Shi**y Shingles April 16, 2009

  Are you kidding me?  The doc looks at me, and responds…..”No, I’m afraid you have a classic case of shingles. ”  (There follows a lengthy explanation of how the chicken pox virus stays in your body after you contract them as a youth, then reappears later as an adult to attack your nerve endings…yada, yada, yada) 

   Two prescriptions, $75 in meds and office copays, and 100% frustration later, I end up at home, seething.  I have a freaking excruciating painful rash…..right by my left boob no less…..shooting pains around my left side, encircling under my left arm pit, swollen lymph nodes in said arm pit….I just want to cry.  I was doing so well.  I am eating clean (er), exercising pretty much every day for at least an hour, usually more, and feeling great.  Then yet another hurdle to overcome.

  Why is it that just when things seem to be going great, life throws you a curveball?  Is there some great big cosmic joke out there that I’m not aware of?  I have several friends training for Ironman Lake Placid in July….and now a LOT of them are experiencing far worse maladies than I am dealing with.  Of course, there’s a lot of wear and tear on the body preparing for an IM (I don’t even compare my little workouts with all they do!), but I feel so badly that after all the hard work and dedication they’ve put into the race already, that they’re also going through injury/inflammation/chronic pain….etc.  It’s enough to make a grown woman cry.

  Honestly, I’ve had the shingles for over a week now.  I just have been a little on the manic depressed side, dealing with the pain, discomfort, and general crappiness of shingles, and haven’t really felt like posting.  BUT, since this is my blog about how I’m dealing with building this body into something a bit better than a middle aged, pudgy couch potato, I thought I would rant just a little bit about the unfairness of it all.

  I only stopped working out for two days….then right back into it.  Lifting was a little tough on that side, so at first I concentrated on exercises I could endure with just some discomfort (treadmill, elliptical, cycle, lower body weights)…then this week added back in upper body lifting and cardio that involved my arms more.  I really didn’t want to ditch all my hard work and blame it on yet another illness.  But I miss my power yoga…..I can’t quite hold those poses yet, though.  It will come.

  For now, I’m just happy I didn’t throw my hands up in defeat.  I conquered that horrendous awful upper respiratory virus a couple of months ago…..and worked my way back after regaining my strength.  Now, even though the shingles aren’t quite “conquered” yet, I feel better, and have a better outlook on getting back to normal workouts.  With Summer just around the corner, I still have that new bikini laid out and the promise of that tropical vacation to try to motivate me to not……give…….up!

March Madness March 9, 2009

     I hate March. There I’ve said it. It’s my least favorite month of the year, for several reasons.  First and foremost are the memories it brings back.  Yesterday, March 8th, was the fifteenth anniversary of my son’s death.  I can feel myself tensing up each year as March rolls around.  I doubt that will ever change.

     Another reason March is on my shit list is the crappy weather.  And wasn’t that obvious this year?  A famous anecdote associated with March is that it “comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb.”  March 1st, our house was smothered in a foot of snow.  Lion?  More like a freakin’ Tasmanian Devil.  At least “the lamb” showed up a few days later, with a beauteous weekend with 70+ degree temps. 

     March is also traditionally the month that I get the sickest.  And once again, that proved true this first week.  Gotta love those upper respiratory viruses…I won’t call it a cold ‘cuz it went beyond that.  It felt like the flu, only without the body aches and temp.  I missed a week of working out, and am only resuming today because I can finally breathe without feeling like I’m going to pass out.  It’s still gorgeous out, so looks like I’m headed out for a long fast-paced walk…maybe sprinkled with a few minutes of running in between.  It all depends on how quickly the bod is able to recoup after the week of illness.

     March is also the start of my hair pulling time of year….spring school sports vying with travel softball AND little league.  My day planner looks like my mommy time has just gone on hiatus.  Luckily I can get my house chores (can we all say “yuck”?) and workouts in while the kiddos are in school, ‘cuz after school it’s go, go, go until bedtime. 

     Aaaah, March.  Wonder if I can start a petition to have it wiped off the calendar?  Can we just start spring in February or April?  That’ll give me something to ponder as I head out for my walk/run.

Illness and Working Out March 4, 2009

     I. Am. A. Slug. It’s official. I am a whiny baby when it comes to being ill.  I don’t like being sick, I don’t function well when my throat feels like I’ve swallowed broken glass, I don’t want to even THINK  about cardio when I can’t breathe freely without panting.  I just want to lay here and wallow in my own misery.

     My husband quite helpfully pointed out that I would feel much better if I would just get in the workout room and put in a good hour or so.  I had a hand gesture that I think made my point without me having to say a word in my gravelly, nasally, plugged up voice.  ‘Nuff said, honey?

     As of today, I haven’t worked out since last Thursday.  Today makes it a full week of no exercise, other than meandering through the house looking for yet more tissues.  I feel tired, deflated, and a little irritated that I was doing so well, only to be felled by a little microscopic germ.  I can’t even muster up any enthusiasm for looking forward to exercising…as I know it will be hard (almost like starting all over again…ugh!)  Anyone who has ever gotten over the flu or other lengthy illness knows what I’m talking about.  Two or three days is easy to make up for…a week is like a kick in the seat of your pants.  And not in a good way.

     Hopefully I will be back in somewhat of a routine by this weekend.  Maybe not one and a half hour workouts yet, but then again, I REALLY don’t want to suffer any setbacks.  One lengthy illness per season is enough!

My pharmacy, I mean counter top!