Loving the Fitbit

I want to talk fitness gadgets, particularly the Fitbit Flex.  I was toying with the idea of purchasing a Fitbit, Nike Fuelband or a Jawbone for the longest time, but when my physiotherapist prompted me to try it as part of my treatment I decided to take the plunge.  So, I thought I would share my thoughts with you about the device.

What is it?
Fitbit is like a really jazzed up pedometer that tracks your steps, your active minutes, sleep and calories burned.  It can also track your food intake similar to MyFitnessPal.

Depending on the model it may do a little more or a little less - for example, I have the Fitbit Flex which I can wear in the shower, but some of the older models are not waterproof.  The new Fitbit Force can track how many stories you have climbed in a day (kicking myself for not waiting two weeks!).  To find out more about how the technology works click here.

Why?
As many of my regular readers may know I seem to be cursed with constant injuries, so much so that I am now working with a different physiotherapist who specializes in fibromyalgia.  We are still unsure as to whether or not I have fibro; I only meet the criteria when my body is "flared up" (ie. I have a random, inexplicable long-term injury).

In a nutshell, her approach is to find out what my current abilities are for various types of movements (ex. endurance, lifting, range of motion) and then come up with a game plan to increase my abilities in areas that I am having trouble.  The main idea behind it is to determine what I am doing vs. what I am actually capable of.  Insert Fitbit here.  She wants to get a sense of how much I am moving (her hunch is possibly too much).

Love it or hate it?
I love love love it!  My physiotherapist may have created a monster in recommending this to me.  I am completely obsessed with this tool.  The device allows you to set a daily step count goal that you can change at any time.  I set mine at 13,000 per day, which, when achieved, works out to be the equivalent of roughly 9-10km.

Not only does it track your daily stats, but it emails you a weekly report with your averages for sleep, distance, calories burned and step count.  I have been using this device for six weeks and my average step count is 11,385 (a little bit shy of where I want to be).  My highest daily step count was 20,960 - which was on Thanksgiving weekend (Canadian) when we hiked Cape Split with Hugo.  So I am now hell bent on beating that record!

Would I recommend?  Most def!

I would love to hear from those of you who currently use the Fitbit or another similar device.  Do you find it helps you reach your goals?

Attitudes and egos should be checked at the door

It has now been 64 days since I injured the vast majority of my lower body.  As I have mentioned I have been seeing a physiotherapist twice a week for the past month and am slowly improving.  The verdict is that I tore my right hip flexor and strained both IT bands and both knees.  With all of this ground to cover she told me I better not injure my arms.  Similar to my last injury-related update, I can ride the recumbent bike, I am permitted to do yoga once a week and swim once a week (provided I do not do breaststroke or elementary backstroke).   The swimming is a recent development, so I have yet to hop in the pool, but am hoping to give it a whirl sometime this week.

My exercises are getting slightly more interesting – a few lunges, a few calf raises and my personal favourite – the balance board.  I have discovered the joy in outsmarting the balance board and found a way to do something productive and somewhat “active” while watching TV.  I recently went to Toronto to visit my brother, and was extremely apprehensive about being the loser who had to take a break while everyone else enjoyed walking around the zoo.  Luckily, I surprised myself with my impressive stamina.  I have now exceeded my 1k walking capabilities and can now walk 3k-5k depending on the day and how my legs are feeling.  This was quite a triumph for me and I was very relieved not to have to drag anyone down while on vacation.

Last week I went back to yoga for the first time, and I have to say, it was the first yoga class where I really understood the idea of not competing – with others, or, yourself.  I must have been pretty full of myself to think that I could get right back into it at the level I was at before.  Wrong.  So, so, so wrong.  I have never done a yoga class where I perceived my “performance” to be so poor.  Any posture that involved my legs pretty much hurt like hell.  Warriors?  Not quite, more like Gumby, if he was frozen.  Happy baby?  Definitely not, more like turtle on its shell.  Runners’ pose?  Ha!  What a cruel joke!  And, as always, the moment that I always dread – pigeon pose. 

The whole class felt like it was designed to inflict pain upon me and give me a reality check as to how far I have fallen.  However, as the class progressed and I could not help but ignore my different abilities, I had to just accept that my range of motion is not great.  I can now empathize with someone new to exercise or who possibly has arthritis.  Once I accepted that these were my current abilities, I stopped judging myself for my perceived shortcomings.  This was not an issue of trying harder; it was an issue of not being physically capable of doing more.  Upon acknowledging these facts I was able to look at what was most important – I showed up.  I showed up and I completed the class despite my heightened level of frustration.  When Yoga Wednesday rolls around this week I will definitely check my attitude and my ego at the door.  Yoga instructors are right – there really is no place for competition in your practice, doing your best with what you have is all that you can ask of yourself.  In the words of Miss Scarlett O’Hara: “after all, tomorrow is another day”. 

Cursing out the run...

So, my new resolve to run actually started before I penned this blog, near the end of November, but it wasn't until January that I started to take it seriously.  Our training strategy was to be able to run 10 minutes straight with one-minute rest (walking) periods. Luckily, we are well-matched in terms of pace, so we were able to begin at four minute intervals, followed by five and then six.  We are allowed to move on once we achieve a minimum of six repetitions of the interval.  I thought that the five-minute intervals would be the death of our running careers, but, luckily we have made it through to six minutes.  Aside from the occasional trumpeting coming out of my backside, my IBS has not been too bad.  We have had times when I was required to do longer walking intervals in order to ward off bathroom sessions, but, no real emergency situations occurred until last week.  During our last run I had to abandon ship after only two and a half sets of six minutes.  I did not feel that our friendship was strong enough for me to soil myself in front of him.  I was extremely frustrated and disappointed as we felt ready to tackle the six-minute interval hurdle, but, that was not to be.  It was a miracle that I made it to the washroom in time.

Since that day I have managed to rip open my heel on a pair of winter boots, but, as it isn't healing and it hurts like hell I am trying to take care of it with the goal of beginning again on Monday.  Fingers crossed that I will "heel" in time!  This was actually one of the warmest weeks we have had and I was so excited to run.  In previous weeks our run days seemed to land on -20 celsuis weather, so this week would have felt balmy by comparison!  It has, however, been somewhat of a blessing that the heel catastrophe landed this week as my IBS has flared up for a reason unbeknownst to me.  With any luck I will be able to get both issues in check before next week.

I must admit that I have been really enjoying the running sessions thus far, I do dread the run, and normally hate every second of it, but, I do feel a great sense of accomplishment after it is done.  Also, it is amazing to me how much two people can swear in such a short period of time ... between the cold and the running the only thing we can seem to wheeze out is the f-bomb while gasping for breath.  We are trying to think of a few more positive things to say, but honestly, we are just hoping that the calm feeling that runners lovingly refer to will sweep over us at some point in time.  We have convinced ourselves that the 10 minute interval will be the moment where we cross into the world of running enjoyment.  Until then I guess we will have to hope and dream about it and get some sort of satisfaction from cursing out the run. 

The dawn of my running "career"

After many lengthy discussions with a friend of mine about life goals and career aspirations, I am taking my first real crack at writing in a public format. My current career path is extremely different from what I envisioned 10 years ago upon graduating from high school. I pictured myself as either an English or French teacher, or professor. Upon completion of my MA in French I knew without a doubt that teaching was not for me. With this began my career as a public servant. I cannot complain about my career thus far, I have lots of job flexibility, I have worked within a variety of branches within my agency, however, none of this has left me fulfilled. If anything, this has left me aspiring for more. The problem is, I am unsure what it is that I am aspiring to be. So, in a nutshell, I am trying to double back to my first love, writing, editing and literature, and along the way I am trying to discover new ways to motivate myself and find my calling in life. I have a hunch that the written word figures in somewhere, but I am still trying to determine how and to what extent. Ultimately, I would like some type of career that would allow me to feel rewarded and challenged. I would like to enjoy my job and I do not want to be destitute in the pursuit of fulfillment. Given that these are my only parameters for finding said job, it is a little bit difficult. So, in a round-about way, this brings me to the title of this blog: "Running from the Runs".

It has been 10 crap filled years since I was first diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), type D (for Diarrhea). I have had many "episodes" resulting in great discomfort, weight loss and finally surgery. IBS is something that I struggle with every day of my life, and it literally consumes most of my waking thoughts, especially in public. Throughout my undergrad and MA I spent much of my time scoping out the good washrooms around campus. A good washroom consists of either one single stall/sink combo or a larger washroom with many stalls. In addition, good washrooms are located in low-traffic areas. I could probably provide you with a blueprint for washroom locations on each university campus that I attended. All of this to say, IBS controls my life, it controls what I do and when I do it, and, no matter how much I try to plan around it, it always seems to change my plans. So, in an effort to find a way in which I can control the IBS, I have taken up running. The reason why I have chosen this path is because running, and often walking, are huge triggers for my IBS. If I could run 10 minutes without running to the washroom, that would be a Christmas miracle. Therefore, I am on a mission to run a 10k, and in order to do that I have been running three times a week with a friend of mine to try and prepare and build up my endurance both physically and in relation to my IBS.

Before training began for this challenge I had to have a very frank conversation with my running partner. I had to forewarn him that running with me was not like running with your average person. Much like the washroom blueprint at the university, I have mapped a run through my neighbourhood that allows me to be in close proximity to my home at all times. What this means is that our route is very boring and repetitive, however, it allows me to get home ASAP when the wave of IBS and panic washes over me. In addition, he was forewarned that many sound effects and strange smells would likely join us on our runs, especially if the goal was to try and "run" through them in order to build up my endurance, for some reason he agreed to join me on my journey to outsmart my colon and learn how to run.