so...

More walking today--I'm still inflamed, my shoulder joints and back and lower leg bones and quads still ache. It sucks. My last good run was sometime in August.

So, once again, I'm revamping things slightly to help cope. Running, I'm not going to assume will be every day or even 5X a week anymore, and speedwork isn't going to be 1X a week either. The most important run will be the long run, assuming I can do it, and I would like to do at least one semi-long run too. So, if that means that I'm only running 3X a week total, so be it. I'm still keeping active with brisk walking every day, which is uncomfortable too, but less so than running. As well, today, I started stair repeats. The dog and I were walking along the river, and I was passing a staircase going up the hill and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe that would be a good alternative to doing sprints. So we went up it, and down, and then we came to a much longer staircase and I went about 3/4 up it twice. I'll see how I feel tomorrow, but if I can do that 2X a week or so, gradually increasing reps, that might help me keep my strength. My main concern about this issue is losing muscle mass once again. I did a good round of resistance work/sprinting early this summer to build up again, and I don't want to lose everything I gained!!

I'm also trying to get back into doing yoga every morning. It's gotten to the point where even going to the gentle classes 2 times a week or so is hard to recover from, so maybe if I do a little bit every day, it'll be less of a shock to my system.

I'm also trying to get back into doing ab exercises every day. Those muscles apparently recover more quickly than others, and hopefully I can strike a nice balance between maintaining a good core and not inflaming things further (which has happened in the past). I think plank poses will be more beneficial than doing crunches.

Plus, I'm changing my diet somewhat. The main thing is to stop eating 2hrs or so before bed. Maybe my muscles aren't recovering well because too much blood is getting diverted to my digestive system during the night. I definitely slept better last night after a couple hours of just water, at least, so I'll try to continue this. That's what I used to do, but I've been getting hungrier and hungrier after mid-afternoon and so have been chowing down, but I'll try to get all my eating done earlier. I also got some miso soup paste and seaweed and dried fish...the sort of thing that seemed to help me while I was in Asia. Strangely enough, the brand new big Asian supermarket (T&T) here is very close to the GI clinic. Coincidence? LOL. Unfortunately, I'm to continue eating wheat until early Jan, at which point, I'll get the blood tests and then go back to the GI doc. I've been trying to eat it every day since after the operation, but I guess that's not long enough to be sure. Kind of sucks to have to hang in for longer, but, ah, it's still better than waiting until April.

At any rate, I felt sort of groggy/foggy during the appointment (it was in the afternoon and usually I fall asleep for a bit around then) and probably I didn't make much sense. It was frustrating...it sounds dumb but some days I feel I can't talk properly, can't find the right words, can't explain myself. Unfortunately, I also forgot to ask the doc about a new symptom which has cropped up recently. I went in there and totally forgot. ahhh, stupid!

Anyway, I really hope that this is something that will be resolved by avoiding wheat. The doctor also mentioned that it's possible to have gluten intolerance instead of celiac. Yes, it will be a pain reading labels all the time and eating out, but it didn't seem too bad during my two wheat-free weeks although I was surprised to discover that wheat was in some brands of chips. And I didn't miss wheat much. The worst was when my dragonboat team went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. I wasn't craving pasta per se, but I was starving and the only thing I could have was salad.



I really really hope that all this is over and done with by the time my training program ends and I start my new job, in April. The timing has been really good in many ways, but I'm ready to start afresh. And I'm a bit worried about the job in terms of being on my feet for eight hours again. I can manage three or four (I still volunteer at the hospital), but eight is a bit much. I was at the college for 8-9 hrs on Monday, and I needed to go to the library for a nap halfway through. LOL