Life is funny sometimes. I had such a well thought out plan for this year, nothing could stop me. I’d researched every element of it to death, I’d paid my fees and I’d mentally prepared for big changes. This year, I was going to turn around my physical fitness and run the Spartan Race on 30th August 2014. That was the plan. You may remember my first post way back in February (
http://obstacleracemagazine.com/a-journey-to-spartan-race)
So it’s August and I’ve got 25 days until race day. Am I ready?
Well in short, no – but I’m still going to do the race. But what has gone wrong?
I did a juice fast, then a plant-based diet and lost over two and half stone. I was training in Krav Maga, going to a chain gym and also dabbling in CrossFit. Everything was going in the right direction until early May, when I became crippled with increasingly agonising joint pains. These pains seemed to come out of the blue and with no apparent logic. It wasn’t muscular or DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness) often associated with working out, although I’d obviously experienced plenty of that. I’d have a pain my wrist, or my thumb or somewhere else for a few days, which would start of during the night. I’d find the joint awkward to get comfortable, but the next day, it would be absolutely ridiculous, the pain of moving the joint taking my breath away. But within a few days, the pain would subside back to nothing and, here’s where it gets weird, the pain would start in a completely different joint in my body. Nothing connected, like it would jump from my right thumb, to my left ankle, then a few days later to a hip, or a shoulder. Certain joints would affect me more than others, hands and feet made work difficult because I drive a lot, so ended up being off work here and there. I started having to skip Krav Maga sessions because I couldn’t make a fist some nights.
I started to question what was going on, as at first I put it down to stresses and strains on my body from training whilst being obese. I’d gone through a lot of changes and there was likely to be some side effects. Eventually, it was so persistent, I’d had to drop the Krav Maga and CrossFit and other gym visits became very sparse because of how little I could do without having pain somewhere in my body. Over the period of three or so months I had several GP visits, numerous rounds of blood tests and x-rays and a trip to hospital when an ankle problem became particularly difficult to cope with. There was talk of rheumatism, auto-immune disorders and various other exotic and scary sounding possibilities. Then, after initially glancing over the possibility from early test results, I was diagnosed with chronic Gout.
Gout. It doesn’t sound particularly bad, I didn’t really understand it much, and it sounded like something people got decades ago, like trench foot or smallpox. It turns out it’s a high level of uric acid in the bloodstream, which builds up as crystals in the joints. What was throwing people off was the fact mine seems to jump around my body, which is apparently very rare, alongside the fact I had it almost all the time. Gout attacks are often very sporadic and short-lived.
So, I breathed a sigh of relief as I realise I’m not actually suffering anything more serious, but the pain can be debilitating, with many sources claiming it to be worse than childbirth in some cases(!) The truth of the matter is, whilst I couldn’t move properly, my focus shifted off my plan, my diet went awry and I wasn’t able to maintain the level of training that I had been enjoying and succeeding in up until that point.
Jump to early July and I have medication, I’m still suffering occasional ‘flare-ups’ but they are not as long-lived as before. I’m going back to the gym, but my fitness levels have dropped back and I’m working from, well perhaps not square one, but maybe square three. My weight went back up and I’m still around 19st. Down from my original 21st, but way away from where I wanted to be.
So I have 25 days. I can just about run a mile on a good day without having to walk for a bit, often less. I can run further with walking intervals, but still some way off being able to run a solid 5k. I’m definitely stronger than when I started, I can lift more weight, I can do squats, lunges and some slightly funky looking press-ups, but burpees are, frankly, terrifying me. The chances of me being able to pull my 125kg ‘frame’ up a rope, are up there with my chances of winning the euromillions jackpot. I’m a LONG way from where I wanted to be.
Balls.
But I’m still going to do it. I’m going to finish the 2014 Spartan Sprint. It’s going to be hard, very hard and my body is going hate me for it. But the alternative, is my mind hating me for not doing it and that is so much worse. You know what though? This might almost kill me, but I’m coming back next year to get my revenge, faster, stronger and fitter. I’ve let too many things knock me off track in the past and I’m not about to add Gout to the list of barriers and Spartan to the list of failures.
If you’re going to Pippingford on 30th August and see me struggling, do me a favour and cheer me on – I promise to do the same for others next year.
Day 19 of my plan today and 21lb down. Arranged to start Krav Maga next Tuesday too for a bit more exercise. Crossfit is some way down the line I reckon 
