Musings of a Stir-Crazy 22 Year-Old

As you might have already guessed from my dramatic improvement in post frequency, I am extremely stir crazy and bored. :) I guess there are worse ways I could express my boredom.

The reason I wanted to post today is that I went on a bike ride yesterday! I'm not technically supposed to be sweating yet as my picc line is still in, but I went on a short ride yesterday evening anyway. Melissa and I rode about 1.5 miles up to the local pharmacy and back. It felt great! It was so nice to be outside and moving around. I could feel myself breathing hard, but I didn't cough much at all. I could even hold a conversation with Melissa the entire way! It sounds silly to be so pleased with a 3 mile bike ride, but I really am thrilled. Lately, since I haven't been allowed out of the house, training and working out are literally all I can think about. Talk about obsession! I think I'm going to go on another short ride tonight. Hopefully it won't be too muggy so that I don't sweat too bad.

On another note, I found a really awesome website today. One of my main turnoffs about the cf community (as it was presented to me) was its negativeness and seemingly low standards. I always hated people telling me that I could live a "full" life (meaning without sports and lots of treatments) with cf yadda yadda yadda. This website though talks about people who are extraordinary. There was one particular individual who after having a double lung transplant went on to complete 18 triathlons and is currently training for the ironman. Another guy raised his FEV1 (lung function test) score like 30 points by swimming! He was on the list for a lung transplant but now he functions with his own two lungs, and swims a hell of a lot better than I do. Reading this stories, I realize that I have no excuse not to live an extraordinary life...and I love it!

The Monthly Post

Hello all.  I know that technically I don't do monthly post, but I figured I'd call this one that because well...it's been about a month.  Ya I know...I'm real clever. 

The tri training has been really sporadic for me.  I'm just not good at motivating myself to go workout after a long day in class or at work.  However, the other day I realized that the triathlon is less than two months away!  Plus, without any of my close friends in my town anymore, I've taken to not leaving my apartment unless it's for school or work which can't be healthy.  It makes me feel all crabby and sad. 

So someone told me once that the 20's were a time when they had really come into their own.  The teens were a time of stress, insecurity and change whereas in the 20's a person really gets to know themselves and becomes "OK" with who they are.  Well, apparently I'm slightly delayed intellectually.  I've known forever that it is easier for me to function in the mornings as opposed to any other time, and I've known that I feel amazing after working out first thing in the morning. I'm a morning person.  Yes! I'm that annoying person that just hops out of bed in the morning (usually) happy and ready to tackle the day!  Yet I just figured out...today....what that really means for me.  It means if I want to accomplish anything, I've got to start early, and right. 

Now you may be thinking, 'what in the world does this have to do with anything???'  "I don't want to read about this girl's take on life!"  I know I know, trust me, I've been there.  I promise this ties into tri training.  

Last night, I gave myself a bedtime.  I went to bed at 10pm.  I woke up this morning to the sound of my alarm at 5:20.  I hit the snooze, but unlike every other day when I push it for a good half hour before getting up (I set it early on purpose), I laid in bed wide awake thinking about what I was going to do.  I hit the gym.  Today was double day.  So I ran a mile, biked 2.5-3 miles then ran another mile and biked 1.5-2 miles.  It felt amazing!  I loved being up and around.  I loved the spring morning smell that for some reason has come incredibly early to Oklahoma.  Even the workout felt better and more productive.   After working out I came home and got ready for a day of clinical observations at school. The weird part was, that even though I had woken up hours earlier than normal, I never felt the need to take a nap today.  Normally, I nap in the afternoons.  That habit is the bane of all productivity in my life.  Not today. No desire, no need. I was alert and energized all day. 

So there you have it, a completely obvious solution for a morning person: workout early, feel better.  Sometimes my dimwittedness truly astounds me.  But on the bright side, I figured it out eventually.  =)