Back to Basics – 30 Day Challenge: Day 7

JANE – One week in! Woot woot!

Am feeling very excited that I’ve pushed myself to do this simple workout everyday for the last week. There have definitely been days where its been easier to get motivated than others, but today was happily an easy one! I slept well and when I woke up, my drop foot had got a fair bit better. I decided to do a sweet yoga session as my warm-up, ending with 5 minutes of Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani).

Viparita Karani is, according to my teacher, Master Multiple Sclerosis Yogi, Eric Small, the ultimate pose for people living with MS. This is because of the fact that it is an inversion (legs inverted above the heart) which means fresh blood washes the brain and spine, bringing healing and energy to the MS plaques or lesions. I did it for about 5 minutes today, and Eric recommends doing it anywhere from 2-3 minutes when you first start to 10-15 minutes daily when you’ve been practicing it for a long time.

After yoga, I was in a good head-space to do the workout. My results are below and are creeping up 🙂

(assisted)             (half)               (assisted)
Squats            Push-Ups        Sit-Ups

Day 7:       62                  33                    41

Day 6:       60                  31                     41

Day 5:       58                  27                     35

Day 4:       60                  25                     63

Day 3:      51                   21                     28

Day 2:      40                  18                      22

Day 1:      42                  23                      23

Back to Basics – 30 Day Workout: Days 5 and 6

JANE – DAY 5 & 6

(assisted)           (half)                      (assisted)
Squats              Push-Ups             Sit-Ups

Day 1:  42                      23                          23

Day 2:  40                      18                          22

Day 3:  51                      21                          28

Day 4:  60                      25                          36

Day 5:  58                     27                          35

Day 6:  60                     31                           41

Yesterday was a great day, I was feeling strong and good. But, alas, today I woke up and my left foot was dropping again and my leg was weak. It’s been an awesome few days of feeling stronger and more balanced physically, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it is good again tomorrow. I didn’t use a cane/walking stick today, but I probably needed to as I was walking very slowly and my balance was off.

Happily, my weakness didn’t affect my workout because there is no movement that requires me to walk or move my legs in that motion.

I have to admit though, I really didn’t want to workout today and if it hadn’t have been for a friend asking me how I was getting on, I would have tried my hardest to find an excuse and not do it!!

On a side-note, I am finding push-ups really challenging as I find it hard to put weight on my left knee. Not because it hurts, but because it doesn’t have much feeling.

But, once again back to my mantra, “MOTION IS LOTION, BABEE”, so I’m glad I did it 🙂

                                                                         Supported air squats

Back to Basics – 30 Day Challenge: Day 3

JANE – Day 3, still trucking’. Woke up even more sore than yesterday, but raring to go, and more determined than ever to beat my last two days of numbers.

I did half push-ups today instead of pull-ups. Half push-ups are with knees on the ground.

Here’s how I did:

Air Squats: 51 (Day 2: 40, Day 1: 42)

Push-ups: 21 (Day 2: 18, Day 1: 23)

Sit-ups: 28 (Day 2: 22, Day 1: 23)
Before each workout, I do a few minutes of warming-up. This is usually a few stretches, and finishing with a couple of minutes on the mini-trampoline. Here is a video of me on the trampoline, showing the lack of movement and spasticity in my left leg. This is vastly better at the moment than it has been. I have chosen to show it on here so people without the disease can get a better understanding of what it’s about.

Taking a break

I’ve been pretty quiet on the CrossFit front this past couple of months. First because I started an intense new job, working as a teacher at one of America’s toughest and poorest high schools in one of the country’s toughest and poorest cities and didn’t have the time or energy to get to the gym.

However, this last month or so, I haven’t felt well enough to workout and so haven’t wanted to go to the gym. Happily I landed a new job at a lovely middle school in wine country, a world apart from East Oakland, but unfortunately my health has gone downhill fast.

Yesterday I saw my doctor, an incredible traditional Tibetan physician who works closely with HH the Dalai Lama, Lobsang Dhondup, who confirmed that I am experiencing a flare-up or exacerbation and told me I need to rest for at least a month until I see him again and see how I’m doing. He gave me a month of strong Tibetan herbs to take twice a day, also recommended acupuncture, gentle massage and lots of sleep as well as drinking lots of water and eating a healthy Tibetan diet (I am not going to write the diet here, as Tibetan diets are tailored for the individual). Lastly, he suggested I contact my western doctor and request a three-day treatment of IV Steroid Treatment, so that is what I will do on Monday.

As well as fatigue, which I am combating by getting to bed by 9pm and eating piles of dark chocolate, my current symptoms are affecting my middle and hip area, particularly the left side. I have next to no ability to lift my left leg straight up in front of me or behind me. I can lift it maybe 2-3 inches front and back. When I walk I drag my left foot which causes me to trip over my left toes and walk with a limp. This is called foot drop in the M.S. world and makes walking very slow and very hard. You literally have to think about every single step. I also loose balance often and bump into things or stumble and wobble. I think I might look like I’ve had one too many glasses of wine and have seen a few surprised looks, which I have to admit, makes me smile.

On the positive front, my eye sight is fine (20/20), and my arms and hands are strong. I’m also not experiencing any pain in my leg or hip which I am incredibly grateful for. Another thing that I am really happy about is that a few months ago after six hours of cognitive testing at UCSF MS Clinic, I was told I am sharper than a tack and don’t need to have repeat testing done for five years.

So, I am taking a break from CrossFit for the time being as I rest my central nervous system, get through this episode and get my body back on track so I can walk well again. My definition of healthy, hasn’t been a ‘normal’ healthy since I was diagnosed, but it can definitely get stronger than it is now and that is my primary goal.

The reason I am sharing this post today is two-fold. Firstly so that you understand more about Relapse Remitting MS and secondly, that you remember, that even if someone looks great, you never know what they are dealing with, either physically or emotionally, so let’s all take a pause and be kind, and not jump to uneducated assumptions about anyone.

Thank you for following my progress and I hope to be back at it sometime in the future. xoxox

Waves to Wine 2014.

 

 

 

 

Week 15- Double Unders- I’m coming for you!

Warm up- Walking, lunges, high knee’s, skipping, butt kickers…

“Track Workout Of the Day 1”       (3min 48sec)

10 meter run x 5

Complete 5 burpees between each sprint.

TAVIS- It’s good to be back to add some perspective to Jane’s progress.This past few weeks has been a big adjustment for her in regards to going from the comforts of working out in our garage where everything is in close proximity, to her now working out at 38 North where she has to move around even more. Previously the Work Out of the Day (WODs) and movement were designed specifically for her, now she is having to figure out how to adjust her abilities to a different type of exercise programming. It’s definitely pushed her out of her comfort zone and challenged her.

Warm up– I took Jane down to the the local high school track with the idea to try and get her to run a little bit if possible. Often times during our warm-ups at the gym the coaches will have us do some light running and movement exercises like skipping, running with high knee’s, lunges, etc… This has only happened a few times since Jane started going to the gym and unfortunately she sat out, or walked, during this type of warm up, because of her lack of mobility and confidence in her abilities. Plus her core heats up very quickly which would make the rest of the work out extremely challenging.

First I had Jane walk at a good pace about 20 meters and she did really well. Then I asked her to jog the same distance. And jog she did! When she finished the first leg, she had a smile ear-to-ear and was completely beside herself. It was great to watch. Next I had her run the same distance again as fast as she possibly could, an all out sprint. She took the challenge head on and busted out on the sprint. When she is running, jogging or what ever she has to put so much focus and concentration just to lift her legs up because she is lacking strength and mobility. Every step is deliberate with complete thought. For someone who hasn’t even attempted to run for almost 10 years and and made a goal to be able to run again just a month or two ago, this was such a big confidence booster for her and great to watch.

DAY 26

WEEK 15

Workout Of the Day (WOD)– Riding the wave of highs with Jane being able to run this morning, I asked her if she would want to try a WOD with some short sprints and she eagerly said yes. So I came up with a WOD that involved some short sprinting. I had her sprint 10 meters, do 5 Burpees and repeat for a total of 5 sprints at 10 meters (with burpees in between.). Watching Jane do this WOD today was one of my favorite things. Not only was Jane trying her hardest to sprint, she was doing burpees with great improvement. When we started this whole process and I had Jane attempt a burpee, she got extremely angry with me and didn’t even want to try them. Her movement was really stiff, she lacked a ton of confidence in her own abilities and the thought of doing an actual burpee to Jane was like climbing Mt.Everest. Today, Jane’s attitude was “bring it on, let’s see what I can do and how fast I can do this!” Really amazing to witness not only the transformation in her fitness/ability level, but also her confidence in trying something new.

Post WOD– On Friday Jane got her 3rd work out in for the week at CrossFit 38 Degrees North. When I asked her how it went she said the strength workout went great. She did her first work out of front squats with weight, huge step for her.

As for the WOD, she hated it. It was a combination of WallBalls and double-unders (jump roping double repetitions at a time). Jane hasn’t even tried jump roping singles so the idea of trying this was extremely daunting. She told me Coach Mike gave her 2 options, but she wasn’t  happy with either one. He told her he just wanted her to try it and see what she could do. She was the most frustrated she has ever been during a WOD, and quite angry about it. When she told me this it actually made me smile because all Mike asked her to do was just try something, give it a shot, see what you can do, that’s it. But Jane is really hard on herself, she is competitive and not being able to do something really gets to her. Times like this are such a good reminder that sometimes we have to not get too crazy serious about what we’re trying to accomplish. For most of us who do CrossFit, there are no big prizes at the end of the workout, just improved strength and health. Friday’s WOD pushed Jane outside of her comfort zone and now that zone is just a little bigger.  Jane is now determined to be able to jump rope again. She told me there is no way she is going to let a silly rope beat her and we spent the rest of the weekend getting her singles down.

JANE- Saturday was a breakthrough day. I actually ran!!! Really ran!! It was only a few meters before my feet began dropping and dragging, but I did it and am thrilled. This shows me how the work I’ve been doing at the gym and in my garage, has successfully strengthened my legs enough to enable me to muscularly pick them up enough to run. As Tavis said, when I did it, my focus was  insane. Every single moment I had to concentrate on moving my legs, picking them up and placing my feet down. Currently, there is nothing intuitive about this action. Zero. It is a movement I have to be in control of every part of or I’ll fall or trip. However, I am hopeful that in the future this will change.

I also walked the 20m walk really well and felt surprisingly strong!!

We went through different types of warm-up exercises – walking lunges: really hard, lost balance and fell over a lot; butt kicks (jogging and kicking your butt each step) – almost impossible to get my feet up to my butt, difficult to balance as well; knee lifts (jogging and lifting your knee up in front each time) – also really challenging – hard to lift knees up as well as to balance. I wonder if I can work on these using poles in each hand to balance? Am going to try that next time.

Being out on the school track was really great and I loved it. It made childhood memories of when I ran the 100m, 200m and relay for my school and county come flooding back which definitely triggered some adrenalin in me.

WOD- The WOD Tavis programmed – 5 short runs with 5 burpees was hard, but another thing which really showed me how much I’ve improved in just a few short months. I am now able to do the first 3 stages of a burpee – 1. squat, 2. kick feet back, 3. push-up. I can’t really do stage 4 – return to squat, am not quite strong enough to do that yet, so usually use my hands and knees to get back up to stage 5. stand and end with jump. I was able to run/jog the first round, jog/half walk the second two rounds round, but knew it was quicker for me to walk then run the final two rounds.

Post WOD- The WOD on Friday was the hardest and most soul destroying one to date. It consisted of three rounds including tons of wall-balls and double-unders. Coach Mike told me to try double-unders, and if I couldn’t, do jump side-to-side in lateral jumps (without a barrier). Now, I didn’t know which was worse. Double-unders are impossible for someone who can’t jump, literally can not jump, but jumping side-to-side is even harder because it is even more challenging to balance. So, I stuck to double-unders, and got so frustrated during the third round of trying, and not even succeeding in doing one regular jump rope, I wanted to cry, scream, shout, break a window or something irrational.

Tavis having heard my angry story, bought me my own jump rope that evening, we went into the garage and he showed me how to do it – where to hold the handles, where to hold my arms – he broke it down, piece by piece. I tried it, but didn’t have much success, however, when I was a kid, I literally spent hours and hours jump roping – at school on the playground with my friends, singing songs and doing group games, and at home in my garden so I was determined to be able to learn it again.

On Saturday, after our morning at the high school field, Tavis and I were doing things around the house, and every hour or so, we’d go into the garage and take turns jumping. He was working on his double-unders and did 60 in a row and I worked on single jump ropes, and got up to 37 in a row. Great to see progress like this!!! 🙂