**Training updates**

7/14 (Sat) Bike ride - This week, i inadvertently ended up riding about 36 miles with friends. I had to pick up a friend who didn't know how to get to our meeting point from where she lived, so I went to pick her up and drop her off half way, which added about 15 miles to the base ride. And of course after that, I was running around all day without much stretching and recovery fuel. However, when I got home in the evening I made it a point to just rest and eat well. Sunday morning i was tired and sore - and while I am not feeling as bad as I did last week, I am feeling worn down and "blurry." So the point of it all is that it is imperative that I rest a full day after long training sessions. I focus on hydrating myself, taking my vitamins and ginko pills (for the blood flow). I drink my FRS Plus (high on antioxidants), I eat fresh vegetables and lots of protein for recovery.

Usually Sundays are my swimming days, but I guess if I plan on riding this much every Saturday I might have to move my swim days to a weeknight.

Day 2 after 7/7 (Sat) ride – I had all these plans after a 25-mile bike ride (bbq party, meeting friends the next day, walking around in the hot weather in downtown LA, etc)…and starting Sunday evening I started feeling tired and felt strong chest pains, ones I haven’t had in years. That was strange. My shoulders and ankles were achy (but not as severe as the first years, still – which is a GREAT sign), and overall I was really worn out and the chest pain and headaches made me feel pretty grim, especially Monday morning. I was so upset at myself for overextending myself post-workout. I need to rest up – not just sleeping enough, but I have limit my activity level and just chill out. So after Saturday, I didn’t work out Sunday, Monday AND Tuesday…which made my heart rate go all over the place when I attempted to run Wednesday morning. Oh well. And I have been busy so I didn’t even have dinner the night before I went running. These are the little mishaps that I should not repeat. I can’t help certain circumstances (being busy) but I could have helped myself from feeling overexerted after the long ride. I tend to ride my adrenaline-high for a little too long. :-)

**TRAINING, FIBROMYALGIA AND INJURIES**

Ok, I admit, this is not a fun part to read. However, I think going through some injuries taught me a lot about managing fibromyalgia, as most of my injuries were related to joint impingement (shoulder) or muscle tightness leading to severe inflammation of the joints (hip).

Starting in October 2006 until June 2007, I suffered a shoulder injury and a hip injury. I am still going to physical therapy for my hip injury, which will hopefully end soon. However, I also learned that my injury could have been prevented had I known how to stretch more diligently and get massages regularly. As a fibromyalgia patient, I should have been wise enough to know this. If our muscles are more prone to tightening up, then I was supposed to stretch more and massage more. I almost quit the whole training thing because of this – and I am so grateful that I didn’t give up.

It was a hard recovery, which required a lot of patience and effort. But I learned so much about my body. I had to find a system to manage myself better… before and after training, stretch, stretch and stretch. Massage the tightest areas – hips, shoulders, neck, after training. Sit in a hot bath. REST UP.

There are some responsibilities that follow when it comes to training for activities like this – it requires extra effort, but it is so worth it. You will tell yourself that every time you finish another race. :-)