Be Healthy

If you read this blog, you would have noticed that I haven't been writing in it very often. I am not sure why as I love using this blog to get out my thoughts and share my journey.  I have had lots of thoughts but I have not really been inspire to write something profound or deep for me in a while. Yes, I have been thinking those thoughts but I think I am really in a place of personal reflection and growth as well as focusing on my health - body, mind and spirit.

I am have been spending lots of my time and energy solving the autoimmune puzzle. Yes I am running but running is not my sole focus at the moment. My attention has been divided and I have been delving dipper into nutrition as medicine and for healing. The thing about autoimmune diseases is that they do not go away with a pill. They are lifelong management of something that can be a little thing with occasional issues or if all the issues are not addressed they are get bad and quality of life can suffer. And if you have one autoimmune disease chances are you can/will get another. So for me, my health and connecting all my health dots has taken center stage.

So that is where I am at but I am running and running better than I have in a long time. I am really pleased with the direction of my training and new coachs principles//guidance. I feel blessed to have have him help me guide me back to where I want to be.

I am more focused on the process of getting well and hoping the running well will be a result of feeling well. I once to read that you get to happy from happy. Novel thought right? Anyway thinking along the same lines you get to running well by feeling well something like happy soul = healthy body.

Do the Hard Work

You know what this hard work is in running with Hashimotos...It is all the work that has nothing to do with running. It is the work that allows that allows me to run and getting back to feeling good running.

It is going to Dr after Dr, having lab work after lab work, reading and educating myself on autoimmune diseases, changing my diet completely, eliminating Gluten, eliminating caffeine, looking at my life to find and eliminate any aggravating factors, taking supplements, eating clean, staying positive day in and day out, looking for the silver lining in every detail of my life...

All these things that are critical to returning to full running health and for life long health. It is the hard work that will make running strong possible one day soon.

Little Changes

I feel like I need to write something although I do not have anything that is particularly on my mind. I thought I would start writing and see what comes. And Nothing...

Oh let me see....I am back to running. And I am back to waking up of full of awesome..And I am more focused than I was 2 weeks ago..I am making progress on understanding more and more about Hashimotos and listening to my body. And I am using nutrition to heal my body and fuel it properly for running. I am back to hoping for a comeback in 2013.

New coach, new training & new possibilities.

Lots of  little changes.....Fact remains is I am still chasing my dream! I am confident that everything is unfolding perfectly. I am very thankful to have a hold of what I am suppose to be doing and happy of all the lessons this journey is teaching me.

Week in Review

Back on the road this week and everyday finding my groove. New coach really pulled back my mileage for this training cycle. It made me nervous at first but I trust him wholeheartedly so I went with it. Run by run this past week I have felt better and really bought into his plan to getting me healthy. Plus as my body adjusts to new meds (hormones) it was not wise to throw me back into big miles and workouts so I really love his approach. The first 2 weeks back running are all about easy miles and easy pace.

I started a new hormone replacement protocol this week. At first I felt great almost surreal how good I felt like WOW is this how normal people feel but by day 6-7 I felt like my heart was racing lots. So I reduced my dosage and going back to dr this week. I do not want to go down the overdosed road again and these hormones are tricky to regulate so back I go to dr.

I am very grateful that for 99% of my runs I felt good this week and no thyroid yuck looming as I ran. Pretty happy about how I felt this week overall.

Monday 30 Minutes (3.5 miles)
Tuesday 30 Minutes (3.8 miles)
Wednesday 45 Minutes (5.2 miles) + Strides
Thursday 1 hr & 15 minutes (8ish miles)
Friday Off
Saturday 45 Miles (5.2 Miles)
Sunday 1 hr & 12 minutes (8.25 miles)

Miles 33-34ish miles

Focus on your GOLD

So after having a blah moment or rather days, I knew I needed to turn my focus to what is good and GOLD about my current circumstances.

I looked at my splits post Boston on Friday for the first time ever. I never looked at them during the race and totally disregarded pace in favor of effort and focusing on fun. I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn't as slow as I thought given the finishing time. And for having an elevated TSH not so bad. I will  admit to being very thankful in being lead to believe that my TSH was normal going into Boston. Had I know or even thought my hormone level was going to be off in the days before hand than Boston might had been a very different experience for me. So I am thanking my lucky stars for having this small gift of ignorance.

Mile 1 - 8:26
Mile 2 - 8:12
Mile 3 - 8:20
Mile 4 - 8:13
Mile 5 - 8:20
Mile 6 - 8:19
Mile 7 - 8:16
Mile 8 - 8:36 - Stopped for picture
Mile 9 - 8:18
Mile 10  - 8:27
Mile 11 - 8:25
Mile 12 - 8;23
Mile 13 - 9:26 - Stopped 2 times for pictures in Welleseley  - AWESOME Mile
Mile 14 8;10
Mile  15 8:40 - First  Big Hill
Mile 16 8:11
Mile 17 8:56 - BIG HILL
Mile 18 9:02 - HILLSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
Mile 19 8:42
Mile 20 9:01 - Boston College - Stopped for picture
Mile 21 10:03 - HEARTBREAK!! Stopped for picture at the very top, helped a girl run up hill that her hips where locking up

Mile 22 9:10
Mile 23 8:56
Mile 24 - 9:15 - Had to slow down to watch out for family - knew they would be between mile 24-25 so I had slow to watch out for them
Mile 25 - 9:15 - Saw family, stopped for hugs and kisses
Mile 26 8:00-  crying all the way in :-)

So big win for me was NO muscle soreness or aches or pains - Quads held up and were ready for the thrashing! I ran and finished with a high TSH, I stayed positive, I enjoyed the moment, I met a couple of great gals and I achieved a goal I had set years ago.

I have a BQ in my pocket for next year! So I hope to go back next year and run a strong race with a healthy body.

I have made a coaching change in the last weeks. I am very excited about this change as my current coach has undergone through thyroid issues and understands them very well. Oh that fact he is the one of the best distance runners in the entire country is sort of cool too :-)

Jamie - Where did you put your groove?

I think a lot had come at me in the past couple of weeks. I really trying to process everything and stay positive. I believe the 2 week rest period did me good. In the beginning I had no desire to run so that good as I didn't have to fight with myself not to run. I think the thyroid was pretty elevated which had me more in a fog of fatigue too plus the emotional rollercoaster post-Boston.  Also I didn't realize how draining it would be to really get more answers on my thyroid condition by going to several drs. I finally got a prescription for an natural hormone replacement which is suppose to be better than the synthetic. After the overdose of synthroid, I have been cautious about supplementation with hormone in hopes my body would regulate itself. That didn't happen at all and my TSH continued to be elevated.

Additionally, I think this funk is also combined with the post-marathon blues that are inevitable but also a bit disorientating.


Anyway I feel overall much better in the past few days on the new hormone. Keeping hopes up that I will feel good running on it.


This week I return to running and hope to get my groove back in all ways!

Resting, Waiting and Taking care of Thyroid

I am officially in a 2 week rest period where I have been instructed to do not much and NO exercise - less is more right now. I had to clarify though if walking, pilates and yoga are exercise and again told less is more. We are waiting to see if my body self-regulated itself thyroid wise. My TSH going to Boston was not optimal at all but nowhere near the rock bottom state I was in my overdosed state. Without hormone replacement my TSH would continue to climb steady to an elevate state.  I have felt that deep fatigue this past week but hard to determine if it was the marathon and events preceding that sent me back into the fatigue or if my sluggish thyroid was involved. I went in for more bloodwork today and it will be the truest results yet and give us the most information related to my thyroid and running.

Here is a fascinating article this was such published  as lately the running world has been a buzz with the thyroid drama - best explained in this blog by Steve Magness http://www.scienceofrunning.com/ For anyone that is interested my condition. If not, please feel free to disregard.

I have hopes of really getting more answers and fixable solutions to running health. I am very hopeful as much of this research and information coming out  from greats like Ryan Hall who has thyroid issues and gluten issues. It gives me hope that it can be worked out and I can get back to running well one day soon.

I am excited that all the answers I will need will be coming in the weeks ahead and the direction that my coach is taking with my training.   I believe that all is well and happening as it should.