Sarah

Monthly running log – May 2021

Running monthly totals:

Miles run: 261.74 miles (20.14 more miles than April)

Weekly average: 59.10 miles

Days run: 31 out of 31

Calories burned during run: 37,340 kcal (that’s 10.7 lb if 3500 kcal = 1 lb)

Run time: 51 hr 57 min (100.5 min per day average)

May run miles, not including treadmill
May treadmill miles
Run miles 2021, not including treadmill miles
run miles for the last few Mays – I’m pretty sure I ran in 2016, I failed at tracking miles in May though (this was in the midst of my undiagnosed hypothyroidism so I’m allowing myself grace for not being great at recording, also my old Garmin watch also is probably partly responsible for this failure too)

Monthly averages and superlatives:

Average speed per mile: 11:54 per mile (4 sec slower than April)

Surprisingly, I’m not too far off from my 2013 pace. I did not “try” to run faster back then, and all my runs were at the same, easy pace, so I’m not in “2013 running shape”, but I am in “ok for right now running shape”.

Average stride rate: 159 steps per minute (2 spm more than April)

Average heart rate during run: 130 beats per minute (3 bpm fewer than April)

The biggest change in my running data since getting my TomTom watch that does heart rate mid-2016. I was hypo (and probably anemic) up until July/August 2020 and my heart rate data on runs reflect that. I’ve been running on average about the same pace for the last 4 Mays in a row and my heart rate has dropped 20 beats per minute at the same pace? I can’t stress how important having enough iron and keeping a good portion of your red blood cells every month to transport oxygen appears to be for running.
Not only has my running heart rate dropped the last year, from when I was anemic to now when I’m not anemic, but it’s been dropping all year long this year. (January and February can be ignored because watch doesn’t get a good read when my wrist is cold, but clearly there seems to be a trend here.)

Longest run: May 29 – 18 miles (Why am I now doing 18 mile runs with no marathon on the schedule?  Still no clue.)

Shortest run: May 9, May 30 – 6.2 miles. 

Fastest run: May 17 – 9:53/mile, 9.4 miles (tempo run)

Slowest run (not counting hill runs): May 4 – 12:35/mile.

Fastest mile: May 17 – Mile 4 at 9:05.

Fastest strides: May 17 – strides: 168 per minute.

Slowest strides (not counting hill repeats):  May 4 – 155 per minute.

Total ascent: 13,308 ft. (up 2,864 from April)

I’ve been working on adding in more hills to my runs for years now. It’s gotten to the point now where if I’m not doing a tempo run and I do a non-hilly run, I miss the hills. The Strava elevation gain challenge is partly responsible for this behavior, I think that is how it started, but now it’s its own thing.

Non-run monthly stats:

Total distance (running + walking): 324 miles (up 17.6 from April) 

Average distance per day: 10.45 miles (up 0.24 from April)

Total steps: 632,300 steps

Average steps per day: 20,396 (up 556 from April) 

Average resting heart rate: 58 bpm (down 1 bpm from April)

Lowest resting heart rate: May 23 – 52 bpm (down 2 bpm from lowest in April)

Highest resting heart rate:  May 1 – 68 bpm (up 3 bpm from highest in April)

Low heartrate days seem to happen when I’m also feeling more afternoon fatigue than normal. A resting heartrate of 52 for me is usually a hypothyroidism symptom and I’m trying to adapt to my new thyroid-less body, but sometimes I get tired for no reason and it sucks.
Uh… I’ve increased my activity level in May by adding in more swimming and my resting heart rate is dropping. I can’t distinguish whether the cause of this drop in heart rate is improved fitness or hypothyroidism.
Ok… but I can definitely tell you for a fact my endocrinologist told me I did not have hypothyroidism in May 2021, when I was still experiencing the worst of my hypothyroidism symptoms 9 months after my thyroidectomy completion surgery, and my heart rate sure shows that I was not “healthy”. (Compare my running heart rate in 2019 to resting heart rate 2019 and you will see that I was not in fact “more fit” than I was in 2020 or 2021. This 2019 heartrate correlates with extreme afternoon fatigue, brain fog, forgetfulness, lack of focus, and basically most symptoms that indicate my brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen – hypothyroidism slows the heartrate, also I was probably anemic at the time. I believe all those things were reversible for me, and hope the same is true for people with similar symptoms with Long Covid.)

Swimming monthly totals:

Miles swum: 16.21 miles

 Weekly average: 3.66 miles

Days swum: 14 out of 31

Calories burned during swims: 7,557 kcal (that’s 2.16 lb if 3500 kcal = 1 lb, but this calorie burn number is a wild estimate by my watch – I doubt I’m burning 500 calories in 45 minutes on these swims)

Swim time: 11 hr 17 min (48.4 min per swim session)

May 2021 swim miles
2021 Total swim miles

May monthly thoughts:

1.)  I’m back to running every day (after missing a day in April) and back to feeling better.  This month I’ve tried (and sometimes failed, sometimes succeeded) in adding in swimming to my already pretty active fitness regimen. 

I’m hoping, now that I can lift heavier weights at the gym, I can spend less time with strength training throughout the week and replace that “extra time” with swimming, so far though, it’s been a lot in addition to running.

It turns out that I really love swimming, and I’m also apparently adding strength training to things that I love to do.  And specifically, progressively increasing how much weight I’m lifting on the machines and free weights.

Luckily, I don’t think the more things I do in a day, the more tired I get.  Running, swimming, and strength training are not all the same thing, and complement eachother, and do not drag my energy level down lower.  (Due to mild lingering hypothyroidism, I actually have more energy the more exercise I do, not the other way around.  It is not ideal, but now that I understand that is how my body works, I am adapting.)

I have learned that:

I can’t lift weights directly after running or running/swimming/weights all at the same time – my body freaks out and does not want to lift weights, but if I wait a few hours after the run to swim and lift weights, I’m much better off.

I can’t lift weights first and then swim.  My left shoulder (the frozen one, which is doing really well but is not “normal”), does not like it when I lift heavy weights and then decide to swim a bunch of laps.  It turns out shoulders are very important for swimming and they need to not be super tired/inflamed by the time I get in the water.

2.)  I don’t know if it is because I’m finally healthy, after years of health problems, if it’s I’m finally vaccinated and less worried about getting sick or my family members getting sick, or adding in swimming to running and strength training, but my mood this month has been better than it has in years (or decades – if I’m being completely honest here). 

My mental health is in a completely different place than it has been in a long time – I’m still not fully back to my old self, but I feel like I’m doing more, I’m less fatigued (except for some afternoons), and I feel like the swimming and strength training are giving me a continuing hormonal boost throughout the day (not just from the running in the morning anymore).  Not just endorphins – running (and swimming, and strength training) boosts endorphins, endocannabinoids, and dopamine.

3.)  My weight has not changed much from the 13 pounds I gained last year.  At the beginning of 2021, I thought I needed to lose that weight to take stress off my knees (specifically my right knee), and to get rid of the abdominal fat I put on last year while on an estrogen suppressing drug.

It turns out I did need to lose the fat I gained, but weight is just a number, and I’ve now added so much muscle (and lost fat) through consistent strength training that I’m not really concerned what that number is on the scale anymore.

I’ll still weigh myself everyday (side effect of undiagnosed hypothyroidism and a 40 pound accidental weight gain in 2016 – I like to know what my weight is).  I’m less worried now than in January what that number is on the scale.  I’m running, I’m swimming, I’m strength training, and I’m making sure I’m eating enough to do all those things.  I’ve put on a considerable amount of lean muscle this year, and I’ve continued to be more focused on my running goals and doing what I enjoy, and my body composition has changed significantly even though my weight has not.  And I’m completely fine with that.  Weight is just a number and most people who look at me have no idea my BMI is often around 24.4 (high side of normal).  My clothes are fitting looser than they have in a long time

My TomTom watch thinks I needed to exercise more on May 31st. I ran, swam, and lifted weights on May 30th and my heart rate after very active days is usually low on my morning run. I know it’s trendy for watches to tell you how long to recover/when to be active, but I find this sort of info on the “dashboard” hilarious most of the time. (I did not get my heart rate up for 11 more minutes that day.)

Checking in with my New Year, New Running Goals.

1.)  I continue to be fully vaccinated.    

2.)  I still haven’t signed up for any races.  I still don’t know when or what distance I might want to race, and now that it’s hot, I’m more in survival mode.

3.)  I didn’t run with anyone this month.  It’s fine.

4.)  I’m continuing to swim.  14 times this month (in addition to 31 runs) might have been a bit too ambitious.  What can I say?  I was really excited to get back into the pool.

5.)  Strength training at the gym now!  I’m taking my strength training to a new level, literally.  I can lift more with machines and I’m no longer confined to 3, 5, 8, and 12 pound dumbbells and 10 and 20 pound kettlebells.  I’m still very hesitant with how far I push my left shoulder with weights, but there is a lot more I can do at the gym than at home.

6.) I stretched for 29/31 days in May!  I’m still doing pretty good.

7.) Crosstraining – I guess I should be doing more than just run, swim, and strength train, but that is already a lot.

Audiobook round-up, May 2021

Once again, I’m going to recommend all the non-fiction books and none of the fiction books.  I might not agree completely with the opinions in What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, but it is always good to read about the perspective of people who have vastly different experiences than me.  Best books of the month:  Midnight in Chernobyl, Olympic Pride, American Prejudice, and Exercised.  (I continue to really like to listen sports/science related books and books about viruses during my runs.  What can I say?)

Fiction:

Fudge Cupcake Murder – Joanne Fluke

Sugar Cookie Murder – Joanne Fluke

Non-fiction:

Midnight in Chernobyl – Adam Higginbotham

What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat – Aubrey Gordon

Why We Swim – Bonnie Tsui

The Sports Gene – David Epstein

Panic in Level 4 – Richard Preston

Olympic Pride, American Prejudice: The Untold Story of 18 African Americans Who Defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to Compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics – Deborah Riley Draper

Exercised – Daniel E. Lieberman

The Art of the Impossible – Steven Kotler

Weight, weight fluctuate

Current thyroid medication: 137.5 mcg levothyroxine (T4) daily, 10 mcg liothyronine (T3) split up into 5 mcg twice a day (started August 11, 2020). 

Current weight:  162.1 lb  (down 0.2 lb from end of April) 

Weight January 1, 2021: 163.3  lb

Weight change since Jan 1, 2021: -1.2 lb

Previous month: April 2021

Next month: June 2021

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