Rob's Diary

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A good sleep makes so much difference.
Monitoring your heart rate variability sounds like a good idea. I do vaguely, but just with my fitbit. I find it interesting, especially on my walks, with GPS. I can tell where it was & what I was doing ie pulling out bracken on the track, climbing a steep part etc. It's fun. I know that fitbits aren't that accurate, but they are a guide.
 
Cate said:
A good sleep makes so much difference.
Monitoring your heart rate variability sounds like a good idea. I do vaguely, but just with my fitbit. I find it interesting, especially on my walks, with GPS. I can tell where it was & what I was doing ie pulling out bracken on the track, climbing a steep part etc. It's fun. I know that fitbits aren't that accurate, but they are a guide.
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I like my Fitbit too but this is a little different. I bought a different monitor for it. Here's an article on it. Tracking Heart Rate Variability to Help Manage Client Stress - NASM Blog
 
That will be much more relevant to you, Rob. There'll be no intense training in my neck of the woods. Well, not by me anyway. Let us know how you go with it.
 
Today was a good day.

Food today was strawberry, banana, mixed berry smoothies, eggs with cheese, a Mediterranean salad bowl, hummus with cucumber and pita, and pistachios and walnuts with yogurt for snacks. It was about 4200 calories which is about even with how much I burned. I've been having smoothies because my gums are still healing. I think there's a bit of an infection. My doctor called in antibiotics and she'll evaluate further on Monday.

I went running this morning on an empty stomach. Supposedly I tap into my fat reserves faster that way. Overall I consume the same amount of calories so not sure I come out ahead. My leg hurts but I'm able to run and so happy about that. I ran 6 miles today. I walked Cam about 3 miles. 25k steps. 4.2k calories out.

My weight was 197.4. 55 RHR. 7 hours, 35 minutes sleep.
 
bensanon said:
I like my Fitbit too but this is a little different. I bought a different monitor for it. Here's an article on it. Tracking Heart Rate Variability to Help Manage Client Stress - NASM Blog
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Yes will be interesting to see what you find with that experiment! Sounds interesting.

"So whether your client is lifting weights, or experiencing interrupted sleep from anxiety, they will have the same hormones rise, and the same systematic response to deal with that stressor. "

I found this statement from the article interesting, as I've always imagined work-out stress to be different than anxiety-stress. One thing I have found in the past though is if I stress the body either through too intensive exercise, or by eating less, my anxiety levels do rise.
 
Running 6 miles and then walking 3 with a hurt leg is impressive, but is it a good idea? I am sure you would know.

Good luck with the gums, hope they heal soon.
 
I found that interesting too, liza. Maybe all the different types of stress have the same solution and once I get on top of things, it'll just be a matter of backing off at first sign regardless of the type.

alligatorob said:
Running 6 miles and then walking 3 with a hurt leg is impressive, but is it a good idea? I am sure you would know.
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It may be OK. Thanks for the caution, Rob. I'm not going to not run based out of fear. I'll reconsider if I get more specific information but based on my homework so far, and I've done a lot, I think I might be OK. I have an MRI coming up this week so hopefully I'll know more soon.
 
I wasn't feeling too well until I was able to run this afternoon. I started to feel great after about 30 minutes in. Did not get a good night's sleep last night. I pushed a bit toward the end of the run and I know I should back off now. I'm at 29 miles over the past 6 days. I was at 57 the week I got injured. The leg is bothersome but it's holding up. I could feel some muscles in my pelvic area weakening a bit. Hip bridges will be good.

Food was good. I had eggs, strawberry, blueberry, mixed berry smoothies, chicken noodle soup, sprouted bread, and kimchi. About 3k calories in. I got a probiotic to counteract the antibiotic I'm on.

I ran 7 miles today and walked Cam only 2 miles. I was going to run 1 with her but spent some time with my niece who had her appendix out. 25k steps. 4.3k calories out.

My weight was 198.4. 55 RHR. 5 hours, 5 minutes patchy sleep.
 
On Monday, I rested. Yesterday, I ran 6 miles. Total miles for the week were 35. My leg is hurting but not stopping me. I started to feel the familiar pattern of pain that originally took me down which is on the side of my knee. I'm continuing to do strengthening exercises but I still don't know what I'm targeting and there are a ton of exercises. I don't want to spend more time guessing at the right ones to do so I'm holding on until the MRI tomorrow.

So far, I haven't eaten any trigger foods or binged on poor quality fats or refined sugars but I have overeaten. In particular on chunks of frozen mango. My resting heart rate ticked up a couple beats by Monday but has dropped back down after resting. I'm eager to check my heart rate variability. The monitor arrives today.

Sleep is still suffering. Sunday and Monday in particular were the worst. 5 hours and 4 hours respectively.

I can't get into the daily, detailed posting of my food and calories again. It just doesn't make sense now. I've gained so much insight since I started a diary here. It would be a chore, monotonous, and tedious to post as I was originally and it has very little value at this point.

I need to remember to just make small changes, one at a time. Over the long-term, they'll make a big difference. I'm too often caught in the day-to-day and get hung up with the up and down variability. Avoiding trigger foods, low-quality fats, and refined sugars is a good change for me for now. Weight loss is not as important as curbing the binges. Solving what is best to do for this injury is very high priority too.
 
I don't like detailed posting of my food and calories either & am not sure if I can do it even for a month. I usually skim over that sort of stuff, incl weights etc.
I hope the MRI results give you some insight into your injury & a new plan of attack, Rob.
 
Hey Rob, your exercise never ceases to amaze me, particularly for a guy on the mend. It seems to me you are more positive these days, hope I am right.

Do you think your sleep problems are eating related? Or visa versa?
 
Thank you, all!

Today was OK. Much better after I went running. I ran about 8 miles. I got the MRI done and I asked for the results so I could take a look at home. I'm not sure that was a good idea because I spent a little time Googling and looking at MRIs of diseased lumbar spines. I'm definitely no expert but it seems like I have a herniated disc, possibly 3 lol. I think I'll wait for my doctor's phone call before I speculate anymore.

I weighed myself after I went running and I was at 196.8. That's probably about right. I think I've gained about 11 pounds since my lowest. Most of the time now it's even higher than that. The injury and binge eating reversed the last bit of progress I made. I'm not at all sure I'll do very well if it turns out I need to stop exercising for awhile. I think I'll get depressed but I should stop worrying about it until I hear what my doctor has to say.

I got my heart monitor yesterday and I took my first reading this morning. My HRV score is lower than the 25th percentile for men in my age group. I don't think that's a good thing. I'm in good physical shape, much better than 75% of the men in my age group according to my VO2max score, but my nervous system is shot I'm sure because of that damn medication I took for over a decade. It acted directly on my nervous system and I know it did some damage. The HRV score is a direct measure of my autonomic nervous system. That reading is in line with my sleep amount and quality, my mood, and the binge eating and even the stress from all the running I've done in the past week. I am probably overreacting because it's just 1 measurement and it's the first one I did and it's relative to me. It doesn't seem good though. The real utility is in comparing it to myself over time to see what influences it. I'm really impressed with this measurement and an app I found called Elite HRV that seems to have some legitimate science behind it and is very useful in understanding the score and how I can improve it. I'll find out a lot more as I go along.

Overall I don't have reason to feel great tonight but I do because of the long run I had. It gave me a great mood boost.
 
alligatorob said:
Hey Rob, your exercise never ceases to amaze me, particularly for a guy on the mend. It seems to me you are more positive these days, hope I am right.

Do you think your sleep problems are eating related? Or visa versa?
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I think it may be a bit of a chicken or egg dilemma at this point, Rob, along with several other things like mood and even exercising too much. I'm out of whack still which I have been for so long. It's better in all indicators but I was pretty far out of whack when I started this journey. It's going to take awhile yet to unwhack myself I believe. Hopefully I can get there before I get taken out again with the bingeing or this injury. Thanks for your comment, Rob!
 
"Unwhack" thyself, Rob. Enough of the reading into medical reports until you see your doctor. I do the same & it's never a good idea. You have come such a long way so try not to think the worst. You seem to be doing a really good job of unwhacking I think anyway xo
 
bensanon said:
I'm in good physical shape, much better than 75% of the men in my age group according to my VO2max score
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Don't think you needed a test to tell you that, only a small % of men, or women for that matter, could have run 8 miles today, and you did it with a bum leg, amazing.

What is the long term prognosis for your nervous system damage, is it something that will heal, or do you have to find a way to live with it? Hope its the former.

I like the unwacking thing, is that an accepted medical term? If it isn't it should be. There are times I could use a good unwacking.
 
Cate said:
"Unwhack" thyself, Rob. Enough of the reading into medical reports until you see your doctor. I do the same & it's never a good idea. You have come such a long way so try not to think the worst. You seem to be doing a really good job of unwhacking I think anyway xo
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Thanks, Cate! I have come a really long way and it's good to be reminded of that.

alligatorob said:
What is the long term prognosis for your nervous system damage, is it something that will heal, or do you have to find a way to live with it? Hope its the former.
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I don't know, Rob. Some studies of people with similar use histories show deficits as far as 3.5 years after stopping the medication. Some of my symptoms were a lot like those of someone recovering from a TBI and that can take several years or more.


Ah.. I still feel pretty good from that run yesterday but my leg is bothering me a little bit. My "readiness" HRV score was green, meaning I'm good to go for more training today. It was a tad higher than yesterday. I got some good sleep. About 7.5 hours.
 
Another 8 miles today and it felt pretty good. I had a fruit smoothie before and my energy dropped a little but by all measures, it was a good run. I started to feel the same pain pattern in my left leg, in my right leg. What is going on? I can't get in to see my doctor about the MRI results until a week from Monday.

I am reminded just how much running lifts me up when I'm able to get this many miles in. I walked Cambridge a couple miles but I'd really like to take her on runs. The winter weather is not so good but I'm hopeful for springtime. She is a wonderful dog. She has such a great personality and is well-behaved even though she's still a bit of a puppy. She's so smart and affectionate too. She's off playing with her toys as I write.
 
Cam sounds like a wonderful dog.
It's a bugger about the pain in your leg, Rob & now the other one too? :svengo: Try to take it easy though. It would be awful to do permanent damage.
 
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