How It's Going

I'm finally back from "Ten days of family reunion, family workweek, almost no workouts, and lots of fun" at the cabin, and I think it's time for a thyroid-and-whatnot update.  After 30 days on my increased Synthroid dose, I had bloodwork done again on Tuesday.  I also talked to my doc; we're now on the same page about medicating me to where I feel normal, not just to where labs are barely in range.  So that's a good thing.  We also discussed my heart arrhythmia.  I'm better able to describe the symptoms because the arrhythmia happens sometimes when I'm not skating now--it's a lot easier to determine what you're feeling when you're not trying to skate as hard as you can, with a heart rate of 200+--and with my better description, Doc says it's likely PVC's or PAC's and not to worry about it.  Yesterday, though, my Mayo cardiologist finally returned my call (from a couple weeks ago)--I was gone when he called, but I'd still like to get his opinion before I decide once and for all that, as far as the arrhythmia is concerned, I can pretty much ignore it and pretend it's not happening.  Except for the part about it making me slow.  Hard to ignore that.

I got my lab results back yesterday, and one of my thyroid hormones is still pretty low--in range, but just barely.  I was pretty sure that this was the case, because I'm still skating like a slug.  Fortunately I seem to be doing better in the general-fatigue department, though, and am no longer staggering to my room immediately after a workout and flopping on the bed for a two-hour nap.  Also, the Hubster is undoubtedly appreciating my (as far as I can tell, anyway) emergence from the hypothyroid-induced "Depressed and Bitchy" phase.  Can't say I'm sorry to see that one go, either!  So anyway, I've got a prescription for another raise in dosage, and directions to re-do the bloodwork in another 30 days.  And so it goes.

I realized, while doing an abbreviated interval workout on the oval this morning, that I've got to modify my workouts (when writing them) to the point where I can successfully complete them; this is critical for both my physical and mental well-being.  In the past, I'd just planned to do the workout that I did at this time last year, and then cut if short if when I got too tired.  Trouble was, this led to either doing more than I should, or being bummed that I couldn't do the whole workout if I ended up cutting it short.  Either way, this caused detrimental side-effects.  If I push too hard physically I get really tired and have a hard time recovering for the next workout; and if I set the bar too high physically and then cut the workout short, it makes it that much harder to maintain the "I can do this" mental attitude--which is already taking a significant hit due to the aforementioned "Depressed and Bitchy" phase.  So, since I'm currently--due to Coach TieGuy's continued ultra-busy life and schedule--planning my own workouts, I'm going to try hard to do a better job of setting up workouts that are realistic for the current state of fitness and thyroid function, and then feeling a sense of accomplishment when I complete them as written.

On that note (or maybe in spite of that note), I may be doing a half-marathon tomorrow morning.  My sister  Energizer Bunny and I want to do the Minnesota Half Marathon again, as we did last year.  The weather forecast looks iffy, though (60% chance of rain), and neither of us wants to skate a race in the rain.  The race is only about 30 minutes from both of our houses, so we have the luxury of not needing to make the decision until the last minute.  So we're waiting until tomorrow morning--if it's not raining we'll sign up and race; if it's raining, we get to go back to bed.  So there may be a race report soon.  Or maybe not.