MSers in Training 2017

[ActiveMSers]

AMC, that sounds awesome. Glad you joined the thread. After a great week of exercising, including a long bike ride, lifting at the gym, and some good home workouts, I'm chilling. But it's a forced chill. Sick. Fortunately just a cold, but it's still punking me, oof.

[Marinadca]

Hi All

Veronica - I am glad to hear you are getting settled in and set up. Go you on getting consistency on walking and the upper body party. The upper body is one I am so lax on, like you I don't see results fast so I stick them on the back burner and go on to something more "fun"!

Ron - Thanks Ron, I know that small steps are more important then no steps or steps backwards but my reptile brain loves to neg myself. :/

Amc - so glad you are joining us this year! The more the merrier!


As for me - the March was great, exhausting, but great. I walked over 9 miles and stood for many hours. I took the trekking pole for the bad side and that helped a lot. I am very glad I went but I paid for it. Soreness and stiffness for days after. Today I finally feel back to normal.

Missing my cardio and feeling despondent about weight gain (Cruise, cold, and then this ankle thing = I weigh about 15-20 pounds more than usual) I started Googling around and found chair cardio!It actually works! I may not be up to regular cardio but seated I found I can do a lot of leg, core, and arm work that gets my heart rate up. I did my first chair work out yesterday. Only 11 minutes but my heart rate was up and I worked up a bit of a sweat. Since I saw my ortho and she ordered me in my brace for another 4 weeks and with pain in my ankle when I move it certain ways I think this will be a big morale booster for me until I can get back to my usual routine, as I am sure it will take me awhile to work back up to where I was.

[Suebee]

Marianca,
I'm impressed you're finding your way around the ankle problem! I tried some seated aerobic videos and it was geared to seniors and I lost my enthusiasm, so I tried out various clips of exercise videos posted on line and found I was able to adapt Jillian Michels videos and I liked her persona to help keep me in line and motivated. I ended up buying her 30 Day Shred. (I think I was able to preview all floor exercises in clips on Youtube ahead of time.) I modified her routines by doing "jumping jacks" seated (2-4 limbs moving at same time) and her crazy planks to stand move, I would just do a plank. At first, I felt a little ridiculous (and envious) watching Jillian's fit able body on the screen jumping around and me sitting or laying on my carpet, sometimes face down, but when I could feel my heart working harder and my body working up a sweat, I felt that if this is what it takes, so be it. For quick movements, I obviously slowed it down. Also, Jillian is famous for working multiple muscle groups at the same time, so sometimes I remained seated and did her arm movements with 1 lb weights while I watched her do lunges and squats with 15 lb hand weights. But she shouts out no nonsense encouragement to keep going and the benefits it is to your body really motivated me and kept me from focusing on any disappointment that I had that I wasn't her mirror image in my living room. Anyone looking for DVD exercise video, I recommend checking out all the clips on line and find an exercise personality you like and modify their routine to suit you.

[ActiveMSers]

Suebee, I do the exact same thing. I often work out with Laura (30 Day Shred is common) and I modify her workout videos for seated work. Jillian does motivate!

I've found that I can get my heart rate into the cardio zone without too much difficulty. Thrusting your arms overhead is pretty effective, as is seated "running" in place.

[AMFADVENTURES]

“Making a comeback”, or “Crawling out of the Slough of Despond”

Great to see so many new folks and returnees, nice to see you back Alain. Impressive goal this year Susanna, love it. Don’t underestimate the inspiration I, and I’m sure many others get from all of you.

I'm doing much better here. Feeling the best I've felt in months. I'm lifting weights twice a week, doing some form of aerobics at least twice a week and am back at yoga twice a week.

I credit two things. First, most of the pain resulting from the surgery just had to resolve. It took time. There was no way around it. But by the middle of January things began to look up. Second, it took a little help from my friends. The neighbor who walked around the hood with me, the bike buddies who picked me up and took me to coffee, the friend who took me to lunch and a haircut, and the friend who finally coerced me back to the athletic club, and of course my friends on the forum whose support was always on my mind. So, I’m back!

I got outside for my first ride last week, 20 miles, hip flexors were killing me for days afterwards. It was an awful ride. I struggled with my bike skills badly. I couldn't cut a decent line around a corner nor miss a road hazard to save my life, cadence was all over the place, pedal stroke was a lot more triangular than round and I was never in the right gear to start from a dead stop. I also have to use a brace on my weaker ankle because of foot drop that shows up after about 20 minutes, but that might be temporary. If it turns out to be more permanent I'll get a fitted brace. Although strength was sorely lacking, the good news was that I still had endurance.

Four days later I went out again, for 30 miles. Thought I’d try the small hills around my favorite piece of urban countryside. On the hills, I slammed the bike into granny gear and slowly made my way up. A runner ran past me on one of them but when I got to the top right behind her, she had the graciousness to yell over “Nice Job!” I love being out on the bike!

The weather is starting to change here. I'm sure we'll get more snow but we're also beginning to see some nice days, so I will be getting out on the bike whenever I can. Not making any cycling plans for this year yet though. Going to see how things go. Everything I'm doing is at about half of what I was doing before shit hit the fan so I still have a long way to go to even get close to where I was, but it doesn’t matter really because I love just being back out on the bike. (Did I say that already?)

Take care all,
Larry

[Veronica]

Larry, all I can say is " Ahhh, the boy and his bike have been reunited..." Epic recovery...Two thumbs up for you!!

[Marinadca]

So glad to hear what you have been up to Larry. You went through such a scary time and I am glad to see you are back on the bike.

As for me I am out of the ankle brace and have slowly gotten back into my routine. Biking has been an easier and faster recovery then walking was, and I can forget jogging anytime soon as I need to restrengthen my hip....but I am back! I did my first Sufferfest since the incident and got outside for the first time (in February it was in the mid 70s! Perfect bike riding weather). I am slower and less strong then I was but I am getting there!

[teena marie]

Hi all,

Long overdue, welcome back Larry. Great you are getting pure pleasure from cycling.

Marina, glad the injury is improving.

Things have been a little rough these pasts weeks especially in the morning. Hard manoeuvering out of bed. Seems the nervous system is slow to wake up. Still getting the swim workouts in, though. Have also started Feldenkrais method. Had 2 sessions and will continue. A whole different way of working the nervous system. Using thought control combined with subtle movement. Cautiously optimistic but it is not a quick fix. Will keep you posted.

Take care all,

Teena Marie

[girl1dir]

Walking more

Not sure I'd call this training, but my current goal is to exercise more. My current exercise of choice is walking.

I'm trying to get on the treadmill or outside three days a week right now.

W00t!!

When I am not on the race track drag racing beating the boys, I'll be winning over MS on the treadmill!!

[ActiveMSers]

The weather is really starting to warm up now, and we'll hit the 70s this week. I've been getting out on my bike regularly, putting in 10-14 miles on average per ride. I'm also mixing in gym visits, exercising to videos at home with Laura, and taking my off-road wheelchair out for "hikes." One of the hardest parts of training for me: not exercising. Since I use my arms heavily, I really have to force myself to give them a break, but it's a smart thing to do.

[Marinadca]

Glad to hear that you are getting out there Dave!

The bane of my existence is that I cannot get my trike outside by myself without exerting A LOT of energy. Its heavish and since we have a single door I have to pick it up and tilt it to get it outside.

Thats OK on days when I for sure want to be outside or inside but awful on days like today when it was supposed to be in the 50s when Steve (my trike handler) left for work so he set me up in the trainer. But now its 70 and beautiful out and I want to be outside. I have been complaining about this issue for the 3 + years that I have owned my trike (almost 4 I guess!) and Steve has had it hearing me whine about it.

Inevitably I will go down the "I wish I rode a regular bike/didn't have MS" death spiral and that never leads to anything good. Steve has been pushing for me to get a 2nd 700 for awhile, so one could always be set up to ride outside.

Well I finally gave in, and bit the (financial) bullet and have purchased a 2nd Catrike 700. It should be here in 2-3 weeks. No more nice days stuck inside or days that were supposed to be nice but ended up rainy so I don't get to ride for me! It feels quite self indulgent, but I finally gave in to it.

[Suebee]

Ohhh, Maricanda, that sounds wonderful to have a second trike. Tell me more about your purchase...I have been eyeing different ones and haven't found a place that has ones to try out in my area. How did you select your first trike? My husband is doing the MS 150 again this year, and I would love to train with him (and eventually do the race) for next year. It takes so many hours on the road and Saturday races, that it would be neat to be able to do it with him.....
Proud of you for indulging... enjoy!

[Suebee]

Larry, great to hear about your come back too! Hipflexors be d_mned! I say....

[Veronica]

Marina: You go, girl! What a hoot that you got a second Catrike! I completely understand the dilemma as I have been in the same situation. And now you and your husband can have races!! (That is, if you're gonna share....)

I am happy that I have been bumping up my upperbody exercises.....still have to get a better rhythm to when I do them, but having the blowflex so easy to access has been great. Started working on increasing my rowing...a great exercise for me to just warm up quickly. In general, I am just starting to finally get into the morning exercise routine that I gather many of you are into. It never was my thing, but with the exercise room all set up and calling out to me daily, it is becoming more of an addiction to me. Still have a way to go on getting this integrated into my life, but it feels really good. And today I spent a good few hours ( taking BIG breaks..) in shoveling off my deck that was covered with the 21" or so of snow that we got at the start of the week. I didn't need to shovel it....deck is secure enough that the snow didn't threaten the integrity of the structure, but I just FELT LIKE getting out there and accomplishing this. Gave me a very good cardio and upper body workout...actually gave me THREE good workouts... I haven't shoveled that much snow in too long a time....Very soul satisfying time for me. And glad that no one saw me as it wasn't always a very graceful, pretty sight!

[AMFADVENTURES]

Veronica, right there with you on the snow shoveling. Great exercise!!! 21 inches is a LOT OF SNOW! Any snow shoveling is always more than enough exercise for one day for me.

Suebee, get the trike, everybody needs one!

Marina, two is better!!!

Off shortly to climb one of the "start of season" hills. Did this one last Tuesday but had a big tail wind that made the hill a lot easier than it really is. Today should be more realistic, expecting a lite head wind. The hill is about 5 miles long with about 1500 feet of ascent.

Used to be 15 mph winds with 30 mph gusts were known as WINDY around here, now those are referred to as "breezy" thanks to the high winds that have been sweeping the country this year!!!

Still doing the weights and yoga too. Almost back to my old self.

Later, Larry