This morning was the start of my new life. I grabbed the dog and we ran.
Unfortunately, recent storms had turned the creek path into a creek.
2 miles, plus the daily 2.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
oh, karma!
Just after I had put the final touches on my pre-colonoscopy diatribe yesterday, gut pain sprung! It was this oddly especially localized and sharp little knot, different from the usual sort of slightly less localized cramping/burning. I couldn't lie on my right side all night. Every time I rolled over, it felt as if a particular coil of my intestine was sliding into a vice. I think it was either the hospital scrambled eggs or the kamikaze roll sauce, and I won't be eating either again.
The pain was still present this morning, so we didn't run long time. I wasn't sure if running would make it worse, or if eating would (and I would have to eat if running for a while), so I had my herbal detox stuff mixed in a glass of water, and then we jogged down to the creek path and up and down it almost completely. There was a Tai Chi class near the end that took over the path (this section is in a park), but that was cool because they were playing nice Tai Chi music and my guts were already feeling better by that point and there was stuff for the dog to smell and there was a water fountain to test out...it was just a relaxing run.
Sometimes running is the perfect internal massage. I'm now having a veg protein/spirulina shake, and hopefully by this evening I will feel well enough to eat food. At any rate, I'm feeling much better.
3ish miles.
The pain was still present this morning, so we didn't run long time. I wasn't sure if running would make it worse, or if eating would (and I would have to eat if running for a while), so I had my herbal detox stuff mixed in a glass of water, and then we jogged down to the creek path and up and down it almost completely. There was a Tai Chi class near the end that took over the path (this section is in a park), but that was cool because they were playing nice Tai Chi music and my guts were already feeling better by that point and there was stuff for the dog to smell and there was a water fountain to test out...it was just a relaxing run.
Sometimes running is the perfect internal massage. I'm now having a veg protein/spirulina shake, and hopefully by this evening I will feel well enough to eat food. At any rate, I'm feeling much better.
3ish miles.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Freeeeeeee!
Today was my last early morning! And it was a tough one. Fridays have been toughest--the fatigue of the fifth aborted sleep in a row (I feel like I've been chiselled from my bed, it's that abrasive) squashes any and all imminent weekend joy. There are storms brewing today, which tapped another chisel deeper and deeper into the side of my skull; the sky now has a greenish tinge to the west which could foretell a pretty heavy party soon. The scrambled eggs I got from the cafeteria were perhaps a bit flour-tainted or, at any rate, didn't settle quietly. Equipment malfunctioned so often that I was starting to feel like the machines were finally rising. Plus, I spent most of the day in a small room with a subpar bio-waste container, which leads me to a very timely public appeal:
Please follow pre-colonoscopy directions, especially those specifying when to stop eating! So important! My fingers itch to colour details, but from a purely diagnostic standpoint (leaving the four or five involved and gloved/gowned people out of the equation), troublesome polyps and the like are judged most acutely without the smeary veil of
But then the day turned upside down :) The new and one and only sushi place in town opened today and it's delicious and even offers ikura! After dinner, I crashed and had a 2hr nap that was like floating on a tropical breeze! Then I decided to have a cheat day (we're doing another 2-week dietary detox) and I'm now maiming and marauding defenceless Sour Kids! I guess that makes me a piggy too. LOL.
But, seriously, if I had had the chance of getting an effective diagnosis of abdominal pain simply by not eating for 48 hours, I would have done it years ago. I don't think I had to ever fast that long, but there were a few tests, a couple of hospital stays, and one detox that required fasting up to 24 hrs, and it wasn't ever a problem. I'm not even counting the times where I was too ill to eat anything because that made it easy and after a day or two of fasting, euphoria set in and it became even easier. The longest I've gone without food was about four days after dental surgery. Just stopped getting hungry until eventually I threw up pure bile and decided that I had to shove something down there, incisions be darned. I think extra blood must get rerouted from the digestive tract to the brain because thinking becomes so amazingly scintillating and precise after some time without food.
I try to put myself into other shoes and remember that there have been other times where I have been extremely hungry. The worst was after a 20-ish mile run. I had an ear infection and couldn't swallow much, and then nothing, without intense pain. But I was comfortable enough to keep running, and it was a nice run. and then I had to eat, but I couldn't. I felt billions of hungry cells gnawing on other cells and my body ached, and then burned. It was such a profound hunger.
Yet I cannot understand these people who do not fast properly before procedures, especially since we're in the States and paying for health care is more transparent, and much more expensive here (except for old people). Plus, a colonoscope is a substantial instrument that I wouldn't want to sheathe twice merely because I got a bit hungry or didn't like the taste of the chute-clearing shake.
Meanwhile, I have been running a bit but definitely not enough, judging by my present mood/ BITCHINESS. I have typed about this way too much! But it's been simmering in my mind for a few weeks and finally we got a patient that required not just a second, but also a third colonoscope in a row and now I'm wondering just what one has to eat to pull that off. Tar?
Deep breathing...and this is why I must run! But now I can wake up with the sun, enjoy some leisurely stretches with the dog, and then head out and roll miles of ground beneath me while the air is still cool. I must add, I like my job even though today was kind of rough, but I detest waking up that early. Once in a while is fine--heck, for most modest mountain hikes, I usually had to get up at 2 or 3 am, no prob--but it's like burning a fire too brightly. Fuel gets spent too quickly; by 2 or 3, I'm pretty much ashes. And then I have to go to bed by 9 (ok, it slips later and later as the week goes on) just when the good stuff (creativity, energy, etc) is getting thrown in the oven. Whereas, if I have a leisurely morning, the fire gets set slow and deep, and gradually the coals brighten, and glow for hours and hours. And I will blast my music deep into the night.*
*ok, evening.
Tomorrow, the dog and I might do a long run on post.
5:15 alarm disengaged. I'm back!
Please follow pre-colonoscopy directions, especially those specifying when to stop eating! So important! My fingers itch to colour details, but from a purely diagnostic standpoint (leaving the four or five involved and gloved/gowned people out of the equation), troublesome polyps and the like are judged most acutely without the smeary veil of
But then the day turned upside down :) The new and one and only sushi place in town opened today and it's delicious and even offers ikura! After dinner, I crashed and had a 2hr nap that was like floating on a tropical breeze! Then I decided to have a cheat day (we're doing another 2-week dietary detox) and I'm now maiming and marauding defenceless Sour Kids! I guess that makes me a piggy too. LOL.
But, seriously, if I had had the chance of getting an effective diagnosis of abdominal pain simply by not eating for 48 hours, I would have done it years ago. I don't think I had to ever fast that long, but there were a few tests, a couple of hospital stays, and one detox that required fasting up to 24 hrs, and it wasn't ever a problem. I'm not even counting the times where I was too ill to eat anything because that made it easy and after a day or two of fasting, euphoria set in and it became even easier. The longest I've gone without food was about four days after dental surgery. Just stopped getting hungry until eventually I threw up pure bile and decided that I had to shove something down there, incisions be darned. I think extra blood must get rerouted from the digestive tract to the brain because thinking becomes so amazingly scintillating and precise after some time without food.
I try to put myself into other shoes and remember that there have been other times where I have been extremely hungry. The worst was after a 20-ish mile run. I had an ear infection and couldn't swallow much, and then nothing, without intense pain. But I was comfortable enough to keep running, and it was a nice run. and then I had to eat, but I couldn't. I felt billions of hungry cells gnawing on other cells and my body ached, and then burned. It was such a profound hunger.
Yet I cannot understand these people who do not fast properly before procedures, especially since we're in the States and paying for health care is more transparent, and much more expensive here (except for old people). Plus, a colonoscope is a substantial instrument that I wouldn't want to sheathe twice merely because I got a bit hungry or didn't like the taste of the chute-clearing shake.
Meanwhile, I have been running a bit but definitely not enough, judging by my present mood/ BITCHINESS. I have typed about this way too much! But it's been simmering in my mind for a few weeks and finally we got a patient that required not just a second, but also a third colonoscope in a row and now I'm wondering just what one has to eat to pull that off. Tar?
Deep breathing...and this is why I must run! But now I can wake up with the sun, enjoy some leisurely stretches with the dog, and then head out and roll miles of ground beneath me while the air is still cool. I must add, I like my job even though today was kind of rough, but I detest waking up that early. Once in a while is fine--heck, for most modest mountain hikes, I usually had to get up at 2 or 3 am, no prob--but it's like burning a fire too brightly. Fuel gets spent too quickly; by 2 or 3, I'm pretty much ashes. And then I have to go to bed by 9 (ok, it slips later and later as the week goes on) just when the good stuff (creativity, energy, etc) is getting thrown in the oven. Whereas, if I have a leisurely morning, the fire gets set slow and deep, and gradually the coals brighten, and glow for hours and hours. And I will blast my music deep into the night.*
*ok, evening.
Tomorrow, the dog and I might do a long run on post.
5:15 alarm disengaged. I'm back!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
in all directions but forward
I've been swamped! And the list doesn't seem quite linear; I picture overlapping circles but Blogspot does not.
Accidental serving of wheat at restaurant: zombie state. I'm still weak and sore, 1.5 weeks after
Final exam
Travel home, sibling's wedding
sleep deprivation (actually, considering how much I had to sleep during the first few days after the bad meal, maybe it balances out) culminating in one night with just a cat naps. Our flight was delayed and we got home after 2:00 am, and I didn't feel like calling work, so after a couple of hours in a half-sleep state and a few hallucinations including a cat purring on my chest and a strange man standing in my room, I got up and went to work. I was so tired, I felt no emotion about either apparition! Funnily enough, I changed into pyjamas (scrubs) at work, and I didn't really wake up until about noon, but I think I worked better than normal because the usual inner monologue and distracting thoughts were dead. I still haven't caught up on sleep, I think. 8 more early mornings.
I ran a couple of times while at home, about 7 miles (5 with T&T--I mean, two friends of mine, not the store!)--and then I don't know how many with run club. Mile repeats, about 7:14/mile. Oh, and I jog most of the way to work. It's too hot on the way back. :/
At any rate, I fully support our local town drugstore because while I was in there today, some man threw a fit because they didn't carry his prescription despite what he was told at a hospital. Bad language alert!
Man (yelling): Fuck your store!
Formerly soft-spoken pharmacist (after a very brief pause): Fuck you and get out of my store, you piece of shit! (the man left)
The cashier helping me then apologized to me and told me to take care when I left the store.
This was heartwarming for some reason. There was ownership in the pharmacist's voice, that's for sure. I don't know if he actually owns the store, but it isn't a chain store.
I meant to run after work today....maybe tomorrow. I did work out, this time "with" a different internet workout host: http://www.youtube.com/user/HangTightwMarC?ob=0&feature=results_main .
Accidental serving of wheat at restaurant: zombie state. I'm still weak and sore, 1.5 weeks after
Final exam
Travel home, sibling's wedding
sleep deprivation (actually, considering how much I had to sleep during the first few days after the bad meal, maybe it balances out) culminating in one night with just a cat naps. Our flight was delayed and we got home after 2:00 am, and I didn't feel like calling work, so after a couple of hours in a half-sleep state and a few hallucinations including a cat purring on my chest and a strange man standing in my room, I got up and went to work. I was so tired, I felt no emotion about either apparition! Funnily enough, I changed into pyjamas (scrubs) at work, and I didn't really wake up until about noon, but I think I worked better than normal because the usual inner monologue and distracting thoughts were dead. I still haven't caught up on sleep, I think. 8 more early mornings.
I ran a couple of times while at home, about 7 miles (5 with T&T--I mean, two friends of mine, not the store!)--and then I don't know how many with run club. Mile repeats, about 7:14/mile. Oh, and I jog most of the way to work. It's too hot on the way back. :/
At any rate, I fully support our local town drugstore because while I was in there today, some man threw a fit because they didn't carry his prescription despite what he was told at a hospital. Bad language alert!
Man (yelling): Fuck your store!
Formerly soft-spoken pharmacist (after a very brief pause): Fuck you and get out of my store, you piece of shit! (the man left)
The cashier helping me then apologized to me and told me to take care when I left the store.
This was heartwarming for some reason. There was ownership in the pharmacist's voice, that's for sure. I don't know if he actually owns the store, but it isn't a chain store.
I meant to run after work today....maybe tomorrow. I did work out, this time "with" a different internet workout host: http://www.youtube.com/user/HangTightwMarC?ob=0&feature=results_main .
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
more energy
Today was a busy day and the adrenaline got flowing. I got home and ran on the treadmill. My husband had already taken the dog for two runs that day (!!!) and it was pre-thunderstorm muggy.
Total: 8 miles and no thunderstorm yet.
Total: 8 miles and no thunderstorm yet.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Sauna
31 C and it's only April!
After a rather zombie-like existence at work, I woke up back at home craving a workout. It was too hot for the dog, even for a walk, and so I had no excuse not to use the TM. And then, once I got going, I decided to try a few faster intervals.
6 X 1 min fast/1 min recovery. What "fast" was, I have no clue. The display still lacks fresh batteries. But I wasn't after numbers anyway. I wanted to recapture the fluid floating fast pace I'd experienced earlier, and I did. I stretched out and kept things light. Mind you, by the 6th interval, fatigue was accumulating, but it was a relatively effortless workout.
During the intervals, I thought about the usual type of running training, the traditional VO2 max workouts and tempo runs, and sprints, that kind of thing. What I was doing didn't seem to follow one of these workouts, but it felt like a good biomechanical exercise, and it felt right. Perhaps that's the key. My running hobby is at least a decade old, and I've trained for several races with a bunch of hard workouts that were pretty much the same: hard. The more one pushes, the stronger one gets, no pain, no gain, etc. What if that is actually counteractive? Is speed best invited, not forced? What if, instead, I managed to get used to going fast and easy instead of fast and hard? Would this work? It would feel better, at least!
Total today: 5 miles plus exercises afterward.
Yesterday: 3 miles
I still have a few weeks left of the early mornings, but for the time being just 4 more days because then I go home for a week (sibling's wedding). I will hopefully catch up on sleep--definitely, sleep in past 5:00!--and enjoy at least a few flat and true spring runs.
After a rather zombie-like existence at work, I woke up back at home craving a workout. It was too hot for the dog, even for a walk, and so I had no excuse not to use the TM. And then, once I got going, I decided to try a few faster intervals.
6 X 1 min fast/1 min recovery. What "fast" was, I have no clue. The display still lacks fresh batteries. But I wasn't after numbers anyway. I wanted to recapture the fluid floating fast pace I'd experienced earlier, and I did. I stretched out and kept things light. Mind you, by the 6th interval, fatigue was accumulating, but it was a relatively effortless workout.
During the intervals, I thought about the usual type of running training, the traditional VO2 max workouts and tempo runs, and sprints, that kind of thing. What I was doing didn't seem to follow one of these workouts, but it felt like a good biomechanical exercise, and it felt right. Perhaps that's the key. My running hobby is at least a decade old, and I've trained for several races with a bunch of hard workouts that were pretty much the same: hard. The more one pushes, the stronger one gets, no pain, no gain, etc. What if that is actually counteractive? Is speed best invited, not forced? What if, instead, I managed to get used to going fast and easy instead of fast and hard? Would this work? It would feel better, at least!
Total today: 5 miles plus exercises afterward.
Yesterday: 3 miles
I still have a few weeks left of the early mornings, but for the time being just 4 more days because then I go home for a week (sibling's wedding). I will hopefully catch up on sleep--definitely, sleep in past 5:00!--and enjoy at least a few flat and true spring runs.
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