Learning to Run... again?
So yes, I still technically know how to run.
In the span of two years I have run a half marathon, a full marathon, and fully lost my ability to run over 100 meters. It is strange to think that all it takes is a bit of negligence, a bit of life circumstance, and a bit of living life in other ways to make you loose a skill that you love. Two years have passed since I declared my running ability "lost," and I have tried off and on to gain it back.
yes, that is sweat dried onto my eyes.. it was a hot day, and 26.2 miles is a bit of a long ways.
But it is more difficult than it seems. I started decreasing my mileage because of debilitating migraines, which I eventually started to manage - after a year. After a summer of taking in the freedom of a reduced migraine life in Europe, I developed some sort of mystery autoimmune reaction. My heart rate took off, my blood pressure dropped, and I essentially spent the next year in bed in order not to pass out.
On a Harry Potter themed team for our city's mud run. I of course was Harry Potter
Coming back from all of that has been a challenge by itself - emotionally, physically, and psychologically. However, I finally think I am at a point where running again could be a benefit instead of an additional physical toll on my body. But boy, have I got a lot of work to do.
The extended lying and sitting had pushed my hips out of alignment, causing lower back and worsening my preexisting shoulder pain. My muscle strength has decreased exponentially. Flexibility is nonexistent.
So I have given myself a six month plan - just to be able to think about jogging again. And I am taking you guys with me.
This 30 day period will be focusing on realigning my hips, flexibility, and light endurance:
Hips - I will be keeping up with this and this YouTube video daily, along with taking CBD oil and NSAIDs to reduce pain and inflammation.
Flexibility - I will be following Yoga with Adriene's 30 Days of Yoga video, doing one each day.
Light endurance - I plan on doing a 30 minute walk per day. It may not seem like a lot, but when you have been pretty inactive for a couple years (besides working in kitchens), it is surprising how little it takes.
I had a lot of the same autoimmune problems you describe including headaches that I acquired as I got older. The short story is that I became allergic to some of the foods I loved including wine. After eliminating wine and everything with sulfites (dried fruit etc.) the headaches went away and after eliminating gluten (bread & cake) my autoimmune symptoms went away.
It took me years to figure this out. Don’t wait. Cut out everything that could be causing problems and then reintroduce them to see how you feel. It can take a couple of days to feel the effects that’s why it took me so long to figure out what was causing the problems. Putting together the cause and effect can take a while but it’s worth it to feel better.
Nobody wants to hear they can’t eat their favorite foods but for me it was an easy choice. Just know that you get use to the alternatives pretty quickly.
Good luck and I hope you feel better!
i'm curious as to how you discovered what you needed to eliminate?
I’ll give you the slightly longer version. Last year I was diagnosed with low blood platelets that turned out to be false but I was looking for all the information I could find on the subject in order to save my spleen from being removed! After months of research it seems that the NSAIDs I was taking for headaches was causing “leaky gut” syndrome and that led to autoimmune and gastrointestinal problems.
I’m not the type to get into “fad” diets but all my research pointed to “The Paleo Diet” to fix a possible leaky gut syndrome. (I didn’t know for sure but I wanted to keep my spleen!) :-) So I went on the extreme version of the diet because it eliminated virtually everything that could be causing the problem. It wasn’t easy finding things I could eat but there are more options now.
I didn’t eat any carbs except fruits and vegetables. No grains whatsoever. I lost 25 lbs in two months but by eating a lot of protein I really didn’t feel very hungry. My problems cleared up and I started reintroducing eggs, rice, oats etc. When I reintroduced pepper however my skin started acting up so now I don’t use pepper or paprika.
The takeaway:
I hope this helps.
Thanks for the recomendations, but I have unfortunately tried almost every dietary change possible. I am glad that was the answer for your illness though!! I seem to be stable with a high water and salt diet, as long as I stay on top of things:)
You're going to need more water and salt running again! :-) Stay well.
Hey, that tee-shirt looks familiar!
waves hello from New Hampshire
Yowzers, what a rough road you've had! I'll spare you my own tale of woe (which sadly doesn't involve traveling across the pond), but I do have health goals in mind this year. I'm starting by building some stamina by walking up & down the stairs in our place for five minutes at a time, at least once a day. I also need to seriously make time to meditate - I keep getting that message, but haven't done anything about it yet. Wishing you a healthy 2018!
What a small world!!
I wish you luck with your stamina goals - for me just getting started is the hardest part, not that sticking with it is that much easier, but I hope you are able to do both! And I keep getting the notification as well. It's like I keep waiting for the app to meditate for me or something haha
Wishing you one as well:)
Ooo, wouldn't it be nice if the app actually did that? Then I'd just need one to wash the dishes, and one to... LOL
The more time I spend on the internet, the more I realize what a small world it truly is. Wicked happy to have bumped into a neighbor, regardless of your current address. 😊
I too am struggling to return from the depths of injury and want to do so on a firm foundation. I'm starting with strengthening exercises and low miles to build up slowly. I had what turned out to be a hammer toe and also broke my arm on a run. Now I am struggling with candida having its way with me. No more pavement unless absolutely unavoidable and no extreme ramping up mileage just to make a race I'm not ready for. Good luck, @bitttermelllon I'm rooting for you!
Oh gosh - breaking your arm on a run! That sounds like a traumatic experience. The worse I have had was a messed up ankle due to some black ice, and that was enough to make me warry about going back out for a bit. I wish you all the best with your journey (candida is no fun at all), and would love to stay updated through some posts!
i'd like to hear more about how you went from being bed ridden to being able to start running again? that could be a post in itself.
Yeah it could! Right now I still just don't have that many answers about what happened to me, sort of an unsolved medical mystery. I was hoping to wait until things were resolved, but it doesn't look like that will be happening hahah - so I will add it to my list to post about!
I really commend you! It takes a lot to get yourself back to where you were. But, it seems you are doing all the right things to pull yourself back up! Way to go!! I'm excited to watch your journey to recover and get back to what you love.
It is always surprising how much work it takes, isn't it? And thanks so much!
Oh, running is hard for the body, at least that is my experience. I used to run a lot, but knees and hips are not really handling it anymore. I can see you have some tips how to work on the hips:)
Today I do yoga on a regular basis. I also hike a lot. I love to walk in nature. Walking is not as hard as running, but outdoors in terrain it's not easy either.
I hope your program will work for you and that you soon will run again without problems.
I think the harshness of running has been one of my problems - I was just really ignoring stretching and taking care of my body before and after runs back when I was able to.
I love yoga as well! I did it almost daily for two years and fell in love with the calming effect. It sounds like you have a wonderful training program going on, that is great for your body!
Thanks so much!
I did that 30 day yoga with Adriene, I love her! Hope you're enjoying that...
Good on you for taking charge of your health, I hope your plan works well for you, and you'll be back to jogging again soon :)
I've always been into yoga (still very beginner-ish though), and am currently getting things in place so I can start a proper and committed fitness regime (Focus T25 to strengthen my core) that will get me stronger again (so I can nail those crazy yoga poses).
I have some big but realistic plans for myself this year! Keep an eye out, because I will be putting up vlogs of my fitness journey very soon :)