PT Performance Training

I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) ~5 years ago. I haven’t had a relapse for around 9 months, until several weeks ago. It took me until today to realize what was going on, but induced by some stress, I have experienced some of those all too familiar symptoms… Not a lot of fun, a little disturbing, but in the end – I am OK with it. Over the years, I managed to come up with my own way of dealing with relapses so they don’t last for very long before I am back to my usual self.

The diagnosis was made in January 2005. Prior to that, I was waiting for an appointment with an endocrinologist for over 2 months, and that was after far too many visits to the doctor’s office for countless blood tests and urine samples. My cortisol levels were off the charts and my doctor (who was a very accomplished sports doctor) said he had never seen anything like that before. Hmmmm…. not a good sign.

At that point, I wasn’t training at all anymore: my doctor made me stop so I didn’t cause further damage and my days were filled with sleeping for ~16 hours/day anyways… Kind of backwards, eh? I could have slept for longer as I was always extremely tired and in pain, but couldn’t afford to take the time off work. Thank goodness it was summer (I lived in New Zealand back then!) and I was on break from school until late Feb.

CFS is also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), which is a more fitting name in my opinion as it means nervous system inflammation involving muscle pain. Whatever you want to call it, it wasn’t fun at all, and I had symptoms for well over 6 months before the diagnosis and then for over a year afterward… For more information, you can go to Canadian CFS/ME site.

I recovered with the help of some very light exercise (I had to lie down after 30 very easy minutes on the trainer. Kind of depressing because I used to train for 25+ hours/week and race at a high level…), proper nutrition and some therapy. I can say I am at about 85%-90% of where I was before CFS/ME and these are actually considered really good odds!!

My story goes well beyond the above info, into some of the reasons why I ended up with CFS/ME (eating disturbances, training with chronic cold/flu and some over-training), but I will not get into all of that as It does not make a very exciting read. A sad read perhaps, but not an entertaining one.

I would like for CFS or ME awareness to increase. Most people don’t understand what it is and how people’s lives are affected. In addition, I am sure I am not the only athlete who’s athletic career ended because of CFS/ME (in my case, before it really started – I was only 23 when I was diagnosed). If you know anyone, especially athletes, who suffer from CFS/ME please leave a comment. I would like to connect with others who have experienced something similar.

I have teamed up with elite runner (former Canadian 10km champion) and physiotherapist Scott Simpson to deliver a running specific training camp designed to help runners and triathletes of all ability levels and age groups.

Dates: January 15th – 17th 2010

Location: Victoria, BC

Camp Focus: Injury prevention, core stability, Strength, Endurance, technique and efficiency

Camp Features: Personal video analysis (including CD and Dartfish analysis), 4 coached running sessions, 1 strength & conditioning session, 3 education workshops and more!

Coaches: Noa Deutsch & Scott Simpson

Cost: $220 by December 2oth

$250 after December 20th

Space is limited! Contact me for more information and/or download the information poster.

The boys are getting the work done. I met Kamal, Derek, Nick and Leif for a run session at the Cedar Hill recreation centre this afternoon and had them run a timed lap around the golf course, just to see where they are at right now. It’s not the easiest lap to run, to say the least, but they are all right on track.

Then they did some hill reps… I wanted to see what happens to their form when they are tired. I am pretty sure they did not like me all that much by the end of the session, but I will take that as a compliment

I have been meaning to write a post about this topic for some time now, but I haven’t been very good with the whole blogging thing lately and AdamO beat me to it… Click here to learn a bit more about how you can help save this awesome place…

I buy my veggies there when I can and their produce is definitely superior to what you get at the grocery store! If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself…

A blog post with some updates coming soon.

Noa

So school is done. The exam went pretty well and it is starting to sink in that its all over. It feels a bit odd not having to write assignments anymore… but it is now time to continue applying the knowledge and experience I have gained. I look at it as a new adventure

As mentioned previously, I started a new blog/website and finally managed to update the services page… I still have to work on the “presentation” (ie. add more pictures, etc…), but all the info is now posted.

As a special treat, I am offering 15% off all sports nutrition services during November and December. Since team members get 15% off as it is, you guys will receive 20% off. Contact me for details (pt_performancetraining@yahoo.ca)

Noa

I am waiting for an exam. I know, it is kind of a random thing to wait for, right? The exam will be emailed to me between 3:25 and 3:35pm on Sunday afternoon and I will need to complete it by 3:30pm on Monday.

It will be a long day… yet I am still both nervous and excited for it. I guess it is because it means I will be done with my post graduate studies in sport nutrition! I doubt I will take a significant break from school. In fact, I already know what my next school related adventure will be (Likely starting in May 2010).

But I am not just sitting around waiting for my exam… I am also working on a few pretty exciting projects right now and I will post updates as they take shape.

1) The first one is the new sports nutrition blog mentioned in my previous post…

2) The second one is the new office space. I had an interesting meeting with my realtor today and he had an exciting idea. He told me it may be a long shot, in an attempt to keep my expectations low so I will not be disappointed if it doesn’t work out, but I am still excited about it! I can’t help it… maybe its because I am an optimist? Maybe it is because I believe everything will work out as it is intended to… Time will tell.

3) The third project is a new team! We are keeping it on the DL right now, but that will change in the next few weeks.

Until next time,

Noa

A second blog, this time on sports nutrition related topic only! Visit www.endurancenutrition.wordpress.com.

This time, on WordPress. I figures I might as well give it a try after using Blogger for a while… for the purpose of my new blog it is better having the ability to create several pages; so far so good.

I am in the process of getting it up and running properly. I still need to get the ’services’ page updated and the hosting up and running (it will be fuelingenduranceperformance.com). In the mean time, I copied and paste one of my previous sport nutrition related posts from this blog, just to get things going…

Comment are welcome!

Noa

And it’s a bit annoying…

But I am OK with it now – Im pretty happy to be running again after 2 weeks of being unable to do so. A lot of people have been asking me what is going on with my foot, so I figured it may be blog post worthy. I even attached a picture of the brace for your viewing pleasure!

It all started about 2.5 years ago, when I damaged some ligaments in my right ankle. I did a pretty good job at it too, because I was still unable to walk properly 2-3 months afterwards! I did my fair share of stability and rehabilitation exercises and everything seemed to be OK… But then a couple of weeks ago Andrew wanted to go for a swim at Thetis and I really wanted to go for a run around there while he swims… and I twisted that foot again. It didn’t seem too serious at that point, I figured it will be a few days of RICE and I would be back at it. However, I got super physio Linda to take a look, just to be on the safe side, and it was pretty apparent that I damaged my calf too… To add insult to injury – my foot seem to have a lot of movement back and forth (which is not really a good thing) and it all started with that injury 2.5 years ago. Luckily, lateral stability is all good.

I started running again on Saturday, with the lovely brace pictured below. Annoying, but it’s holding the talus bone where it belongs, because the ligaments around that area aren’t doing that very well anymore. The part that got to me at first was the fact that it’s not a temporary thing – I will need to use the brace all the time, especially when trail running. If it wasn’t for the fact that it affects my running, It would actually be kind of cool having that much movement through the foot!

First and foremost, I now only have 700 words to write. I have made pretty good progress during the day and am taking a well deserved break, until tomorrow morning. All that is left is tidying things up a bit, writing the abstract and the conclusions and I am DONE. I am pretty excited and eager to start applying what I have learned. I have a little related project that I can’t wait to start… but more on that later For now, here is the muffin recipe mentioned in the post below.

Butternut squash, apple and cranberry muffins

1-2/3 cup spelt flour (I use spelt because it doesn’t upset my stomach. I can’t stomach whole wheat flour…)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp honey
1/8 cup cane sugar
1 cup butternut squash (Peel, cut into cubes, boil until soft & throw in the blender)
1/2 cup almond milk (I used vanilla flavor)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 granny smith apple (peel and coarsely grate)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Handful of dried cranberries

Well, thats it… pretty simple, and they taste great… Well, in my opinion they do

After an awesome breakfast at Mole post coaching at Crystal (for some, after swimming at Crystal), I made some pretty good progress on my assignment, and a little break was needed… So, what did I do with that break? I put a butternut squash to good use and now there are some butternut squash/apple/cranberry muffins baking in the oven and I have a steaming bowl of butternut squash and apple soup in front of me! Not bad for a little study break, I think Recipes to come, if you are interested!

Time to eat, and get back to that assignment! Only 1300 words to go…