Week 8 summary

I finished this week with a 16km long run on Saturday and a 9km easy run on Sunday, both outside, and the first time outside in our winter here for 2 months. It was sunny and this fair weather runner gave it a thumbs up!

It is much harder to run outside in non ideal weather conditions than on my treadmill, but I did like going somewhere. I was overdressed on Saturday and sweat a lot, and my thighs ended up cramping the last couple of km which brought my overall pace down.

But looking at the past few weeks the consistency has been there, even the last 2 weeks at the same overall distance and being 6 seconds apart. I couldn't have even tried to plan that precision.

This training is making me feel tired though. With school etc I feel like I have a lot to balance and even though I just came back from a me trip less than a month ago, I am already looking forward to the next one in May.

From Ironman to now - the update

The following is a generalization of what I have been through since Ironman. I will expand on some of the time points as I move forward in this blog.

December 2012-June 2013
I was having neck pain which evolved to tingling on both sides of my body. I had difficulty standing for long periods of time and dropped about 10 pounds suddenly because I was too nauseous to eat. i eventually had an MRI done to rule out a neurological dysfunction and the diagnosis was inconclusive as to what caused it. It eventually "sorted itself out and these symptoms never presented themselves again. I started increasing my activity again, but by April 2013 foot pain started and I couldn't weight bear for that long. I was still teaching fitness classes and that was about the limit of my activity. I did start to walk more during the summer.

July 2013-January 2015
My activity level slowly increased to the point where I was starting to be able to run and eventually built up the endurance to complete a half marathon in May. Unsatisfied with my result I took advantage of another race opportunity in October. I had an amazing training cycle setting a PB in the 10k en route to my first ever sub 2 half marathon. I was looking forward to an amazing off-season which I was going to use to increase my speed and aim for a better half marathon time in the spring

January 2015-May 2015
I was starting to notice foot pain creep up again, and it escalated quickly. I was having difficulty being on my feet and even though I was still teaching fitness classes, I started teaching more by sitting on an exercise ball or in sandals, because I couldn't stand having my feet enclosed. i was noticing pinpoint blood blisters on my feet and was starting to uncontrollably gain weight. My doctor referred me to a rheumatologist. At that first appointment, she looked at my knees and feet and diagnosed me with rheumatoid arthritis on the spot and prescribed medication to help control the pain and reduce swelling. I was on prednisone for 2 weeks and then started Methotrexate and Plaquenil. I dropped 20 pounds in a very short time on that initial therapy and have put about 5 of that back on.

May 2015-May 2016
I spent a lot of this first year getting used to the medication and building myself up again from the inside out. My activity was limited to the classes I was teaching and outdoor walking. I was also noticing changes in my feet, however at that point there was no physiollogical damage. I spent a lot of time researching medication, holistic treatments and basic activity recommendations.

June 2016-today
I have been well controlled with medication. October 2016 was my last MTX injection because I was tired of the nausea so she switched me to Arava and that continues to work well. I started running again but built up too quickly and then had to take a break because of overwhelming fatigue. I restarted again in August very slowly based on the advice of my physiotherapist and have not had to restart again. I have since completed a 10k and a half marathon and I continue to run..