With Kaylee in school I have more time to focus on my health and I decided two days a week I will sleep in (until 6:30) and go to the gym after I drop Kaylee off to school. I still do my early mornings (5:20) three days a week because I actually really enjoy the early morning routine, but I know with winter coming I need to ensure I am getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night to fight off those winter germs.
The other benefit to working out later, outside of the sleep, is I wanted to change my workouts a bit in hopes that some variety may be beneficially to my lungs. On my late gym days I use the treadmill and have been attempting to speed walk for 5 min followed by jogging for five minutes. My goal was to work up to jogging the entire workout. I was pleasantly surprised how well my lungs took to the jogging walking combo and was hoping to see improvements in my jogging. (***Can I just throw in a side note here: In May 2014 I was told I could no longer jog due to medical reasons... take that suckers!!!CF can kiss my ass! Moving on...) However, as I jog more and walk less I have noticed some weird twinges in my knee post workout. Workout injuries are my biggest fear because I can't imagine what would happen to my poor lungs if I was injured and unable to workout. And it is so hard to get into a good workout routine and once you stop even for a week or two it can be torture trying to restart.
I am going to buy new running shoes in hopes my old pair was just a little too old to offer the appropriate support. I hope it works! Even though I absolutely adore swimming and I never have any weird aches or injuries from swimming a part of me thinks my lungs have gotten used to swimming and I don't notice as much clearance as I used to. In theory, I could work on my time and try to swim faster to give my lungs that extra boost, but I still need to be careful not to workout too hard or my O2 drops and being in a pool it isn't like wearing oxygen is an option. So I was hoping this small change in routine two days a week could provide the extra clearance I would like.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Friday, September 22, 2017
Friday, May 16, 2014
When Running Is No Longer an Option
Part of my current goal for my health is to gain weight, but more importantly to gain muscle. I am on an appetite stimulant and am quickly gaining the fat I lost through being so sick, but now I have the job of using that energy and calories and gaining as much muscle as possible, since it is a better weight to have. Muscle is much harder to lose than fat so I want to gain weight, but mostly in the form of muscle. The question is how to gain muscle and build my lungs when my lung function is so very low. I took for granted how easy it was to work out with 50% lung function. It seems like an unbelievably daunting, almost impossible task, when your lung function is so very low.
While discussing working out with my doctor last clinic he told me with the most empathetic tone that he doesn't think I should jog anymore. He feels it is too much of a strain for my body and I need to try things that build muscle, but are low stress on the body such as yoga, pilates, weight training on weight machines, etc. He was so sweet in his delivery, worried I would be upset being told I could no longer run, but in my head all I could think was, "YESSSSSSSSSSSS!"
I started running so I could quit the gym because we needed to save money. Being sick is expensive! Co-pays, prescriptions and my hubby has had to take more time off work than he has sick days for because of my hospital stays and frequent sickness so we have been extra tight when it comes to finances lately. But in all honesty, I hate hate hate running.
So as my doctor requested I rejoined the gym. I had already started going to yoga again a few months back. I have to say being back at the gym and being back in my yoga studio makes me feel so much healthier. I know it hasn't been long enough to actually make much of an improvement, but being in the places I used to go to when I was my healthiest (right before I had K) makes me feel like I am that person again, the "healthy" person, the strong person, the fit person. I feel a new sense of hope, being in these places knowing that each day I am slowly, but surely making my body, my lungs, my spirit just a little bit stronger. Maybe, just maybe someday I can be that healthy strong person again!
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Who You Inspire
Don't worry, this isn't some brag post about how amazingly inspiring I am. In fact, it is actually about what a superficial freak I am, but more on that later...
I brought Kay to the river down the street a few days ago to let her chase the ducks (is that bad? I mean she lovingly chases them saying, Uppo Uppo quack quack" with her arms stretched out as if they would gladly run to her and let her pick them "uppo" and snuggle. Maybe that is considered animal abuse though. Hmmm, I may have to reconsider our hobbies). Anyway, my lazy self plopped under a tree to watch her shenanigans. As I was watching her I saw a woman on the other side of the river jogging. She was young and really didn't look out of shape, but I could tell she was really struggling. I was being rude and watching her as she exercised. She would run a little, then stop clearly exhausted. She would then start walking slowly until she built up the energy to jog a little again. She did this until she crossed the bridge and was on our side of the river. I creepily (in a non creepy way) watched her as she struggled to jog even a few feet at a time.
She slowly made her way to where Kay was playing. As she ran off I got to thinking about my own get-into-shape-adventure. I started jogging at the park a few houses down from my home because two laps of the park was equal to a mile. It was an easy way to gauge how far I had run. Unfortunately, as the weather is getting nicer the park is filling up with people. Okay, so this is fortunate since that is what the park is for, but it is unfortunate for me because I know I look like a 80 year old man when I run. I huff and puff and cough and the worse part is I am moving in sloooow motion. I always worry people must look at me and think, Geez why does that young woman look like she is going to die when she is barely moving her legs??
While I was creepily (in a non-creepy way) watching this woman struggle I thought to myself, good for her! She is clearly doing something that is difficult for her, but isn't giving up! I actually wanted to say I was proud of her, but realized that would be super weird and creepy so I refrained! The best part is she wasn't ashamed (or at least acted like she wasn't) despite her super slow pace. When I run in slow motion past people I usually pretend I am so into my music that I don't even notice them so I don't have to make eye contact with them because that would be humiliating (even the time the dog was chasing me and I thought I was going to pee my pants because I was terrified he was going to eat me alive).
So thanks to the random woman who was running along the river I am totally inspired to ignore the voices in my head saying I look like I am about to die every time I jog (even though I often feel that way) and instead I will tell myself I may be inspiring someone who is too nervous to try to get back in shape. At the very least I am making people thankful that they are not as out of shape as I am which, hey, whatever I can do to make my fellow man and woman feel better about themselves is fine with me.
I brought Kay to the river down the street a few days ago to let her chase the ducks (is that bad? I mean she lovingly chases them saying, Uppo Uppo quack quack" with her arms stretched out as if they would gladly run to her and let her pick them "uppo" and snuggle. Maybe that is considered animal abuse though. Hmmm, I may have to reconsider our hobbies). Anyway, my lazy self plopped under a tree to watch her shenanigans. As I was watching her I saw a woman on the other side of the river jogging. She was young and really didn't look out of shape, but I could tell she was really struggling. I was being rude and watching her as she exercised. She would run a little, then stop clearly exhausted. She would then start walking slowly until she built up the energy to jog a little again. She did this until she crossed the bridge and was on our side of the river. I creepily (in a non creepy way) watched her as she struggled to jog even a few feet at a time.
She slowly made her way to where Kay was playing. As she ran off I got to thinking about my own get-into-shape-adventure. I started jogging at the park a few houses down from my home because two laps of the park was equal to a mile. It was an easy way to gauge how far I had run. Unfortunately, as the weather is getting nicer the park is filling up with people. Okay, so this is fortunate since that is what the park is for, but it is unfortunate for me because I know I look like a 80 year old man when I run. I huff and puff and cough and the worse part is I am moving in sloooow motion. I always worry people must look at me and think, Geez why does that young woman look like she is going to die when she is barely moving her legs??
While I was creepily (in a non-creepy way) watching this woman struggle I thought to myself, good for her! She is clearly doing something that is difficult for her, but isn't giving up! I actually wanted to say I was proud of her, but realized that would be super weird and creepy so I refrained! The best part is she wasn't ashamed (or at least acted like she wasn't) despite her super slow pace. When I run in slow motion past people I usually pretend I am so into my music that I don't even notice them so I don't have to make eye contact with them because that would be humiliating (even the time the dog was chasing me and I thought I was going to pee my pants because I was terrified he was going to eat me alive).
So thanks to the random woman who was running along the river I am totally inspired to ignore the voices in my head saying I look like I am about to die every time I jog (even though I often feel that way) and instead I will tell myself I may be inspiring someone who is too nervous to try to get back in shape. At the very least I am making people thankful that they are not as out of shape as I am which, hey, whatever I can do to make my fellow man and woman feel better about themselves is fine with me.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Running again
I started running again! Okay, by run I mean jogging. Okay, Okay, by jogging I mean walk fast with a jogging motion. I am pretty sure I saw a centipede pass me by, but you get the idea. I am trying and that's what counts, right? After spending a week in the hospital where all I had was an exercise bike (lame exercise for my lungs) and then a week doing IVs, treatments 4x/day and wanting to pass out at 8:00 every night I got out of my running jogging jogging-like routine. It is amazing how quickly your lungs get out of shape when you take a little exercise vacation. In order to get my lungs back into shape I have been jogging(ish) every single day rain or shine (luckily, no snow for us and a cold day is anything under 60 degrees so "rain or shine" isn't really an impressive statement).
Today, my mom came to play with Kaylee for a while so I figured I would do an extra long jog just for good measure. So I did and guess what? When I got home I fell in a heap on my bed. And then I got stuck. Seriously, my body was boycotting life. So as I laid comatose in a pile on my bed I kept thinking of all the wonderful things I could do with my toddler-free time. I had laundry in the drier waiting to be folded and laundry in the wash waiting for the drier. How nice would it be to do laundry without a toddler "helping" take clothes from the dried one sock at a time. I needed a shower and how glorious would it be to shower without a little person frolicking around the bathroom taking a moment every few seconds to point at my naked body in the shower and shout with the excitement only toddlers have, "Cu cO!!!!" (Culo in Spanish and yes, yes, I know this is not the politically correct way to say gluteus maximus and these days you are supposed to teach your children the anatomically correct way to say body parts rather than teaching them some stupid nickname. BUT if you saw the way my daughter made a perfect little "o" with her lips and her the way she squeals, "Cu cO" you would totally teach your kid the same). I really needed to catch up on vacuuming and had some phone calls to make which would be so much easier in the silent absence of a toddler and yet I don't think my pillows ever felt so nice after my super strenuous run-jog-walk so there I laid pretending my home looked Martha Stewertesque, my laundry folded, my body showered, and my secretary was making my calls for me. At least I got my exercise in, right?
Today, my mom came to play with Kaylee for a while so I figured I would do an extra long jog just for good measure. So I did and guess what? When I got home I fell in a heap on my bed. And then I got stuck. Seriously, my body was boycotting life. So as I laid comatose in a pile on my bed I kept thinking of all the wonderful things I could do with my toddler-free time. I had laundry in the drier waiting to be folded and laundry in the wash waiting for the drier. How nice would it be to do laundry without a toddler "helping" take clothes from the dried one sock at a time. I needed a shower and how glorious would it be to shower without a little person frolicking around the bathroom taking a moment every few seconds to point at my naked body in the shower and shout with the excitement only toddlers have, "Cu cO!!!!" (Culo in Spanish and yes, yes, I know this is not the politically correct way to say gluteus maximus and these days you are supposed to teach your children the anatomically correct way to say body parts rather than teaching them some stupid nickname. BUT if you saw the way my daughter made a perfect little "o" with her lips and her the way she squeals, "Cu cO" you would totally teach your kid the same). I really needed to catch up on vacuuming and had some phone calls to make which would be so much easier in the silent absence of a toddler and yet I don't think my pillows ever felt so nice after my super strenuous run-jog-walk so there I laid pretending my home looked Martha Stewertesque, my laundry folded, my body showered, and my secretary was making my calls for me. At least I got my exercise in, right?
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Exercising in Summer
It is not officially summer yet, but summer weather has arrived. Kaylee and I find ourselves sweaty after our morning excursion in the vegetable garden so of course jogging has been put on hold for now. I find summer the hardest time of the year to fit in exercise. The weather makes strenuous outdoor exercise difficult and our days are so full it is hard to find the time for a good workout. Although our days are full of walking and biking I find these do very little for my lungs.
This year I found a solution! Literally right across the street there is a membership pool. Community pools are not ideal for exercising, but this pool is a little different. Every hour on the hour there is 20 minutes of adult swim. All kids have to get out of the pool and adults are allowed to do laps. For our little family this is perfect. We head over to the pool around 4:15. We all swim and play in the pool for about 45 minutes. Then my hubby and Kaylee get out and have a snack break in the shade while I do my laps for 20 minutes. When Family bonding time, exercise, daddy/daughter time, and sunshine all wrapped into one. Now I don't want summer to ever end!
This year I found a solution! Literally right across the street there is a membership pool. Community pools are not ideal for exercising, but this pool is a little different. Every hour on the hour there is 20 minutes of adult swim. All kids have to get out of the pool and adults are allowed to do laps. For our little family this is perfect. We head over to the pool around 4:15. We all swim and play in the pool for about 45 minutes. Then my hubby and Kaylee get out and have a snack break in the shade while I do my laps for 20 minutes. When Family bonding time, exercise, daddy/daughter time, and sunshine all wrapped into one. Now I don't want summer to ever end!
Monday, May 20, 2013
I Shocked Myself!
Why you ask? Because today I went jogging!! Yes, Inhaling Hope, who does not run no matter the circumstances went jogging! I laced up my shoes, put Kay in the jogging stroller and instead of our usually leisurely walk I decided to jog (relatively slowly) instead.
Now I know many of you (especially you marathon cysters and fibros) are shrugging your shoulders, what's the big deal? The deal is that I am a swimmer. I love the pool, I love doing laps, I love the cool smooth feel of the water. I am not a jogger, I hate to jog, I hate sneakers, and I hate the feel of hot hard concrete. BUT I can't swim everyday and I am having this intense need to be healthier, stronger, more fit. I am watching my daughter grow older and more active and I want to keep up with her. So today, and from now on, I am a jogger.
I told Kay as we started walking on the greenbelt that I was attempting to jog and that I could not guarantee success. Lucky for me she was too busy saying, "dog dog woof woof!" to really care about my plans. I told myself when I turned the first corner I would start to jog. I put my stroller jogging strap on (which is a joke because I was running .00004 miles per hour and it isn't like the stroller would wildly lose control if I fell to my death, but safety first I guess!) and off I went. For the first 3 seconds I felt good. In fact I think I liked it for the first 7 seconds. About 30 seconds in I remembered why I hate jogging, but I pushed that annoying voice to the back of my head and kept at it. At 1 minute in I remembered I only have 50% lung function and started to breath heavy (is that normal so soon??). At 2 minutes in I was already in this sucks mode. But the good thing about jogging on a greenbelt is there are other people to impress. Not that any of those dog walkers, bikers, or senior citizens cared about my slow motion jogging, but in my mind they would be thinking I was a super out of shape loser if I stopped jogging so I kept at it. I jogged for what seemed like 3 miles, but I think it was only about 1/4 mile.
My goal for the rest of the summer is to swim 3-4 days a week and jog 3 days a week. I feel so motivated to kick CF's butt!! I will keep you updated on my progress.
Now I know many of you (especially you marathon cysters and fibros) are shrugging your shoulders, what's the big deal? The deal is that I am a swimmer. I love the pool, I love doing laps, I love the cool smooth feel of the water. I am not a jogger, I hate to jog, I hate sneakers, and I hate the feel of hot hard concrete. BUT I can't swim everyday and I am having this intense need to be healthier, stronger, more fit. I am watching my daughter grow older and more active and I want to keep up with her. So today, and from now on, I am a jogger.
I told Kay as we started walking on the greenbelt that I was attempting to jog and that I could not guarantee success. Lucky for me she was too busy saying, "dog dog woof woof!" to really care about my plans. I told myself when I turned the first corner I would start to jog. I put my stroller jogging strap on (which is a joke because I was running .00004 miles per hour and it isn't like the stroller would wildly lose control if I fell to my death, but safety first I guess!) and off I went. For the first 3 seconds I felt good. In fact I think I liked it for the first 7 seconds. About 30 seconds in I remembered why I hate jogging, but I pushed that annoying voice to the back of my head and kept at it. At 1 minute in I remembered I only have 50% lung function and started to breath heavy (is that normal so soon??). At 2 minutes in I was already in this sucks mode. But the good thing about jogging on a greenbelt is there are other people to impress. Not that any of those dog walkers, bikers, or senior citizens cared about my slow motion jogging, but in my mind they would be thinking I was a super out of shape loser if I stopped jogging so I kept at it. I jogged for what seemed like 3 miles, but I think it was only about 1/4 mile.
My goal for the rest of the summer is to swim 3-4 days a week and jog 3 days a week. I feel so motivated to kick CF's butt!! I will keep you updated on my progress.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Day 2 of Running.
So I wanted to give an update about my second day of running. Well, stupid me wore the little cut-off socks. You know the socks that only peek above your shoe line so people don't see your socks. Well, as I started running my socks kept slipping further and further down my foot and my shoes kept rubbing and rubbing my foot. Ugh! I now have several lovely blisters to show for my run. YUCK!
In better news I have to say I am amazed by my running experience. I went to the gym after eating (4 or 5 Kalamta olives for the salt) with a huge bottle of water and an ensure in my gym bag. I chose a treadmill as far in the back as possible so people wouldn't judge my slow pace. I started with a warm up walking at a speed of 4 for about 5 minutes after a good stretch. I then increased my "walk" to 4.3 so that I was fast walking. I then alternated jog (which I put at 5.3) and walking. At first it was easy, but half way through I was getting pretty tired. Not only was I getting tired, but I was breathing hard. To my delight and my neighbors horror I was even coughing!! Not excessively, but I could feel some mucus moving around and gave a few strong coughs while running.
I thought, "Hey, this isn't too bad." and then a woman three times my size got on the treadmill next to me and basically did the same workout, but wasn't even breaking a sweat. I felt like a loser all sweaty and red-faced, but I digress.
The most amazing part was when I got in the car to go home I was coughing! A lot! And it was considerably thicker than my normal mucus! I was elated! Then I got worried. What if this is actually an infection brewing, not old crappy mucus being brought up from cardio. So in my paranoid state I rushed home and did hyper-tonic saline to bring up as much crap as possible. I went to bed half excited that my workout brought up so much junk from my lungs and half worried that this thick mucus was a sign of infection.
Fast forward to today and my lungs feel great! No extra cough and when I do cough my mucus is thin and very light (yellow/tan). I am convinced that the run pulled some old junk from my lower lungs up and out. It makes me all the more excited to run again! I have yoga until Friday so I won't run again until then, but for ONCE in my life I am actually looking forward to running. Okay, I am not looking forward to the actual run. I am looking forward to getting rid of some of this nasty slim in my lungs AFTER the run!
In better news I have to say I am amazed by my running experience. I went to the gym after eating (4 or 5 Kalamta olives for the salt) with a huge bottle of water and an ensure in my gym bag. I chose a treadmill as far in the back as possible so people wouldn't judge my slow pace. I started with a warm up walking at a speed of 4 for about 5 minutes after a good stretch. I then increased my "walk" to 4.3 so that I was fast walking. I then alternated jog (which I put at 5.3) and walking. At first it was easy, but half way through I was getting pretty tired. Not only was I getting tired, but I was breathing hard. To my delight and my neighbors horror I was even coughing!! Not excessively, but I could feel some mucus moving around and gave a few strong coughs while running.
I thought, "Hey, this isn't too bad." and then a woman three times my size got on the treadmill next to me and basically did the same workout, but wasn't even breaking a sweat. I felt like a loser all sweaty and red-faced, but I digress.
The most amazing part was when I got in the car to go home I was coughing! A lot! And it was considerably thicker than my normal mucus! I was elated! Then I got worried. What if this is actually an infection brewing, not old crappy mucus being brought up from cardio. So in my paranoid state I rushed home and did hyper-tonic saline to bring up as much crap as possible. I went to bed half excited that my workout brought up so much junk from my lungs and half worried that this thick mucus was a sign of infection.
Fast forward to today and my lungs feel great! No extra cough and when I do cough my mucus is thin and very light (yellow/tan). I am convinced that the run pulled some old junk from my lower lungs up and out. It makes me all the more excited to run again! I have yoga until Friday so I won't run again until then, but for ONCE in my life I am actually looking forward to running. Okay, I am not looking forward to the actual run. I am looking forward to getting rid of some of this nasty slim in my lungs AFTER the run!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
I Dread Running!
In my quest to increase my lung function I have decided to start running. Ugh! I HATE running with a passion, but I don't feel like any other for of exercise does enough for my lungs. I have tried every machine at the gym and nothing produces enough sputum for me. I found a website that is supposed to guide you from being inactive to running a 5k. I have not attempted to run since my junior high days so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I am hoping to acquire a runners high after I get good at it which may make me more enthusiastic to hit the treadmill. Here is the link.
I started the work out last week, but am a little behind already. YIKES!! I ended up doing extra yoga last week because I needed to make up some days I missed in the past and so I missed my run. Also in a week I will be out of town for over a week and I know I will not be running for the entire time so I will be remaining on the first step for about 3 weeks. Wow that sounds pathetic.
I am schedules to run tomorrow so we will see how it goes. Wish my luck and fast feet :)
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