Snarf99’s BodyBlog

I have a couple of announcements.

First, you should all know that I am training to run a half-marathon in Phoenix in January. The last time I ran a half-marathon was two years ago, in Tucson, and I had not trained properly. Two years ago, I was not disciplined enough to run regularly, so I only ran the long runs on the weekends, and that’s it. I was a weekend runner. My body got thrown into shock every weekend, as I forced it to run 8 or 10 miles that it definitely wasn’t ready for. As a result, I have a back injury that seems to be resistant to every intervention I have tried, from physical therapy to swimming and yoga.  So this year, my goal is to train properly, which is to say, follow a program to the T.  My plan is to run four times a week, running low miles on the weekdays and a long run on Saturdays.  

After Tucson 2006, I stopped running completely for two years. You’d be amazed to know that I didn’t gain any weight or anything like that. I just stayed the same, but lost the endurance and strength to run.  I started running again on September 13th, about four weeks ago. Oh my god, Wow!  My legs didn’t even remember what to do, right leg?, left leg? How does this go?  

So all that is my way of setting the stage for my great achievement of today. Today, October 15, 2008, I, Snarf, ran 3 miles in a row, non-stop, at 11 min/mile pace, on the treadmill.

This is my first time running 3 miles straight through, and I wanted to commemorate this moment.  Thank you.  I can’t believe I’m going to be running 13 in a row in only three months.

Yesterday I had acupuncture.  I have a tightness in my lower back, on the left side. I think it’s from improperly training for a half marathon two years ago. It never goes away. I am hoping acupuncture will help.

While I was getting acupuncture for my back, the doctor asked me if I have any other medical problems.  I said I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). She said acupuncture could help with that, too.

I went home and looked up PCOS online.  I have known that I have it for about a year. It’s the best explanation yet for why at age 33, I continue to have acne, I gain weight around my middle instead of my butt and thighs, I have amazing amounts of body hair - I’m like a gorilla (if I don’t shave), including a few hairs on my neck, and I seem to have some sensitivity to sugar. When I told my NP that my periods are irregular, she put it all together and gave me a blood test which confirmed that my FSH and LH levels were way off. What happens in PCOS is that the follicle that is supposed to mature and release an egg at ovulation never matures. Instead it becomes a cyst on the ovary and it secretes androgens such as testosterone, thus causing male characteristics such as weight gain around the belly, hair growth on the body, increase oil secretion which causes acne, and many other possible symptoms.

The most common drug prescribed for this is Metformin, the same drug prescribed to diabetics. The idea is to make the body less insulin-resistant, which somehow, in some convoluted way that I don’t yet understand, helps balance out the hormones and decreases testosterone secretion. The cool thing about Metformin is that it helped me lose about 5 lbs, a common side effect.  It does that by making the liver and stomach less good at metabolizing sugar, forcing the body to take glucose out of fat and muscle tissue.  The not so cool thing about Metformin is that it has side effects such as diahreah and gastric cramping. Not so pleasant.  It’s really important to take food with it.  

Last night, I ate three scrambled eggs with mushrooms and took the drug. Well, I guess it wasn’t enough food, because I had some serious cramping by 6am.  See, that part really sucks.

Best advice for PCOS, as far as I can tell, is get yourself to be less insulin-resistant the natural way, with diet and exercise. Ever since I came to this conclusion last night, I decided to make it my goal to lose 10 to 15 lbs so that insulin-resistance is no longer an issue, so that I can stop taking Metformin.  I am going to discuss this with my NP and with a nutritionist, but I think it is a sound plan.  I am also going to try acupuncture.

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This week, I played around with running times.  8am is too hot. 1pm is definitely too hot. 9pm is nice but I usually too tired by then.  It’s 5am or forget about it.  
The second problem is running on a full stomach.  Several times now I have run after eating, and it doesn’t feel good. But I don’t want to work out when I’m hungry.  Another good reason to run at 5am, before breakfast.

Sunday - weights
Monday - ran, I actually stopped on someone’s lawn and used their hose to hose myself down.
Tuesday - weights
Wed - walked 2 miles, too hot to run at 8am!
Friday - ran 3 miles at 5am, on an empty stomach. Yeah! Go me., stopping only once to stretch
Saturday - my sister and I ran our second 4-miler.  There was a lot of wind, but still we did it in 47 minutes, 2 minutes faster than last week!

I missed Friday’s circuit.  I might do it today, but I’m feeling very lazy today.
  

This week went without a hitch. I think the self-hypnosis CD is really working.

Sunday - weights
Monday - ran 3 miles
Tuesday - Rosh HaShana
Wed - ran 3 miles
Thurs - ran 3 miles
Friday - circuit weights
Sat - ran 4 miles

For the Saturday 4-miler, my sister and I ran 7 minute stretches followed by 3 minutes of walking.  I did not lift legs at all this week, having learned last week that it was a bad idea. As a result, the Saturday run felt easy compared to last week. My legs were well rested, flexible, and ready to go.  It took us 49 minutes to complete the 4 mile run.  We want to bring that down to 40 minutes by January.