Archive for September, 2011

Back in 2009, I signed up for 20 classes at my local CrossFit. My friend had joined and he said it was great, so I thought, why not? The first class was a freebie and I remember we did some sit-ups, running, kettlebells and rowing. It was fun, it was fast, and I was completely exhausted by the end of the 20 minutes it took to complete the “Workout of the Day (WOD).”

The next day, I was incredibly sore. I was actually more sore that day than the day after my first (and only) marathon. Who knew 20 minutes of exercise could do that to your body?

But, I wanted to improve. I wanted to lift the heavier weights, do more push-ups, and run faster. Unfortunately there were also a few things holding me back. The first was money. I was already a member at a local gym for about $30 a month. One month of CrossFit was 5X that.

I’m the kind of person that always wants to make sure that I get the most out of my money, and based on the fact that I would only be going to CrossFit three or four times a week, it equalled to about $10 per class. That’s not too bad considering many drop in yoga classes are $12-$15, and a drop in CrossFit class was $20. But when you factor in that many of the classes only last around 10 minutes, it’s pretty pricey.

Another thing I had problems with was being sore all of the time. I remember I couldn’t go for a short run the day after because my legs just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t really able to do anything besides CrossFit. Although they were great workouts, 10-15 minutes 3-4 days a week just wasn’t enough physical activity to lose weight.

There was also the minor problem that since you work your body to great extremes in such a short amount of time, sometimes your stomach just couldn’t take it. I don’t think there wasn’t one class that I went to where someone didn’t get sick because of how much they pushed themselves.

Pushing yourself it great! But when you make yourself sick? Well, I think that’s going a little too far.

I remember the few times I sprinted towards the finish line at the end of the race and felt sick afterward. Ick. It’s just not a good feeling!

When I used up all my classes, I never went back. Maybe someday I would return, but back then, I knew I needed to find a form of exercise that I enjoyed doing, not dreading.

Two years later, I think I found the exercise that works for me… (to be continued)

Until this past spring, I never had any problems with allergies. Sure, I would get the occasional watery eyes or stuffy nose, but it rarely happened and it would go away after a few hours.

However, earlier this year I started having problems breathing at night. I figured it was all the dog hair that had been left on our comforter and I was breathing it in. But it turned out to be the really old mattress we had been sleeping on while we were working on the house. We eventually replaced it, but the damage had already been done.

I would go to sleep fine, but a few hours later I would jump out of bed, barely able to breathe. Usually a walk outside or some hot tea would help, but I was never able to get back to bed until a few hours later. So, I would only get maybe 3-4 hours of decent sleep.

This happened about twice a week. After we got the new mattress, it only happened about once every two weeks. But, it was still happening. The bed frame and other furniture in the room was extremely old so that probably didn’t help my breathing either.

Around mid-July I had had enough. I had taken Zyrtec whenever I felt the breathing problem start at night, but it was a pain because it would take at least an hour or two for it work. I didn’t want to wait this long to go to bed.

This, plus the fact that my allergies in the spring had gone crazy, made me decide it was time to go to an allergist.

I knew I was allergic to a few foods (crab and cantaloupe) but I also wanted to see what else I was allergic to so I could avoid it as best as I could, and possibly get an inhaler for those nights when I have trouble breathing.

The closest appointment they had was the beginning of September. I got checked out, was given some prescriptions for my allergies and asthma, and was asked to come back for an allergy skin test to find out what I was allergic to.

The test wasn’t bad at all, they poke your arm with about two dozen dots representing different allergens. If they swell up, you’re allergic. Remember how I said I never really had a problem with allergies? Well, I guess I developed these all in the last year, or my body has done one heck of a job putting up with them.

Both of my arms looked like a couple dozen mosquitoes had gotten to them!

According to the test I’m allergic to:

Tree Pollen: Ash, Birch, Maple, Elm, Hickory, Oak, Cottonwood, and WIllow
Grass Pollen: Bermuda, and Timothy
Weed Pollen: Ragweed, Lambsquarters, and Pigweed
Mold Spores: Aspergillus
Dust Mites
Animal Dander: Cat, Dog, and Mouse
Cockroaches

That is quite the list! Luckily I really have never had any problems with Kahlua, so I consider us lucky that we found a dog we’re not really allergic to.

I’ve used my inhaler a few times already and it works almost immediately. Sure, it has a funny taste to it, but it feels wonderful to breathe normally again after an attack.

According to my doctor, I am also a candidate for allergy shots, but I really don’t want to do that. I’m not a fan of shots (who is?) and I feel that most of my allergies are under control. If they continue to get worse, I’ll think about it more.

So here’s hoping for better breathing and less sneezing this time around!