Running monthly totals:

Miles run: 237.54 miles (24.2 fewer miles than May)

Weekly average: 55.4 miles

Days run: 30 out of 30

Calories burned during run: 33,841 kcal (that’s 9.7 lb if 3500 kcal = 1 lb)

Run time: 45 hr 53 min (92 min per day average)

Monthly averages and superlatives:

Average speed per mile: 11:37 per mile (17 sec faster than May)

Average stride rate: 158 steps per minute (1 spm less than May)

Average heart rate during run: 130 beats per minute (same as May)

Longest run: June 17 – 13.1 miles

Shortest run: June 25 – 4.5 miles. 

Fastest run: June 22 – 9:34/mile, 9 miles (tempo run)

Slowest run (not counting hill repeats): June 3 – 12:42/mile.

Fastest mile: June 22 – Mile 4 at 8:42.

Fastest strides: June 22 – strides: 169 per minute.

Slowest strides (not counting hill repeats):  June 1, 3, 6, and 10 – 156 steps per minute.

Total ascent: 10,332 ft. (down 2,976 from  May)

Non-run monthly stats:

Total distance (running + walking): 288.1 miles (down 35.9 from May) 

Average distance per day: 9.6 miles (down 0.85 from May)

Total steps: 565,550 steps

Average steps per day: 18,851 (down 1,545 from May) 

Average resting heart rate: 56 bpm (down 2 bpm from May)

Lowest resting heart rate: June 10 and 28 – 51 bpm (down 1 bpm from lowest in May)

Highest resting heart rate:  June 1 and 26 – 60 bpm (down 8 bpm from highest in May).  This is the lowest monthly “highest resting heart rate” in a long time.  I got a sinking feeling when I saw this number.  This alone should make me think that maybe I have a bigger hypothyroidism issue going on than I thought.  Technically, my heart might be more efficient from training, it might be even though I’m not a fast runner, I’m well trained for endurance, but based on the amount of ongoing afternoon fatigue and fatigue in general, I think something has gone awry and it is probably my thyroid hormone levels.  I’m writing this on July 5^th, and felt some extreme afternoon fatigue this afternoon around 1:30pm, and thought to check my pulse with a pulsoximeter – my heart rate (while sitting on my bed, reading a text book) was 46 bpm – this is not normal, even for me. 

I’m not an elite athlete, I’m not blood doping, I’m not taking EPO.  There is zero reason my heart rate should be this slow while resting.  I just went through all my resting heart rate monthly data for as long as I have had a watch with heart rate – this is the first month ever where it hasn’t gotten above 60 bpm average resting heart since I got the watch in August 2016.  If I wasn’t so tired, especially in the afternoons, I wouldn’t think anything of this, but since I have no thyroid and have never felt completely normal since thyroid removal, I can’t help but think this is thyroid related.

Swimming monthly totals:

Distance swum: 377 laps/ 18,850 yards/10.7 miles (~5.5 miles less than May – I will try to back calculate actual distance in May since my watch in wildly inaccurate, sometimes over, sometimes under, on swim distances.  My ability to count laps has improved dramatically)  

Average per swim session: 47 laps/2,356 yards/ 1.34 miles

Days swum: 8 out of 30 (this doesn’t include some outside swimming with my young nephews, which mostly involves holding the 2-year-old as I slowly walk in the water – working on water familiarization right now)

Swim time: 8 hr 9 min (61 min per swim session)

Average pace: 2:32/100 yards (I’m adjusting this knowing I spent at least 12 minutes “treading water” on these swims, but averaging the rest of that time – about 8 hours, but I do kickboard laps and breast stroke much slower than any freestyle with arms.  It turns out I like swimming just for the sake of it, and I like doing different strokes. My average pace will be a lot slower than if I just swam all my laps freestyle, but I’ve never been a person who just swims free all the time. This does not take into account any stoppage time at the wall, although I don’t like to stop much while swimming – might be a running side effect.)

Favorite stroke:  Currently freestyle with just my arms using the leg buoy, since this is the least taxing/most relaxing out of all the strokes right now, and I keep swimming on days where I’ve run or did a hard run the day before and my legs very much need a break sometimes.

June monthly thoughts:

1.)  The big elephant in the room is the severe fatigue I’ve experienced in June and what might be causing it.  I’ve done a lot of swimming, strength training, and running this month, and while that might cause “normal” or “euthyroid” people to be fatigued, I don’t think that is what is causing the fatigue in my case.

It has been hot all month, and running in the heat will frequently make me tired in the afternoon.

Hard runs also make me tired.

Hard runs/running in the heat do not make my resting heart rate plummet in the afternoon, thyroid issues do.  I’m suspecting the extra muscle I have put on this year has disrupted the precarious balance that is my thyroid hormone level.  I’ve never felt normal since my thyroid surgeries in 2018, but I’ve felt close to normal since about August 2020, but there certainly are many, many days where I have extreme afternoon fatigue.  I can usually overcome this with copious amounts of caffeine in the afternoon, but lately, even that has been failing me.

I do know I feel much, much better overall on days I run, swim, and strength train.  It’s possible “good” hormones are countering a thyroid hormone deficit.  It’s also possible that the more activity I do, the more thyroid hormone I convert from inactive T4 to T3 (there’s no scientific evidence this is going on, just personal internal observation).

Even if I am having more moderate hypothyroidism, here is what I know:

My weight is staying the same.  This is good.

My mood is still very good – no high anxiety days, no depression, mostly positive.  Even monthly cycling hormones seem much more stable these days.  My main PMS symptom is “fatigue”, and not “moodiness”, and not “snapping at family members”, so that is good.

My running is improving.  I set new 5K and 10K twice this month, waiting for a cooler day and then pushing my body.  There is definitely a fitness improvement happening, whether from strength training or swimming or both.

My monthly cycling hormones so far seem to still be in check.  I don’t have any of the anemia causing heavy cycles or fibroid symptoms and I hope it stays that way.  I’m doubtful that even if my thyroid hormones are low, they aren’t at end of 2018 beginning of 2019 levels, which I think is what caused the high estrogen/high anxiety/fibroid nightmare of end of 2019 beginning of 2020.

My cognitive functions that are impaired with severe hypothyroidism (or hypothyroidism and anemia) including forgetfulness, lack of motivation, brain fog, inability to focus – those have not returned (except briefly, when my heart rate drops real low) – and for that I’m very thankful.

I’m frustrated with myself that my fatigue is still preventing me from doing a lot of the things I want to do (getting blog posts out at a reasonable speed is one of those things, but there are others as well), but taking everything into consideration, I’m still doing much better overall than I was a year ago.

Part of living without a thyroid is learning that “energy level” is not something I have any control over.  (If it were up to me, I’d increase my thyroid hormone dosage or at least add some more T3 and see if that helps, unfortunately, it’s not up to me, and unfortunately, my endocrinologist doesn’t always believe me or understand what I’m saying when I say I’m very often fatigued in the afternoon – this is part of the reason my anemia wasn’t diagnosed much earlier and why it was impossible for me to get to a stable thyroid dose for 2 years after my thyroidectomy.)  I can’t always predict if or when I’ll experience extreme fatigue and it really sucks when it happens.  I do try to prevent it to the best of my ability, which involves a lot of running, a lot of caffeine, and religiously taking my thyroid hormone at least an hour before I eat anything.  I’m doing my best to work around it and still be somewhat productive, sometimes that is hard, it certainly was this month.

My mental health is still in a really good place (as someone who has experienced extreme anxiety a few times, I know what it feels like not to be in a good place), so while it sounds like I’m whining a lot about being tired, I’m not, it’s just a thing I’m dealing with at the moment.

2.)  I have no idea how I set new 5K and 10K PRs (twice!) this month – I’ve been doing a tempo run most Mondays (or Tuesdays if I skipped Monday) in 2021, except for when it’s too cold or too hot.  I’ve been doing strength training consistently every 3-4 days since January, I’ve been swimming regularly since end of April, and finally my tempo pace has improved to where on a good tempo run, I can set a PR.  I never “raced” a 5K for a time faster than what I did all my runs at back when I actually did a 5K (last one was maybe 2008?), and I can remember a sub-1 hour 10K back in 2009/2010, but I never had any expectations I’d eventually be able to do sub-56 minute 10K.

Sometimes, I still compare myself to others and think that with all the running I do, I should be able to run as fast or faster as other women my age, and feel sad when I see on social media that non-elite women my age are running a 22 minute 5K or sub-50 minute 10K, because I’m in “decent” shape.  In all honesty, I was never that fast when I was younger, but I also have never “tried” to be fast, up until I got very slow in 2015 and 2016, and have been working on improving since 2017 (still not trying to be fast, just faster).  I need to remind myself sometimes that I don’t run to win races (or race in general right now 😉 ), I run for mood control, I run to help my energy, I run because I love running and getting outside and moving my body.  I don’t “need” to be any faster than I am right now.  I will probably continue to improve because I like doing tempo runs and challenging my body, I like doing strength training, I think my iron levels have continued to improve ever since the 2^nd fibroid surgery in July 2020.

I need to remind myself that I shouldn’t be comparing my times to someone else’s – I’ve gone through a lot in the last few years, and while I now feel physically very healthy and strong, I’m still a person with no thyroid who is probably undermedicated with thyroid hormone, which if the Nike Oregon Project is to be believed, thyroid hormone is very important for endurance running and recovery.  I’m a person who has been running for years being anemic for at least part of that time.  I also deal with constant seasonal allergies (controlled for the most part by medication, but often the allergies break through), and my lung function on a “symptom free” day is probably not as good as most. 

If anyone is reading this and thinking, wow, a 55:49 10K /27:31 5K is really good, we are all on our own running journeys and these are just numbers, they don’t determine your worth as a person. I don’t feel like I’m running as fast as I was in 2013, even though looking at the numbers, I clearly am, and I don’t compare my running now to 2015/2016 me, because at that time I was very sick with undiagnosed hypothyroidism, and I have empathy and compassion for that person, who at this point doesn’t even feel like me. I never used to care about my speed all that much 10 years ago, and while I hope to continue to improve, I also hope I can get back to not caring at all how fast I do any run or race.

How fast I’m running, how slow I’m running – that doesn’t really matter, unless you’re running for bragging rights, which is not who I am or what I do.  I realize I write a running blog where I describe in detail every single run – this started when I was dealing with hypothyroidism after my 2^nd thyroid surgery around September/October 2018, when I was my most hypo, and I wanted to share my journey with running and dealing with those issues – I never imagined three years later I’d still be experiencing hypothyroidism, but I’m not surprised I’m still running.

3.)  My weight is up a little from the end of May, but I still continue to be in the same place about my weight mentally.

I lost a lot of the fat that I gained in 2020, due to strength training.  I’m at a point now where I’m happy with the body I have.  I probably could lose a little more fat, but when I look at myself in the mirror in the gym, all I see is a lean, definitely more muscular version of myself compared to the beginning of the year.

My weight has not changed, my body composition has.  I’ve put on muscle, lost fat, and I like these changes for myself.  (I’m not bulky, and I’m sure the men in the scary weights section are surprised when I walk in and deadlift 70 pounds – I honestly could probably go much higher than that but I’m slowly working my way up.) 

I’m not settling, I’m just learning that a leaner, more muscular version of myself is a very good thing, and if that means my weight stays the same, that’s fine with me.  I will continue to lift weights and push myself, so my body may continue to change, and that’s fine.

Checking in with my New Year, New Running Goals.

1.)  I continue to be fully vaccinated.   

2.)  I probably should sign up for a local 5K, 10K, or half marathon at some point, just to challenge myself.  Even vaccinated, I’m still not sure I’m ready to be in large groups of people.  And I don’t need races to run (but I would love to run an “official” 5K or 10K to set a “real” PR.)

3.)  I ran with my two-year-old nephew in the stroller and two of my older nephews as they biked, and that was nice. 

4.)  I’m swimming.  I love swimming.

5.)  Best thing I’ve done all year was start strength training consistently.

6.) I fell off the stretching wagon.  I barely stretched (or did my shoulder stretches) all June.  In hindsight, a big part of that was the fatigue.  I do most of my daily shoulder stretches and general stretches in the evening, and for most of June, I was extremely tired in the evening.  So my desire to stretch (and unfreeze my shoulder) is still there, my general ability to do that this month was lacking.  It’s 5 days into July and I’ve only stretched after I lifted weights at the gym one of those days, so I need to get back to doing it regularly.

7.) Crosstraining – Running, swimming, and strength training — that is already a lot. I’m not sure I need to add more to that, and if I did, what would I add? (I probably should add yoga, which at one point in my life, I was doing as much of if not more than running, but the activation energy required for this to happen – for me to put a dvd into my computer go on YouTube and fire up Yoga with Adriene, and pull my yoga mat out of my closet, that is lacking.)

Audiobook round-up, June 2021

This month I’ve stopped listening to fiction audiobooks (mostly), and went on a deep dive of all the pirate audiobooks on offer from my library on Overdrive (plus one that I requested them to buy, which they did).  I loved Pirate Hunters (takes place modern day, searching for a lost pirate ship) which was a fast paced adventure, and honestly, the lives of the two men searching for this ship were the best part of the story telling.  Empire of Blue Water, about Captain Morgan, was the best book about actual pirates (well, Morgan was a privateer, so not exactly a pirate, but a great book nonetheless).  Bellevue – I’m not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to listen to a book about the history of a hospital, but this book was so good.  I don’t know why I like to listen to books about illnesses/disease/medical practices of the past while running, but I do, especially on a challenging run.

I’m physically reading a whole lot fewer books now than last year, but thanks to listening to audiobooks while I’m running, I’m getting through more books per month than I ever have previously.  I’ve learned that my listening comprehension and retention, especially while I’m running, is very good.  People learn in different ways and I always thought I was a visual learner, it turns out I can learn through audio and visual.

Fiction:

Peach Cobbler Murder – Joanne Fluke (this is a “cozy murder mystery” series, which is not particularly good or compelling, so I’ve stopped listening for now)

Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe (more racist than I assumed a book about one man stranded on a deserted island could be, clearly I underestimated the level of racism of a book written in the 18^th century could contain.  I’m tempted to look up more information on Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish sailor this book is based off of, which is most likely a whole lot less racist than this.  Also maybe Swiss Family Robinson, which was written later and is about Swiss people, so maybe not as bad? All I know is it is loosely based off of Robinson Crusoe and in the movie a kid rides on an ostrich and there’s a zebra – hopefully those animals are also in the book.)

Non-fiction:

Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship – Robert Kurson (fantastic book)

Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan’s Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws’ Blood Reign – Stephan Talty (also fantastic)

The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down – Colin Woodard  (This is where I learned that Robinson Crusoe is based off of an actual historical figure.)

Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas – Laura Sook Duncombe

Bellevue: A History of America’s Oldest Hospital – David M. Oshinsky

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:  163 lb  (up 0.9 lb from end of May) 

Weight January 1, 2021: 163.3  lb

Weight change since Jan 1, 2021: -0.3 lb

Previous month: May 2021

Next month: July 2021