Today’s run was challenging. Heck all of the runs this week have been challenging. First of all, I can’t remember the last time I ran outside. I think it may have been in time immemorial. Running outside is harder than running on the treadmill, but I also found it way more rewarding. Secondly, I’ve been in an autoimmune flare for over a week. This means everything is angry including my stomach and lungs. To be fair, my lungs have been angry since we were hanging out in the smoke filled Minnesota air in May.
5 day streak! Hit my goal
I’ve got an appointment on Wednesday with my doctor to make sure I’m in the right meds for the allergies and asthma. I do hate taking prednisone though because it keeps me up all night. It should, however, help fuel my workouts. Now I’m sure you’re wondering why the hell I’m working out through a flare. The answer is simply because it helps alleviate it. I cannot express how much better feel mentally and physically after working out. The key is to not over do it. Running on a track this week was the perfect way to get my workout in without being too far from home or the bathroom. I should also mention my Endo and PCP are both on board with my workout routines.
Tomorrow and Sunday will be full rest days, less some restorative yoga and Pilates. Since I ran hard all week, I’m going to enjoy a full 48 hour break from the cardio. I’ll be staying Kayla Itsines HIIT program Monday. I finished her beginner program last week. I started back at he beginning since I had taken quite a bit of time off and I don’t need to hurt myself. Her workouts are great! They will definitely make my muscles quiver. The morning after leg day is usually the worst.
How would you design the city of the future?
If I could design the city of future it would be walkable and full of coffee shops (including my personal favorite Dunkin Donuts) and dogs.
Why must all Mondays be a clusterfuck? Is there an unwritten law in the universe that I’m unaware of? My Monday started when I woke up late for work. Now this is truly an astonishing feat as my desk is five paces from my bed. Yet here I was sleeping away like Sleeping Beauty until 8:06 am. Whoops! Fortunately, I was able to get up and on the computer without much effort. I just wasn’t mentally present for the first forty five minutes. I was so tired, I felt like a martian.
On top of my late start, my allergy/exercise induced asthma has been wreaking havoc in my lungs today. If you listened to my last phone calls, you would think I had just ran ten miles after smoking 59 cigarettes. I’d love to say that my voice sounded raspy and sexy prompting my custom get to buy , but I think they felt sorry for me. Thank god for prednisone and rescue inhalers. Albeit, I had to go out and get both since the stuff I had on hand was used up or expired. Nevertheless, the meds should help clear up my lungs pretty quickly.
In between the wheezing and phone calls, I completed my annual compliance training. It was a wonderful reminder that I longer work at a place where work place bullying is venerated especially for the upper echelons. Honestly, I miss the workplace bullying about as much as I miss smelling the reheated five day old fish. Anywhere else, HR would have put a stop to both, but hey that’s not my problem anymore. And guess what I guarantee you, there will be no reheating of five day old fish in my new office.
I’m ready for bed and it’s 8:05. Honestly, the temptation to skip writing the blog tonight was very real. The Mayor had two games in Estero today, which equated to an early morning this morning. This in the heels of one too many vodka sodas last night was a recipe for a winning day. Fortunately, I only woke up tired and not tied and hungover. Nevertheless, here I am at 8:05 ready for bed.
The problem this whole week is I’ve been fighting an autoimmune hangover since Chicago. What exactly is an autoimmune hangover? In my world, it’s incredible fatigue coupled with inflammation. Unfortunately, I’ve found that during this period of “hangover” I need to chill or my body will rebel. I certainly don’t enjoy an autoimmune flare after having spent years trying to calm it down.
Consequently, I’ve been shopping for saunas all week. One of the great things about my Endocrinologist is that she’s given me a lot of tools to manage the autoimmune side of Graves’ disease. Typical Graves’ disease treatment only addresses slowing down the toxicity of a hyperactive thyroid. It doesn’t address the underlying autoimmune inflammation that causes your thyroid to go insane. Honestly, it’s because we still don’t understand autoimmune diseases well.
So a sauna not only feels fantastic but is also great for reducing inflammation. Naturally, I have to go back to eating really clean, which will also help. Hopefully, this week I can get back to my workout routine. I try to work out daily, but I’m careful never to overtax my system. It’s a delicate balancing act between building my fitness and avoiding a flare. Anyway, I’m off to bed because I’m next level tired.
I’m back after a well-deserved and much-needed hiatus from the blogosphere. Life has been quite busy especially with AEP over the past seven weeks. Since I last blogged, hockey season has been in full swing. Unfortunately, I missed a showcase and Thanksgiving tournament due to AEP. I did miss a couple of league games too. This year the Mayor is playing travel hockey and high school hockey as well. If you know me, you know I think high school hockey here is a complete abomination. The high school league is notorious for its huge disparity in both skill level and application of the rules. Teams have players that should be in learn to play on the bench with AAA and junior hockey players. Due to AEP, I missed most of the games. While I’m not in love with it, my player is having a great time playing with his friends.
It’s not just hockey that has kept me busy these past few months. In August, we started fostering the sweetest little puppy named Arrow. They believed him to be a husky mix. We, however, think he’s a border collie, Australian shepherd, and husky mix. I bought a DNA test, so we’ll see what breed that comes back with. Arrow is an absolute sweetheart, but also full of mischief. He’s quite the character. At eight months, he’s an avid chewer and loves to play with his siblings. Athena and Anakin have adjusted well, but they do tire of getting harassed by a puppy. Surprisingly, Arrow shares many characteristics with our sweet Maya girl, who passed in September of 2021. This, on top of his looks, is also why we think he may have some Australian shepherd in him.
In October, right before AEP, the Mayor and I traveled back to Charlotte for a showcase. He had a great weekend at the rink. This time the weather was absolutely beautiful. When we traveled to Charlotte two years ago, the weather was awful. It was freezing cold and it rained every day. There’s nothing worse than a cold winter rain especially if you’re from South Florida. This trip was great too because our team manager made arrangements for the players to eat at the hotel daily. While the players ate and watched videos, the parents could go enjoy a quiet lunch on their own. It was a really nice trip. Our next hockey trip takes us to Chicago in January.
One of the main reasons for the blogging hiatus was my health. Since joining Calibrate, I’ve lost all the post-RAI thyroid weight. Yay!! It’s been a huge year for reclaiming my health, but it hasn’t come without some hurdles. Since I don’t have a functioning thyroid anymore, I take both Synthroid (T4) and Cytomel (T3) as thyroid hormone replacements. My dose had been quite stable, however, when you lose 40lbs your dose has to change. In May, I found myself hyperthyroid again. Fortunately, my Apple watch allows me to easily track my heart rate. By the end of the month, I was getting high heart rate notifications when I was waking up. Since my heart rate wasn’t behaving, I had to stop working out. My Endo lowered my dose again and within two weeks I was feeling much better. I’m finally back to running and working out, which feels amazing.
As I type this, my oldest is on his way back to Florida for the holidays. I can’t wait to have all three of my boys home for Christmas. Last year Christmas was tough with Jake being down range. To add to the excitement, my parents will be joining us for the holiday as well. My folks haven’t been down for Christmas since 2018, so I’m super excited to have them here. My mom and I will be trying our hand at lefse again along with the smorgasbord of Christmas cookies we love to bake. In all actuality, there will be way more baked goods than necessary in my house over the next three weeks. We will be hosting our annual Christmas brunch, which is always a big hit. We’ve got it down to a science, no need to reinvent the wheel. And just like that, I’m back.
I’ve been all about rest since the craziness ended. Fortunately, as busy as AEP was for us, the days following have been the polar opposite. In fact, I don’t remember it being this slow last year. I mean, I’m talking a handful of leads per day, which is insanity. Thankfully, our leaders have been generous with cutting us loose when it’s completely dead. Consequently, I was done with work by 3:30.
Nonetheless, I’m still recuperating from AEP. My body still feels likes it is in overdrive. Well, probably because it is. I got my lab results back and I’m super hyper again. In fact, my TSH is barely detectable. My T3 is way out of range and my T4 is also high. Clearly, my doc will be making some adjustments to my thyroid meds come Tuesday morning.
Well, I’ve been feeling restless. I haven’t been feeling unwell. At least, I don’t feel as bad as when I was first diagnosed. It could explain the issues I’ve been having with my shoulders and legs. When you’re thyroid is off, your tendons can’t function like they’re supposed to, which can lead to frozen shoulder and other tendon issues. It’s also the reason it took so long for my posterior tibial tendon to heal.
I’m absolutely loving my wireless headset. I’ve been so productive at home while work has been slow. It’s nice to feel like I’m finally accomplishing something around the house. Moreover, it’s nice not being tethered to a chair for the whole day. I love being able to be mobile all day long. Obviously, it’s also much better for my back. My back was starting to get angry after those long AEP days.
Jake called this afternoon. He looked and sounded great. We loved that behind him there was a picture of Prison Mike. If you watch the Office, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Anyway, I’m enjoying this well deserved period of rest, so I’m gonna get back to it.
As long as my Tuesday was yesterday, it ended with a rough night. My sleep was interrupted by a nightmare in which I woke up only to find my Hubby and Puppy were missing. After scouring the house, I couldn’t find them anywhere. Naturally, my first instinct was to hit the find my iPhone button. Unfortunately, the phone was left behind on the kitchen island.
The dream quickly devolved as it. became clear that they weren’t in the house. So I walked out back towards the lake to see if I could find them. Spoiler alert, I didn’t. Next I went and drove through and around the neighborhood. The first pass turned up nothing, so I went home and walked out back to the lake again. Still nothing. Thinking that I had perhaps missed something inside I ran threw the house again.
After finding nothing, I ended up back in the car driving through the neighborhood with my brights on. By this time an hour had passed and I was hysterical. After the second pass through and around the neighborhood, I drove back home to call the police. Soon after I walked into the house, the Hubby and Anakin came down the stairs. Relief washed over me immediately, but the trauma of the past hour had its hold.
When I checked my sleep stats and heart rate after waking up from my dream traumatized, I was not surprised to see my heart rate sitting around 140. Obviously, tachycardia and sleep don’t mix super well, so I took a beta blocker to help put me back to sleep. Despite taking the beta blocker my heart rate as I woke up ranged from 167-185, which is a problem. Even when I run 2.5 miles, my head rate rarely gets over 171. Consequently, I sent a message to my endo to see if I should get my levels rechecked.
Needless to say, it wasn’t the kind of night that begets success at work. I struggled most of the day to stay awake and concentrate at her task at hand. I’ll definitely be going to bed early tonight and am praying for a better night’s sleep. Without question, I can not take another rough night. Had a dream ever left you traumatized?
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I’m reading the Falcon Queen. This is the second book thing the Norse Queen series. I love the world of Queen Asa.
*My knee is feeling better, but with my heart rate all over the place I skipped my run.. Consequently, I took another rest day today.
*I strugggled this morning, so I ordered coffee vis Uber Eats.
*Tonight I worked on a newsletter for our Pancan affiliate. Sometimes working in Canva makes me feel like a schmo, but it’s such a great tool. I definitely need to spend some more time playing around with it.
*The AirBnB I attempted to book yesterday never responded to our request. As a result, the charge is sitting on my card with nothing to show for it. I’m still working on clearing this up with Amex and AirBnB.
*For dinner, the Mayor and Hubby spaghetti with meat sauce. Since it wasn’t fasting day, I enjoyed pasta and sauce today.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*Today’s word of the day is jiggle, which is something I’d like to get rid of soon.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness
It’s low carb Tuesday here today. Actually, too be completely accurate, it’s really low carb intermittent fasting Tuesday. However, that’s a mouthful and not a great title for a blog. This week has I’m starting the 5:2 plan by Dr. Moseley, which is a variation of intermittent fasting. To be clear, I’m following the updated version, aka the Fast 800 diet, which calls for eating 800 calories two days per week vs. eating 500 calories two days per week.
When I got diagnosed with Graves, I followed this regimen with much success. Importantly, my endocrinologist approved of this diet. In fact, I can’t imagine how much weight I would have gained if I didn’t follow it. After all, I went from super active to no exercise at all and no thyroid. Coincidentally, it’s not the optimal recipe for weight loss success. Oh the joys of looking at food and gaining ten pounds.
Now my thyroid levels are normal, I should be able to lose weight. It will never happen quickly for me since I’m a thyroid patient, which is a total bummer. Nonetheless, I plod tirelessly towards my goal of recapturing my health and my former dress size. Here’s the lesson, whether the weight loss is happening at your desired rate or not, keep doing the right things and eventually it will come. For me that’s following Noom, enjoying my low carb Tuesday, getting enough sleep and exercising every day.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read the Norse Queen by Johanna Wittenberg. I love it. Queen Asa’s love interest is now an expatriate courtesy of his evil half brother.
*Goalielocks made it home safely from Orlando around 1:30 this morning.
*I ran 2 miles and walked a mile. It went really well, which was fantastic. I’m not going to let anything break my streak.
*The family and I are watching The Simpsons now that we’ve finished our movie and dinner.
*The Hubby cooked a Blue Apron meal kit for dinner. Tonight we had some type of pasta.
*After dinner, I successfully made ice cream!
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*Today’s word of the day is whirlwind. It’s been a whirlwind of success and joy since I started my new job.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness, so I’d have more control over him outside. Also, the flies are still here. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I was finally able to hang the fly traps. Nobody loves flies.
Day four of virtual school was one for the history books. Particularly, if your history books focus on dumpster fires or shit shows. If so, this day was legendary. We all knew it was coming, didn’t we? I mean, I think we’ve been waiting for the shoe to drop. And today that mo-fo of a shoe dropped. This means the low expectations I wrote about yesterday came to fruition today.
First of all, my thyroid is raging. I’ve been so hot at night I can only manage with one light blanket and the thermostat at 72 degrees. My doctor will be adjusting my dosage down a bit come next Tuesday morning. It also means that falling asleep and staying asleep has been a real challenge. For some reason, I don’t fall into a good deep sleep until early in the morning. Anyway, I remembered to get up to take my thyroid meds, but I slept through my alarm to wake up the boys. Fortunately, this wasn’t an issue for my Mayor, who was ready to go to school by 7:00 am.
On the other hand, this was a problem for Goalielocks. As soon as I woke up, which was still before school started, I ran upstairs to make sure he was awake and ready to attend class. He sat up in his bed, grumbled, and laid back down. I proceeded to repeat my message; i.e. get out of bed and get ready for class. This time he sat up. He told me he knew he had to be up and asked me to close the door so he could get dressed. I shut the door, albeit it not tightly. He then yelled at me for not being able to close the door right. Teenagers are so pleasant in the morning. Aren’t they?
Thinking he was up, I headed out to grab my coffee. As you may know, Dunkin’ coffee is essential to my ability to function as a human being. Afterward, I took the dogs out and went to work. It was a long commute to work from my couch to my room, but I made it safely and without incident. I got some work done before going to yoga via Zoom. It was at that point I realized I hadn’t heard my middle child moving around upstairs. Before relaxing into child’s pose, I texted him and added a find my iPhone alert. He responded pretty quickly asking why nobody had woken him up for school. Seriously?
Obviously, he made me mad. Since he was now up and attending class, I continued with my yoga class. I was hoping that the beautiful yin class taught by Jennifer would help calm me. Fortunately, I finished the class feeling like a new person and completely calm. At least for a few minutes. Naturally, the calm left me after interacting with my two star pupils, who were in stellar moods today. How lucky am I that both were in a piss poor mood? At dinner, Goalielocks was still insisting nobody walked him up. This despite the fact I had a full conversation with him this morning at 7:15. Anyway, today was the type of day I have dreaded. Thankfully, we only have one day left in the week.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Mary Barton, by Elisabeth Gaskell. It’s really getting good now! We have a murder mystery on our hands.
*It’s only day four, but I was feeling inspired. Consequently, I wrote a poem about the first week of virtual school. While it’s no The Raven, it gets my creative point across.
*I ran two miles and walked a mile today. Naturally, I listened to Metallica and watched Curb throughout my run. I am basking in the joy of accomplishment.
*I survived day 3 of virtual school. I am keeping my eye on the prize aka the weekend.
*We had no hockey practice tonight. It was family dinner night. I cooked pork carnitas tacos, which were awesome.
*BBG 2.0. week 12 day 4: cardio and yoga
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk.
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I’m tired, but what else is new. Tryout week is sapping my last vestige of energy. I will be giddy and dancing was this week is over. While, I’m tired I did have a good day. I got to spend the day with Sweet Eva. She is heaven sent and a perfect anecdote for an emotionally exhausting week.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte.
*Yin Yoga with Jennifer from Open Heart Yoga Studio
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Just when we thought we had reached the pinnacle and were on the downslope of COVID-10 wave, here we are seeing increases here in South Florida. The prospect of a prolonged social distancing period is a bit overwhelming at this point. Albeit, I totally understand why it’s necessary and I am 100% on board. Nonetheless, it’s emotionally exhausting to be withdrawn from people socially. Zoom is nice, but it’s just not the same. Honestly, I just want to be able to go visit my airmen and my parents, but I digress.
I woke up not feeling fantastic on account of a lump on the back of my head/neck. I’m not entirely sure if it’s a swollen gland or a bug bite, but I gotta say it’s mighty uncomfortable. Consequently, I missed my yoga class this morning as I rested with Anakin on the couch. While it was still a bit uncomfortable, I was feeling up to the BBG workout. Today was leg day and it’s always a tough workout. This week was no exception, but I felt good and confident throughout. Certainly, I enjoy every time a new exercise is added into the mix. One thing that I love about the workout is that it’s not all squats and lunges. Rather Kayla Itsines does a great job incorporating moves like burpees and skipping ropes, which work your whole body not just your legs. Obviously, I felt much better after the workout and was regretting missing my yoga class this morning.
One of the wonderful things about the pandemic is the advent of Zoom fitness classes, several of which will be featured here on the Hockey Mom Fit Life in the near future. I love having the option to attend classes online or in-studio. Particularly, it gives me more options to manage my day and ensure I can fit yoga into my schedule. Also if you’re not feeling great, but not sick enough to skip your workout, you can attend via Zoom to ensure you don’t share your germs. Ordinarily, I would skip my class because I didn’t want to share germs. Now I can attend online and continue my practice. Importantly, the Zoom classes gave us a way to stay connected throughout the pandemic. This sense of community is an important tool in minimizing loneliness and isolation.
My day was pretty low key. The puppies and I spent the day on the couch watching The Office. Can you tell I miss my airmen? Today some of his favorite episodes were on and I was laughing so hard. In particular, he loves the rabies 5k episode and that was on today. Jake has been my running partner since 2016 and we have run countless 5Ks together. He would usually win his age group and I would usually try not to throw up at the finish line. So you can imagine how funny this episode is to a bunch of running nerds. I think I may have thrown up a little as Michael Scott carb-loaded on fettuccine Alfredo immediately before the race. I don’t suggest eating a heavy meal immediately before a race.
Honestly, I miss the 5k races. Most have been canceled due to COVID. There are some virtual races, but it’s just not the same experience. I’m looking forward to the day that Jake and I can once again run a 5k together. Since it’s summer, there aren’t many 5ks in Florida right now anyway. I’m hoping by the time the fall/winter running season comes around that we’re able to do some races. If not, hopefully, we can run some races together at his new base. As for now, the 80 degree dewpoints and high temps will keep me running insde on the treadmill.
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