Weekly Workouts 8/15-8/21

Monday: OMG. Elizabeth and I put together an upper-and-lower body workout and it was brutal. It looks easy enough, but we were shaking by the end. I highly recommend it! What a great way to start the week!

Complete each exercise for 30 seconds, and rest for 30 before repeating. Repeat 4-5 times.

Tuesday: We did our first set of repeats in weeks and it went much better than expected! Our paces were a little more conservative and not as consistent, but I was actually really pleased!

8x.33 repeats with an average pace of 8:44.

Wednesday: My calves had been hurting for days, but the speed work session seemed to help stretch them out. On our full-body day, I wanted to incorporate stretching. We pretty much forgot about that, but we did a lower impact circuit that still felt effective and well-rounded, and my calves felt much better afterward. We're getting pretty good at constructing these workouts!

Thursday: Having realized that running faster was better for my calves, I decided to push the pace on our Thursday run. It definitely wasn't the easy run I had planned! I was surprised that we were able to hold a fast pace the entire time, and it really boosted my confidence for October's 10k! I guess I've gotten myself comfortable with slow paces and now it's time to get familiar with discomfort again. This was a good reminder that to get faster, sometimes you just have to buckle down and do it.

Our paces were between 8:40 and 9:20 for most of the run - not at all steady, but that's the nature of running on the golf course.

If I can run four miles at this pace with just one brief water break, I think my chances are good for 6.22 miles by mid-October.

Friday: We had five actually easy miles planned - I thought keeping our pace around 10:10 would be a good easy pace - but it started raining 1.5 miles in. We turned back early in case the rain really picked up, and I'm glad we did because as soon as we reached the car it began storming pretty hard and the lightning was intense. We called it early for safety.

Safe in the car, watching the storm roll in.

I was disappointed to have to stop early, but because Thursday's run had been such a good workout, in the end I was okay with it.

Saturday: So. Much. Rest. I woke up early with my eyes swollen nearly shut. I took two Prednisone and went back to bed with an ice pack on my face. When I woke up again, my left eye was better but I still couldn't open my right. I ate lunch and took two Benadryl, which knocked me out. I took a three hour nap. When I got up, both eyes could open, but the swelling was still obvious.

I usually have an attack after drinking wine (particularly red, but sometimes white, too) and when I'm over-tired, but otherwise we haven't found any specific triggers.

I wish we know what caused my angioedema attacks, but the very nature of it means we simply don't know. (I am allergic to tons of environmental factors, but my doctors have ruled out any relationship between those allergies and my attacks, so I've been diagnosed with idiopathic angioedema.) Clearly overheating is a concern, but I can't stop my workouts just because I'm worried about a little facial swelling!

At least they're both open now, but you can tell the right eye is still quite swollen.

Once the swelling is all gone, my eyelids and undereyes will be sensitive, red, and scaly for a few days, so I have that to look forward to. (I tend to get a lot of "You look tired. Are you sick?" comment after an attack.) It makes working out painful because sweat hurts my face, but I just carry on as best I can.

Sunday: We pushed our run to the evening so I'd have some extra time to get over my swollen face. We meant to run 7 miles but I chose a route I forgot was 8, so we did 8. They weren't stellar - it was really humid and hot, but we got them done!

And the sunset almost made the struggle worth it!

It was our first long run in a month or more, so I'm actually pretty happy with it despite how uncomfortable it was.

Did you have a good week?

ABK

A Health Post

It's truly amazing how strong I'm feeling this week. I did four miles Monday, pushing myself beyond my goal of 30 minutes because I just felt so great. I was tired from it Tuesday and ran 3, and did a recovery 1-miler with Matt yesterday.

While I think "rest days" are important, especially when training for a race, the recovery mile was perfect for what I've been doing, which is just building my base back up. Today I did an interval workout to get some speedwork in. I did it at the gym because it's been a few days since I've lifted weights, and I wanted to get both workouts in.

Have I mentioned before that I have really bad social anxiety and hate going to the gym alone?

The intervals went really well, but looking at the graph I see that my changes in pace weren't as drastic as I wanted. I was changing the treadmill speed between 6.3 and 7.3, and I definitely felt the burn at the faster pace. I was dripping sweat and really pushing myself. I felt great.

But my pace barely altered by 10 seconds. Is that what a +1 mph difference is on a treadmill? Or do I just run weirdly on the treadmill?

Beat my plank-a-day time by 10 seconds & had a great run! (Also, it was really day 32. Score!)

While this has been a good week so far for mileage (and no pain at all! Knock on wood), it's been a rough one health-wise.

I suffer from all kinds of weird illnesses and ailments. The one that's been plaguing me this week is my angioedema. Angioedema is a swelling of the skin, usually (well, for me, always) around the eyelids and lips, that is intensely itchy or painful. It's related to hives, but occurs deeper in the skin and forms a big welt instead of multiple small bumps.

I have idiopathic angioedema, which means no one really knows what causes my flareups. It's really frustrating. Through the years, I've found that lack of sleep, overheating, certain foods, and alcohol can sometimes exacerbate the issue. Along with...exercise.

Nothing like a pile of prescriptions to remind you how much you appreciate insurance.

The worst part about a flareup is that my entire face burns. I cannot explain the intensity of the pain in my entire face when I'm sweating, and trying to wipe it (or pat it) with a towel only makes it worse. Because my skin is so sensitive during a flareup, I can't even rinse it with water at the gym unless I remember to bring my moisturizer because allowing my skin to dry naturally makes it worse.

So why am I sharing this? I've talked before about the things we sacrifice or put up with for our love of running. This is another. I would rather take my Prednisone (and multiple other medications I use as preventatives), carry my EpiPen, and deal with a fiery face than give up running.

I also think it's important that I stay honest here. I've been having a really good time with this running streak, but I want my readers to know that I struggle, too, and that running remains a challenge...in more ways than one.

I'm going to leave you with something that made me smile today...you know, just to lighten the mood.

Confession: I personally find birdie pictures far superior to cat pictures. Take note, internet.

What obstacles do you power through to keep running?
What's a treadmill workout you love and want to share?

ABK