Stupid Supinating Foot

My gym is kind of crappy.  It's also kind of cheap, so I pay every month anyway.  I hadn't been there since April.  April was about the time I got a bike and started cycling three days a week as my workout.  But it's been very hot, and very stormy and I still needed to burn calories.  Off to to the gym I went, and I was determined to give running a shot.

"My cardio has to be better" I told myself.  " My leg muscles are bigger and stronger and I weigh less, I might be able to do it".

My breathing became rapid, I started getting excited, I was frustrated by the slow moving cars in front of me.  I wanted to get to the gym.  I wanted to run.

I scanned my card and headed across the gym like I owned the place.  Sure, I hadn't been there in three months but I'd lost 10 lbs, and had made myself stronger and faster.

It started well.  I was able to run at the pace I quit at back in March, and it had taken me 3 months to get there the first time.  My breathing was good and I believe the rest of my body could have pushed on for a good 30 minutes of intervals.

My right foot however, continues to vehemently disagree.  The side wedges and $100 running shoes I bought aren't even helping anymore.  My ankle was nearly turning out, the cramping of my right leg started by interval three.  I made it through 15 minutes and my foot/ankle/leg were done.

This reaffirms that I REALLY need to get to a foot doctor.  I love cycling, and I will forever be thankful for that it came into my life when it did.  With that being said, there is something about running that calls me back.  My high pony tail swishing, the sound of my feet hitting the ground, the mind games, there is just nothing else like it.  I can't do it until I get to a foot doctor and do something about my feet. 

I need a wand so I can magic my supinating feet away and get nice functioning ones instead.

Then, there was a car on the bike trail

Last night I went on a ride with my Aunt Sue.  We usually go on long rides with each other.  I have a hard time not going as fast as possible, which is bad for long rides.  She has a slower bike than I do so I use her to pace me.

This day we decided to get a little adventurous.  We followed our usual trail but in a direction we hadn't gone before.  The paved trail ran out quickly, but there was a bike tire width dirt trail that continued on, so we followed it.  It only went on for maybe 50 feet before the paved trail started again.  This part of the bike trail was not like the first half.  Instead of weaving through forest and rivers it ran next to a road.  We had to cross streets multiple time to follow the trail.  I was not comfortable with the set up, but I was enjoying having a different cycling experience so we carried on.

Heading into an unbroken stretch of trail there was  a car sitting on the bike trail.  It was pulled across it and the only way to get around the car was to go off the bike trail.  If I had a remote for my life I would hit stop right there, get off of my bike and walk it around.  Or at the least I would have unclipped from my pedals. Is that what I did? No.  So, there I was with two options.  Left through the gravel or right through the dirt.  I chose the dirt.

I knew I was in trouble right away.  The dirt wasn't hard, it was soft and deep.  I have a road bike with thin tires.  I tried to get out of it and back on the trail but the bike started to tip.  I panicked, I couldn't get myself out of my clips and BAM down I went with the bike on the trail.

I hit my elbow hard.

Scrapped up my leg.
My ankle has random bruises all over it and it's swollen.

 

And, worst of all....my bike got scratched.

 

The day after has been a little worse.  My muscles are stiff and I know exactly when my ibuprofen wears out.  But I am VERY glad I didn't break a bone or my bike.  I was going to go out for a ride tonight, but I decided my arm and shoulder hurt to much to hold myself up for an hour.  I will see how I feel tomorrow.

But I've learned my lesson.  Next time I am unclipping and walking it.

What are some of your work out tales of woe?

Beginners Guide To Biking . By A Beginner. Part IV

If you want to start at the beginning you can click on the series label or follow the links. 1,2,3.

What pedals should I have on my bike?  What are the different pedals?

Remember when you were a kid and you just jumped on your bike and was off?

There are those pedals.  The problem is they waste power.  You relay on momentum for the pedals to come back up so you can push down again.  If you want to go faster, it's time to utilize the up motion too.

Cages

Source

Pro: cages attach to your pedal and help you to get more power.  Now you are pulling the pedal up and down and can better maximize your effort.  Con:  You are still pushing through your shoe, and your shoe is holding you back.  Also, you have to learn how to get in and out of them with out falling over.

Clips

 

Source

Pro:  Less shoe to get in the way, and you are pulling the pedal with every single movement.  Pro/Con: It works new muscles!  I know I said you pull with the cages, but you pull much, much more with the clips.  I am still adjusting.  Also, you can never stop.  Good for going faster and pushing yourself hard, but definitely a change. You have to learn how to clip in, and get out with out falling over.  I've had no issues getting out, but I still only manage to get in by accident. Con:  You cant just get on your bike and go, you have to put on your special shoes.  I was thinking about that on my ride this morning, and I decided it's not as restrictive as I think.  I wouldn't go running without my running shoes, so not going cycling with out my cycling shoes isn't that big of a deal.
 

Which of the three do you prefer? 

Bad Gall Bladder Symptoms

The year I was sick, I had a collection of seemingly random symptoms.  Some of the things I went to the Doctor for and some I didn't.  some of the symptoms I had for YEARS.  Some are on lists of gall bladder failure symptoms and some are not.  If someone is going through the same things I did, I would like them to know they are not alone and all of those things DO mean something. Some of them I noticed at the time and some I didn't notice until after my gall bladder was out. Here are the symptoms I had long before I was throwing up every 10 minutes with abdominal cramping.

*  Intense Headaches on the right side of the head

*  Right side of the face swollen disproportionately to the left

*  Right side back pain

*  Right side lung pain

*  Right side lung swelling and causing pleurisy

*  Right side arm pit smelled worse than the left, impervious to deodorant

*  Lactose Intolerance symptoms 

*  Faint pain in the gall bladder area

*  Abnormally greasy skin and hair

*  Faded lip color 

*  Frequent throwing up

*  Frequent Diarrhea

Keep in mind while reading my time line that all of these things were gradual and seemingly random.  It's not until I looked back at all of it that I realized how much sense it made.

When I was in high school, I worked at Wendy's.  I started having sever stomach cramps.  Doctors couldn't figure out why.  They put me on a restrictive diet and gave me muscle relaxers to help with the pain.  I eventually decided that it was lactose intolerance and began avoiding most dairy foods.  That seemed to keep things under control.  

My sophomore year of college I ate Mcdonalds and puked for a week.  Finals week actually, it was horrific.  besides that time, I can think of quite a few times I was prone to puking.  Times like eating pizza.  My friends would eat pizza that had been sitting out but I refused because one time I had pizza sit out for an hour, ate it, and threw up. One time I drank a glass of vitamin D milk with doughnuts, and threw up.   Christmas.  I got sick every Christmas.  Do you know what happens at Christmas?  Lots of eating things with butter and milk and fat fat fat!  I said my stomach didn't have the right bacteria to let food sit out and eat it.  The truth was my gall bladder was crap.

Around 5 years before my gall bladder came out I noticed that my right arm pit was smellier than the other.  I was also starting to notice a faint pain where my gall bladder was.  What is right here?  I would ask people pointing.  They always said there wasn't anything, and I never looked it up.  

4 years before I couldn't keep up with how greasy my hair was.  I couldn't skip a shower or I would look like I hadn't bathed in a week.  My skin was always greasy to touch and my lips were starting to lose their color.  These were all slow gradual things that I really didn't notice how bad they are getting.

The headaches are hard to pinpoint a time frame.  It was definitely in the same 4-5 year time frame.  I get a lot of headaches, I still do.  But the headache I use to have, and that has disappeared since the removal, was horrible.  It was only on the right side of my head and no pain medication touched it.  A doctor gave me migraine medication, but they weren't migraines.  I also could not take the pills frequently enough for them to be of any use.

Then came the last year I had a gall bladder.  It has quite the final performance.  My right lung swelled up, I thought I was having a heart attack because I couldn't breathe and I had chest pains.  They ultimately decided it was pleurisy and put me on steroids.  But it didn't help.  It was still hard to breathe and I was still getting intense lung pain.  They sent me to a lung doctor.  He said it must be asthma, gave me pain medication for constant and intense back lung pain, and sent me on my way.  At most points in 2011 I was on at least 3 pain medications on top of whatever else they happened to have me on.

The right side of my face was swollen.  I looked like a gargoyle.  My mother was the only one who noticed.  I tried to tell people, but they just shrugged me off and said I was being to hard on myself or that I was seeing things.  When I show them pictures now they are amazed they didn't see it.  People are very unobservant. 

June 2011:

June 2012:

 My left side is naturally bigger than my right, I am very lopsided.

So, were where we?  I was ill and no one knew why.  I was on a lot of medication for my symptoms but none of it was really doing anything.  Then, one night, my husband and I got pizza for dinner.  I woke up at 2 am and threw up every 10 minutes.  It didn't stop until I had two of the anti nausea shots.  I was also having intense abdominal cramping, which is why the urgent care sent me to the emergency room.  That would be trip 2 in three months for those of you playing at home.  A multitude of tests later, and at least a month of eating nothing, and I finally got the call I had been waiting a year for.  Something was wrong and I had a test to prove it.  

" Kelly, this is Dr.C.  Your gall bladder is a mess, I am setting up an appointment with a surgeon."

My gall bladder surgery is the best thing I ever did for myself.  It is not with out it's repercussions, but they are completely manageable.  It is a list of side effects I would trade again every time for the list I use to have.

*  Scars

*  Abdominal discomfort at the incision sites with exercise

*  Can not eat straight oil, like salad dressing or dipping your bread in oil.

*  I have to limit oil and fat intake, but not as much as I did pre surgery.

The things that got better?

* Skin tone

* Less greasy

* Better lip color

* Normal Shaped face

* Both arm pits smell the same

* Less headaches

* No throwing up

* Diarrhea only if I over did it on fats or oils

* No more lung pain

* My lung has not recovered fully from 2011 but it has never flared up again.

That was my experience.  No gall stones, just a gall bladder that refused to work and tried to take everything else down with it.