Staying Fit Even After Being Diagnosed with Cancer

Hi, Everyone,

Today I'm featuring an article by David Haas, Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Guest Blogger. Please check out the links for more detailed information.

Staying Fit Even After Being Diagnosed with Cancer

The diagnosis that you have cancer may be a very stressful thing to hear and
going through treatment could be a long road of recovery with many ups and
downs. However, it doesn’t matter whether you are dealing with skin cancer
or the rare cancers such as mesothelioma, the treatment process in almost all
cancer cases is very aggressive and can take a serious toll on your body.

You have to maintain a positive mental attitude in order to survive the cancer
treatment process. Patients diagnosed with cancer run a much greater risk of
getting depressed; however, the Center for Disease Control has mentioned the
ability of exercise to improve your mood. With a positive mental attitude, the
chances of getting depressed due to cancer treatments are almost non-existent.

Cancer is arguably the most studied disease that plagues the human race. A
lot of studies have been conducted to determine whether physical exercise has
any effects on the disease. Research is still ongoing to determine how exercise
affects common forms of cancer as well as rare ones such as mesothelioma.
Many studies suggest that physical activity leads to a reduced risk of contracting
breast and colon cancers. There is also an indication that it reduces chances of
endometrial and prostate cancer.

Fatigue can be a really hard thing for cancer patients to shake while they are
undergoing treatment and fighting back the disease. To be precise, doctors say
that in most cases, sleeping isn’t enough to get rid of cancer-related fatigue.
They recommend that an active lifestyle be adopted to deal with this particular
loss of energy. This is because engaging in physical exercise encourages your
body to constantly produce a higher amount of energy.

Physical activity is known to help people to improve energy balance, reduce
fatigue, and improve quality of life. This is especially important to cancer patients
since being physically active gives them a better sense of well-being. Developing
a culture of regular physical exercise improves their quality of life well beyond the
cancer remission stage.

In the Company of Friends

Last week my good friend Ben texted me "I hear you got slicks on your bike!! Shall we?"

Ben had heard that I had my bike's tires changed out from hybrid to street. They aren't super-thin slicks like Ben's but they are much thinner than what I've been riding on all these years. Also, Ben and his family were coming to town for an uber-birthday celebration - Ben's, in fact! So this was a great opportunity.

Except...

Ben rides nearly every day commuting to work (he lives in South Carolina, so heat's usually a bigger factor than cold or icy conditions). He also likes to ride mountains. Big mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains. He can do hard climbs and long, multi-day rides.

And now he wanted to ride with me.

Last week I rode 12 miles - the first time I had been on my bike since the fall of 2009. That's more than two years, boys and girls. Right now gentle rolling hills flummox me! So the idea of riding with Ben struck me as iffy. I wasn't worried that he would leave me in the dust; I knew he would be kind and stay with me no matter what my pace- and that was the problem! I worried he would be bored. I worried that he would regret asking me to ride with him.

He insisted that he didn't care how slow we traveled. He vowed to never leave his wingman - did I mention he's in the Air Force? His gentle persistance won me over.

Friday night a bunch of us were together and Ben told another friend, who lives here in town, that we were going to go ride on Sunday...and then invited Broc to join us. Oh, boy!

Broc is another one of my favorite people, so that wasn't the problem. The problem is that he is crazy-competitive, especially when cycling with Ben. There are stories...funny stories...about them and other friends tackling hard roads, each pushing to out-do the others.

My ability level doesn't even register against them.

Gulp. Time to swallow my pride, again! (Not an easy thing, mind you...)

Another friend got tagged to join us, too; unfortunately fate (and a wonky car battery) intervened and prevented him from joining us.

Sunday morning: fueling up!
I ate a good breakfast at around 8 am (which was really 7 am except for that dang move-your-clocks-ahead thing).
Then at 10 am I had a small protein-rich snack, plus water.
11 am - at the park, where we're meeting. Broc drove down. Ben rode down.

Off we go!
Ben wanted to assess my cycling technique so he rode behind me to see what cadence I used. After a couple of miles he gave me some gear management tips, which included using a lower gear than I was & spinning faster. It felt weird and loose, but he explained that this would help me endure longer miles without using up my energy too soon.

He also showed me how to draft. It's not easy. Maintaining such a close distance is a bit scary - especially while riding on a busy street with traffic. I did my best to keep within the drafting sweet spot.

Mid-way through our ride (we re-traced back to start) we started to hit more hills. They weren't bad, but they were obviously harder for me than for them. Ben talked to me about shifting my center of gravity when going up hills - and it really worked! I felt a huge difference when I leaned in - it was almost like climbing stairs rather than pumping up a hill.

Coming back we had a constant head wind. Not fun. Later Ben demonstrated how I can make my body smaller when dealing with head wind. My bike, being a hybrid, has wide handle bars which has me sitting more upright. I can't do the bent over stance and rest on my forearms with this bike.

In the end we rode 16.7 miles in 1 hr, 50 minutes. We would have been faster but...

...Broc crashed!

Along a narrower section of road Ben signaled a pot hole just at the edge of the pavement. I, in turn, signaled for Broc. Broc knew that there was a car that had been following us for a while, rather than passing us. He quickly looked back over his left shoulder and began to wave the car on to pass when his bike drifted just enough right that he nailed the pot hole.

Bang! Screeeeeeech! Ow!

Thankfully the car's driver (& the one behind her!) stopped immediately when Broc flew, in his words, ass over tea kettle to the ground and then got hit by his own bike. I stopped and ran back to him as he got up. A lovely woman in a car going the other way opened up her window and first inquired if he was okay and then gently admonished him to not "do that anymore today".

Ben and Broc realigned his handle bars with his tire, and then Ben realigned the front brake pads so that they wouldn't rub on one side. Amazingly, Broc just kept laughing at the whole thing, even though he road rashed his elbow, hand and side. He wasn't going to quit over it - so onward we rode!

As I told Ben and Broc later, I really enjoyed riding with them. Not only did I learn to be a better cyclist but I had so much fun joking and talking with them as we rode. I felt stronger and I'm sure part of that was because I wasn't "in my head" the whole time - just as with any other activity, time flies when you're having fun!

Now I'm already thinking about my next ride, planning where to go explore on my bike. Think I might give Broc a call and ask him to join me.

After his butt heals.

The Kindness of Strangers

The first part of my upcoming triathlon is swimming. For 1/3 of a mile. I know I've got a lot of training to do to get myself up to this point, yet I've been dragging my feet.

Why?

Because I don't want to look lame.

I don't want to walk into the pool area and have all the "real" swimmers look at me as if I'm some sort of poser. I don't want to share a lane with another swimmer and then, while they are swimming like fish, I swim like a cat!

Actually, this cat seems to be more graceful than I.

(sigh)

So I've dragged my feet about going to the pool.

Last week I decided enough was enough, put on my big girl swim pants, and begged my daughter to go with me. I figured if she was there I wouldn't be so vulnerable.

I'm happy to say it helped having her there. She cheered me on and encouraged me just the right amount. I also discovered that I needed more than just a swimsuit. I got water in my ears - which bugged me for the rest of the day. A quick trip to the nearby REI got me very cool silicone earplugs, a swim cap (purple, of course), and swim goggles, which, despite living with a pool in my backyard for 6 years, I've never used or owned.

Today, my second time swim training, I didn't have Kimi to lean on - she's all the way in Austin, TX. I went to yoga first, to limber up first. That was actually a fantastic move - we focused on shoulders and upper back asanas - perfect for swim prep!

In the changing room I took a ridiculous amount of time figuring out how to open my goggle case. Eventually, with ear plugs, swim cap, and goggles firmly in place, I was ready to get wet.

All of the lane were occupied. Gulp. That meant I had to...share!

Crap, crap, crap. Is it too late to retreat to the hot tub?

I mustered my courage and asked one of the swimmers if I could share his lane. He graciously said yes. After my first 50 yards we started chatting. His name is Joe, and he only just learned to swim 6 years ago. He's on the cusp of 70 (he didn't look it). He now competes in various swim sprint events. He congratulated me for trying something that challenged me, and then gave me some great training pointers. He was so kind and generous with his encouragement that I stopped feeling self-conscious about my "newbie" status.

In the end, not only did my worst fears not happen but I actually made a new friend.

So, on this Leap Day, I challenge you to take your own leap and try something that you want to do but have been talking yourself out of for fear of something going wrong. More likely than not, something really good will greet you when you land!

Feeling the Burn...Even in the Water!

Today I swam "for fitness" for the first time in my life. It wasn't easy.

I learned to swim as a kid and have enjoyed swimming ever since. Until our recent move we lived with a pool in our backyard plus I worked this past summer at a camp that had a lake, so I've been swimming quite a bit this past year. What I don't do is "lap" swimming, and I never learned proper form. I can swim on my back, with just feet, with just hands, in spirals, under water, and plain ol' treading water. It's good enough for my needs. Now, however, I need better form.

In my May Iron Girl triathlon I am to swim 1/3 (0.33) of a mile. Today, with lots of breaks between laps, I swam  0.14 miles. This is my baseline. Now I have some idea of what it's going to take to get myself up to a performance level required for the triathlon.

It's important to know where you are as you set your goals. The trick is making sure you are not only improving what you are doing but how you are doing it. I don't want to expend a lot of energy needlessly, so I am going to learn how to swim more efficiently.

And remember, just as Dory said in Disney's "Finding Nemo":

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

Copyrighted by the Walt Disney Company, all rights reserved

Y(MCA) Go to the Gym

When we finished our basement in our previous house we were able to create a space for a small home gym. We had a treadmill, weight bench with a set of handheld weights, TV plus assortment of yoga, pilates, kickboxing, and other strength-aerobic DVDs, exercise balls, mats, and pilates and yoga props. Except for the treadmill (which we had already owned for many years) these things were quite affordable, especially when purchased over time.

Having this space was essential for Phil's fitness needs - with all the work travel and 12 hours work days getting to a gym to work out was not going to happen. However, he could squeeze it in when all he had to do was throw on some shorts and go down to the basement for a workout any time he had a block of time. He eventually started doing first-thing-in-the-morning workouts: walking on the treadmill while watching a DVD of a favorite TV show, then some free weights. Even this was better than being mostly sedentary in front of a computer all day.

In the winter of 2008-09 I got serious about my weight and fitness issues and designed a fitness program/lifestyle overhaul that led to a 35 pound weight loss in about 6 months. I tracked my food calories and nutrient as well as the estimated calorie burn from my exercises. Tracking everything was a bit tedious but it made me extremely mindful about just how much I was actually eating in a portion of food and how nutritious (or not) that food was. Having the home gym was the other half of the foundation I built for my healthy lifestyle. I sweated my way through those DVDs, changing them up so that: 1) I wouldn't get bored, and 2) I would work different parts of body in different ways for optimal strength and cardio improvement.

Now, in our new home, we don't have the space to set up another home gym. I didn't want to revert to a more sedentary lifestyle so we joined the local Y, getting a family membership.

Best decision ever!

Not only do we have access to all of the different equipment, but a trainer, for no additional cost, spent an hour with me showing me the weight machines and calibrating them so that I can use them safely and effectively. Oh, and then there are the group classes, such as NIA, Zumba, and yoga, which I love.

Another cool thing is that, since I'm training for the triathlon, I need to swim - and there is no pool at this new house of ours. The YMCA I go to has a nice indoor pool, however, so I can add my swim trainings to things I can do thanks to my Y membership.

There are good ways to create spaces for yourself to get and stay fit  - either in your home or outside. You may need to get a little creative if your home is small, but remember: This is the only body you have and this is the only life you'll live. If you honor your body and take care of yourself now, you are much more likely to enjoy good health during your later years.

Getting Back in the Groove

My family was on vacation these last few days - lots of driving to and fro, which means lots of sitting for hours on end. We ate "out" every single meal. For about 48 hours we were staying at a theme park resort, so lots of yummy things to eat added on top of the lots of sitting for hours bookending the trip. Needless to say, all training went out the window - there wasn't time to squeeze anything into the already packed four days we had allotted for the trip.

Today, back in my cozy home, I started to catch up on things - emails, Facebook groups and friends, reading the news reports, and tagging and captioning uploaded photos. Happily busy, I suddenly realized that I would have to stop immediately and get ready for my Groove class. That's when the little voice inside my head said, "...or...you could skip it...just this once".

It was tempting. All of the things I could do instead of Grooving flashed in my mind and they looked good!

Fortunately, that other part of my brain - my positive motivation coach - jumped up and started waving her hands. "Hey, it's been nearly a week since you exercised - get back to work!" Then my imaginary coach flashed a visual - me doing the Frost Bite 10K and struggling because I wasn't training my body anymore. I didn't like that vision; not one bit!

So I pushed myself away from the computer, changed my clothes and drove to Groove. I threw myself into my workout and enjoyed the feeling of breathing and stretching, moving and grooving, and getting my body back to work.

Taking a short break from your fitness routines is fine, but don't talk yourself out of getting back in your groove!

Lifelong Health vs. Short-term Fads

Today I was joined in my Groove class by my 17 year old daughter, Kimi. It was a small class - only one other student besides us - which normally would make Kimi feel self-conscious but I think her concerns were set aside pretty quickly by our instructor, Leanna. A very good thing!

A predictable thing happened as we did our dance moves - Kimi & I played off of each other. Our normal goofiness reared its head including one amusing (to us, at least!) moment when we "challenged" each other & postured as if we were enemies. We quickly got back to business and had a great workout.

Kimi isn't new to group exercise classes - she used to do ballet, jazz, and gymnastics when much younger and, more recently, ninjitsu. She is actually quite strong, energetic, and very flexible - which might not be your first thought looking at her. While petite (pocket-sized, she likes to say), right now she is not slender. The girl's got curves...not excessively but more than she wants.

Since our move in October Kimi has embraced healthier habits. First, she changed her diet and became a vegetarian, something that's rather easy to do where we live. Now, she's seeking more opportunities to be physically active. The key here is she is choosing this - all of her motivations are intrinsic and come from a healthy place inside her. Too often motivations are too external - we do things because it's fashionable (do a cleanse, eat lots of protein, hot yoga is the best yoga....) not because it makes sense for us. Paying attention to what we want and what we need is so important for not only starting a healthy lifestyle but maintaining it as just that, a life style - not a diet, not a fad.

This is what I did three years ago when I decided I needed to change my habits. I lost 35 pounds over 6 months, focusing on quality and quantity of foods and on increasing regular activity, and I believe that my example helped Kimi see what healthy looks like.  No yo-yo'ing, no self-loathing, no deprivation - I still eat chocolate, drink beer, and enjoy myself at parties. I also stay mindful of what any given week's worth of eating and activity is for me and make sure that I am maintaining my sweet-spot of balance.

Lifelong health, not fitting into a too-tight outfit for a special occasion, should always be our primary goal.