Feeling Flat

I've been feeling flat for the last few weeks. Unable to complete workouts, feeling sluggish. Constantly thinking that maybe my brake is on when I'm riding my bike.

So last weekend, to add to the misery, my left ear started killing me. I could barely hear out of it and had a rushing sound that wouldn't go away. So Monday morning I went to see my doctor. Ends up I just have an ear infection which he treated with drops.

BUT

While I was at the doctor I mentioned that I've been feeling flat and weak and that I was barely able to make it through a 7 mile run on Sunday. He decided to do some bloodwork and it ends up that I'm "severely" anemic. Now I don't want to hear any crap about me being vegan because I've had my iron tested every year for the last 11 years and it's always been normal to high. He thinks that I have a bit of a predisposition for anemia as my mother and sister (both of whom eat meat) are anemic and that this probably came up as the result of my increased training.

At first I was really upset about this but then I realized that once I get my iron level back up I'll feel awesome so ... yay!

So I'm on an iron/vitamin C/vitamin D cocktail 3 X day for however long my doc tells me to be.

6 weeks until my first race, I just want to make sure I'm 100%

Physical Therapy

I had a really good PT appointment yesterday. She did all these tests for pes anserine bursitis and she thinks that i actually have/had tedonitis in my hamstring since the pain was localized above and not below the back of my knee. It's still a little tender but feels so much better. She showed me some really good exercises and stretches (some of which I was already doing and are really helping) and gave me a good plan for easing back into running for the next two weeks.

The neatest part though was watching a video of myself running. I carry one arm higher than the other and I also turn my knees in a little so some of the exercises should correct that.

Also, the video was really cool for a totally non-PT related reason. I know I have a lot of issues with body dysmorphia (meaning, in my case, I always think that I'm much heavier and less muscular than I actually am) and when I saw a video of myself on the treadmill it was almost like I was looking at someone else's body at first. I was like "wow, she's really strong!" before I realized that I was looking at myself. It made me feel really good.

happiness is ...

okay, so i know i haven't been updating but in all honesty training updates are kind of boring (at least as i write them) so i just kind of bagged doing that

for a general update, I was happy do discover that my normal 1:30:00 ride is actually 29 as opposed to 26 miles so I'm training faster than I thought!

in other news, i have managed to injure my knee but i don't think it's too bad. i have pes anserine bursitis in my left leg. i stayed off it for 10 days and i start PT for it today. i ran 30 minutes easy yesterday and it felt pretty okay but i was definitely stiff afterwards. i think it might be in part related to the fact that i had literally run the soles off of my second pair beloved saucony sinisters.

so now, armed with a new pair of slightly more cushioned shoes (asics gel-nimbus) i am hoping to make a full recovery.