders
7. To do a short (sprint?) triathlon
8. To be able to do 20+ pullups in a row
9. To be able to do 20+ double unders
Notes on goals:
1. I currently press 160kg, and my original goal was 200, or 4* my body weight, but I've revised that goal when I made a bunch of massive improvements in a very short space of time.
2-4. These times don't seem MASSIVELY different from my PBs, so some may not think they're really challenging. However, all of my PBs are from 2013 - i.e. BEFORE I got sick with my current syncope. I am running slower at the moment. For example, a recent 10km I ran was 1:09:05. My most recent half marathon time was around 2:39:16, so that's a long way from my goal for next year. (Actually, my 5km time was only a second off my current PB, but it hurt a lot more than the PB did).
5-6. Travelling will be difficult, as I don't have any money saved, I have a small debt, and I'm aiming to actually have some savings by the end of the year (they're my financial goals). So I'm not 100% sure that these will both happen. Tough Mudder has changed the date of their Melbourne event which will make this more difficult as it would be easier to travel later in the year than earlier (i.e. it'll be easier to travel when I can pay for plane fares). But all the same I'm going to do all I can to move forwards in this goal too.
Monday 8 December 2014
Better on Monday
One of my goals this December is to run a virtual cumulative marathon, a virtual cumulative half-marathon, and a virtual 10km. I.e. to run 73.3km this December.
I've been doing less running recently, focusing more on weights and Bikram, as I'm doing a 12 week Bikram challenge, and weights help my syncope more. But I've injured my elbow somehow, so I'm taking December out to focus on my running.
I have a usual route, along the beach near my house. I run 5.58km or 3.38km usually, though if I want to do a long run then that is longer. So I set off along the beach.
It was a STRUGGLE. Really, really hard.
I "ran" the 5.58, mostly BECAUSE it was so hard, and I know that it wasn't going to get any better. I could have stopped at the 3.38, but it's important to me to keep going. So I did the longer option.
It took me a really long time. My running times have increased since getting sick again, but this was something else. Normally the 5.58km takes me around 40 minutes. This run took just under an hour. But I did it.
And then this morning (Monday) I went for a quick run (3.38km) before work. It wasn't so bad. I wasn't fast, but I wasn't as slow as on the weekend. And it didn't hurt the way that the run on the weekend did.
When you keep on, it gets better. Not always when you want it to, but it does.
Keep on keeping on!
I've been doing less running recently, focusing more on weights and Bikram, as I'm doing a 12 week Bikram challenge, and weights help my syncope more. But I've injured my elbow somehow, so I'm taking December out to focus on my running.
I have a usual route, along the beach near my house. I run 5.58km or 3.38km usually, though if I want to do a long run then that is longer. So I set off along the beach.
It was a STRUGGLE. Really, really hard.
I "ran" the 5.58, mostly BECAUSE it was so hard, and I know that it wasn't going to get any better. I could have stopped at the 3.38, but it's important to me to keep going. So I did the longer option.
It took me a really long time. My running times have increased since getting sick again, but this was something else. Normally the 5.58km takes me around 40 minutes. This run took just under an hour. But I did it.
And then this morning (Monday) I went for a quick run (3.38km) before work. It wasn't so bad. I wasn't fast, but I wasn't as slow as on the weekend. And it didn't hurt the way that the run on the weekend did.
When you keep on, it gets better. Not always when you want it to, but it does.
Keep on keeping on!
Sunday 7 December 2014
On Being Me
It's time to start a (new) blog, to record my life as it is currently. I've blogged before, at a number of different blogs (including 3 concurrently), but none of them currently feel like "me", so I've dropped them. But I really like blogging, and I have a lot to say (even when no one listens - especially when no one listens!) so here I am once again.
At the moment, I'm an exercise fanatic. I run, lift weights, do Sealfit workouts, do Bikram yoga, and have personal training twice a week. I'm not especially strong or especially fast, but I'm very determined, and I won't quit unless I have to.
I've raised money for charities through my exercise, including World Vision and Canteen. I rode over 250km to raise funds to end children's cancer.
The interesting thing is, I'm actually pretty sick. I have a whole host of different diseases and conditions that impact the way I live my life every day. This includes taking medications, eating differently, the structuring of my exercise plan, and my morning routine - just to mention the obvious ones.
I have:
- Allergies ranging from mild to severe
- Coeliacs disease
- Asthma
- A polycystic ovary
- Poor bone density
- Lung damage
- Two (very minor) heart conditions (tachycardia, and a functional murmur)
- A metabolism issue (too fast)
- Severe syncope and corresponding pre and post syncope symptoms (syncope is fainting)
In the past I have had:
- Ovarian cancer, leading to the removal of one ovary and about 2/3 of my uterus
- Pneumonia
- Whooping cough (I was immunized, I still got it)
Plus the standard childhood illnesses and injuries.
I DON'T LET BEING SICK STOP ME. IT IS NOT AN OPTION.
This blog is about being sick, being tired, and doing it anyway
At the moment, I'm an exercise fanatic. I run, lift weights, do Sealfit workouts, do Bikram yoga, and have personal training twice a week. I'm not especially strong or especially fast, but I'm very determined, and I won't quit unless I have to.
I've raised money for charities through my exercise, including World Vision and Canteen. I rode over 250km to raise funds to end children's cancer.
The interesting thing is, I'm actually pretty sick. I have a whole host of different diseases and conditions that impact the way I live my life every day. This includes taking medications, eating differently, the structuring of my exercise plan, and my morning routine - just to mention the obvious ones.
I have:
- Allergies ranging from mild to severe
- Coeliacs disease
- Asthma
- A polycystic ovary
- Poor bone density
- Lung damage
- Two (very minor) heart conditions (tachycardia, and a functional murmur)
- A metabolism issue (too fast)
- Severe syncope and corresponding pre and post syncope symptoms (syncope is fainting)
In the past I have had:
- Ovarian cancer, leading to the removal of one ovary and about 2/3 of my uterus
- Pneumonia
- Whooping cough (I was immunized, I still got it)
Plus the standard childhood illnesses and injuries.
I DON'T LET BEING SICK STOP ME. IT IS NOT AN OPTION.
This blog is about being sick, being tired, and doing it anyway
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