Thinking about writing in my blog today so many topics and thoughts on what I should write about came to mind. So many things have become clearer to me and my faith has been renewed and strengthened.
First the amaziness about my run on Saturday! Only days later can I look back in awe of the day. While there is nothing amazing about the actual splits, I feel something truly divine must have happen to me on Saturday. If you read the post below you know that on this day running my normal easy 8-8:30 pace was a tremendous hard effort for whatever reason most likely to do with the synthyroid or/and thyroid malfunctioning.
I pulled my Garmin out today for the first to take a look at the mile spilts.
Remember my goal was to run easy for the first half and hope to run the second a bit stronger & faster.
Mile 1 - 8:24
Mile 2 - 8:17
Mile 3 - 8:28
Mile 4 - 8:27
Mile 5 - 8:39
Mile 6 - 8:26
Mile 7 - 8:21
Mile 8 - 8:38
Mile 9 - 8:39
Mile 10 - 8:44 - you can see here that this is where I started to struggle
Mile 11 - 8:57
Mile 12 - 9:31
Mile 13 - 9:50
Mile 14 - 9:32
Mile 15 - 9;15
Mile 16 - 10:14 - Wheels falling off - my body was shutting down BIG time
Mile 17 - 10:46
Mile 18 - 9:01 + Seen Nick and kids tried on more time but it hurt and it was hard to move my body forward
Mile 19 - 9:35
What I think is so great is that I think I lost conscious thought somewhere between mile 14 & 17 and that I am amazed at how I was even able to move forward towards my family with all my systems shutting down.
Running & Thyroid 101
Basically what happens with the thyroid is that it produces 2 important hormones T3 and T4. Running requires the T3 to be available for use. If some reason my body does not have sufficient T3 into can not convert fats & carbohydrates into ATP. ATP is our bodies ready-to-use energy system. It is T3 that turns on the ATP-making machinery inside each living cell.
"Problems may arise when outside factors act upon the thyroid metabolism cycle which can lead to disruptions in TSH levels, decreased production of T4, incomplete conversion of T4 to T3 or imbalance in the ratio of T3 to reverse T3. High levels of cortisol caused by stress, for example, can suppress the production of TSH, leading to symptoms of hypothyroidism due to low hormone production. The thyroid gland could also appear to be functioning normally if TSH is the only blood level tested and it is being artificially suppressed by high cortisol levels"
Anything from being sick the week before, not recovering sufficiently from faster running the week before, allergies could disruption my body's ability to convert and use T3.
From whatever reason the thyroid was not function properly, I choose to see it as a miracle that I was even able to get to my family given my body's inability to convert T3 to energy. I think that a power outside of my body & mind carried me to them. The splits show the deep lose of energy and show that all my body was trying to shut down.
Every process that goes on inside our bodies requires energy - specifically metabolic energy. When the body doesn’t have enough energy to function properly, each component of the body will malfunction in its own unique way.
I truly believe my spirit was trying to carry me even when my body was trying to shut down.
One of the biggest reason why I know my body shut down completely somewhere in those miles 14-17 was from the deep muscle fatigue & soreness I experienced post-race. I woke up on Sunday feeling like I had been hit by a bus. Muscles ached that I have had ached before, I was limping, tight and awkward - this signals that I had pushed beyond what my body was able to do physically on this day. Even 3 days later, my body hurts more than I would running a marathon at all out effort. Mind you, I ran a 22 miler much faster just weeks before so a run at these paces should nowhere come close to doing this much damage.
I believe that my spirit carried me to my family and to safety on this day :-) Blessings!
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