Back in the Saddle

It has been awhile.  

After my dedication to Making My Way Across America.  I fizzled out.  I had a lot of valid excuses in Rhode Island:  It was cold, I was tired, we were busy with end of school year activities, we were busy getting ready to move, and we were moving. They were excuses.  Mainly I lost my umph and didn't feel like working out.

At the end of June, we moved to Colorado. Yay!  And I was ready to take advantage of the great outdoors that was spread before me. Small problem.  I didn't count on the migraines.

I had my migraines (somewhat) under control in Rhode Island.  I pretty much knew what would cause them.  Hence, no running.  And I knew if I did get one how it would play out.

1) Exercise 2) A migraine aura would start 20 minutes later 3) the migraine would start 20 minutes after that.  Not the best thing in the world, but somewhat predictable and somewhat avoidable.

Surprise!  It's different here.

Migraine #1 happened at the end of a long day spent at Water World.  This water park is consistently on the Top Ten Water Parks list.  We had a lot of fun, but we had been here less than two weeks. We definitely weren't acclimated to the altitude.  We spent all day, in the sun, walking up and down hills, dragging giant inner tubes.  Fun, but I wasn't surprised when the aura began as the day was winding down.

Migraine #2 happened one week later.  Still not acclimated, but not doing any crazy exercise either.  I took the dog for a walk. There were some hills, but all I did was take the dog for a walk.  Then, an hour and twenty minutes later, the aura started.  So, two changes from my normal migraine modus operandi. Bummer.

Migraine #3 wasn't a surprise at this point.  I signed us all up to go rock climbing in the Garden of the Gods.  This would be definite exertion.  (Remember, I hadn't been to the gym since March).  I climbed the rock. I had the scrapes to prove it.  We got home and about an hour and twenty minutes later. Bam! Aura. Migraine. Done.

So I am a bit leery about exercising. Or hinting at anything that resembles exercise. Still, I don't want to be a couch blob, so I keep trying.

Last week I went on an easy hike to Monument Rock.  It took about an hour and fifteen minutes.  It was pretty flat.  We kept an easy pace.  And then I waited. Twenty minutes. An hour and twenty minutes. Two hours.  Seems I managed to do something fun outdoors with out succumbing to the dreaded migraine.

Fast forward to today.  

The view from my bike at Tri-Lakes YMCA

In Rhode Island, I discovered that Spinning was "safe".  It never resulted in a migraine.  I wanted to get back and see if that held true here in Colorado, the land of weird migraine happenings.

I didn't want to jump into a full-blown spin class.  That would have been way too intense.  Instead, I opted for a 25 minute spin on the bike, on my own.  There was no dripping sweat, but I could feel unused muscles in my legs and I was out of breath quite a few times. Then the waiting began.  I may have been pacing around the house.  

Success.  I managed to workout and not get a migraine.  

Now to keep moving forward.  I am going to keep going to my lone bike.  I am going to add minutes to my workout each time.  I may do it at night so a migraine won't blow my entire day, or I may just keep my fingers crossed.

Once I am back up to an hour, I will join the spin class.  

Eventually, I may even take the dog for a walk.