Sunday, November 3, 2013

No Consistency

Well, it's been a while and a lot has been going on.

Work has been extremely busy for the last several months.  I have a rather large project in the works, really its more like a program with two big projects under that umbrella.  Working 7-5 with no lunch is not uncommon plus a little on the weekends. 

Fortunately the project and the people are fun helping alleviate a lot of the typical stress that would come with a bigger effort.  But that has certainly had an impact on training.  It's been so hectic that Aimee and I decided to postpone our yearly pilgrimage to Mexico (anniversary) as well.

As for the training itself, it's been okay at best.  Post-foot surgery and recuperation, I've been feeling pretty good.  My foot is 100%.  My shoulder seems to have bounced back with the rest and I'm able to swim again.  I have a new bike fit with some technique changes that appear to be helping my hip, so all in all, things are going well.  However consistency has been lacking.  As a result I always feel like I am starting from scratch.

The unfortunate reality of my current situation is that if work doesn't interfere with training, the crohns does.  Lately it would seem that my guts are just not cooperating.  Just when I feel like training is going well, I'll get another bout that forces a few days off.  Even worse, lately it seems like I need a whole week off to bounce back. 

Overall I'm not 100% sure what the problem is.  It starts with the typical cramping, etc.  But the prednisone hasn't been as effective.  For obvious reasons that is alarming.  Once prednisone loses effectiveness there are only a couple options, surgery being the primary option.  I did that once and don't care to repeat it. 

Interesting thing is that I've done a battery of tests recently.  CT scan, colonoscopy, etc.  None are showing signs of active crohns.  They are however showing signs of constipation.  I've been struggling to believe that diagnosis because the pain is so severe, but also exactly the same in nature as the crohns.  I really just can't believe how much that hurt.  I wasn't in the fetal position all last weekend...but I was pretty incapacitated.  I've had worse crohns attacks, some that hospitalized me, but they weren't much worse.  The only thing that stopped an ER visit was that I could tell (feel) food moving and I never tossed a meal.  Vomiting tends to mean a full obstruction = trip to ER, and I never had that.  I guess my glass is half full after all!

In any case, it certainly is plausible as when I have a crohns attack one of the first things to leave my diet is fiber.  Fiber and roughage tend to make things worse.  As I've been dealing with repeated issues for almost a year, it is possible that when this first started up I reacted by eliminating most fiber and never started up again...causing a larger issue.

In any case, I'm on a much higher dose of fiber as well as a couple other things to keep things moving.  (More info than most of you wanted I'm sure).  So far so good.  As the issues tend to present themselves every 4-6 weeks, we'll see how I'm doing in another month or so.

As for the training, I'm doing the best I can in between issues and work.  I recently started back into swimming and that is starting to come around.  I do struggle to stay motivated in the water.  Swimming more than 45min or so is just brutal at this point.  I think I need to start bringing sets to the pool instead of just winging it.  That way I have something to focus on.

Biking is okay.  The changes I've made have all been in the last 3 weeks.  So its too early to tell, but my hip does seem to be improving.  My left leg has a tendency to swing out on the upstroke, I have to really focus on not doing that.  It may be causing my issues.  That is taking some time to get used to.  On the bright side, I started watching the Walking Dead on Netflix...that's giving me new motivation to get on the bike.

Running is fine.  I'm not fast right now, and I'm not really doing much speed work.  Just trying to run 6-7 days a week.  That's been a real struggle with the crohns issues.  On the bright side, I am pretty close to running my typical 30-60-90 program.  So the endurance seems to be returning.  Once I'm ready a little speed work and threshold running will get me back up to speed.

As for racing, I haven't made up my mind.  I'd like to go back to Kansas 70.3, but that will depend on my health.  I have been tossing around the idea of a stand-alone marathon.  I've never done one and would be interested to see what I can do.  But I don't think that would happen until next fall.

Until next time.