Have entered Hawaii Ironman 70.3 just to show bipolar people can do anything :0)

Here's hoping I go ok :0)

[run4you]

You're my hero!

You rock, seriously. That's awesome!

I plan on doing a 1/2 marathon next year, and then getting back into tris.

The one addiction that my doctors encourage :)

Good luck!!! Keep me posted - I'd love to hear about the race and everything!

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Will do :0)

[lindahand]

Great news. I am sure you will do great.

[Fizzy74]

Wow good on you, you will be great!!!!!  Well done, an inspiration to us all!

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Training begins, so far went for a 14km run on Saturday followed by transition training and then 1km bay swim, Sunday 90km bike ride, Monday 1.9km pool swim, Tuesday an hour on the windtrainer, Yesterday 5km run to pool from home followed by 2km swim, tonight off to the beach for a windtrainer session followed by a 1km bay swim. First triathlon race for the season starts Saturday week to blow out the cobwebs of winter training.  Will keep the updates coming as I go along. :0)

[ukcliff]

Well done and all the best for the season and we look forward to your updates..

[cowgirlnerd]

Excellent!  Good luck!

[run4you]

You're giving me the motivation I desperately needed to get going again...

When is the race?

[heidchen]

Good for you!  I've been doing triathlons for about 8 years now and have had to do a couple with my moods going haywire.  Nothing you can't do/finish, even when you're not feeling well.  Maybe you'll even get lucky and catch raceday when you are manic!

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Yep, not going to be easy, but still doesn't mean it can't be done.

I went out and partied hard on Saturday night after selling my house, really hung over, have my first triathlon this weekend coming up, only managed to get out training today.  

Looks like its gonna be rock n roll.

Hawaii Race is on June 4th next year, I think I'll keep this post open and keep adding to it as we count down to the race.

I'm no super athlete either, I currently weigh about 104kg, have a bit of a beer gut, a sore foot which I'm trying to hold together, but still no reason as to why it can't be done.  Swim training tomorrow night :)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Ok went to the Radiologist last week, apparently I've tenosynovitis in my posterior tibialis tendon.  Which means swelling and fluid in the sheath of the tendon in my foot and part of my leg. ouch. Doc suggested anti inflammatories to get me through the race and then get a steroid injection in my tendon next week. Double ouch.  The recent genetic test I did to help work out why I flipped out so much on Endep (my body doesn't metabolise it very well so it just builds up in my system and gives me all the side effects, namely launching me into hypomania) also said something about me having to be careful with antiinflammatories, which on checking turned out to be true.  So I spoke to my psychiatrist who rang the testing agency and they suggested a different one for me Meloxican from a result of that genetic test.  I'm so glad I've had that done, it certainly is giving me a bit more confidence.  Anyway had my race on the weekend, I race in the clydesdale category which is for people heavier than 95kg.  The swim went pretty well, I was able to get under 10 mins for 500m, had a bit of a problem with my first transition couldn't get my foot in the tri shoes and then when I finally did and started to ride the bike I noticed I had somehow twisted my bike steering.  So I had to stop straighten it then of again.  Well I decided I might as well give my tri bars a go as their was a bit of a headwind, think it made all the difference ended up coming in around 40 mins on the bike for 20km and then finished up with a run I took pretty easy because of my foot and did 5km in about 30 mins.  All up I was about 1 hour and 22 minutes. Which I thought was a bit slow (it is really) but it seems a lot of the other clydesdale can't get down on their tri bars and I ended up coming 13th overall in my category in the provisional timing. Think that might be a trick I need to work on for the next races.5 more in the season.

I was pretty tired after the race, had a few beers, thankfully the coach was good enough to send me home from the pub as he noticed how exhausted I was and was keeping an eye on me for things like that to avoid triggering depression. Bless him I couldn't sleep though at all, sore muscles, I took some paracetamol but that wasn't doing anything, I've run out of my melatonin drops which I normally use to help get to sleep so in the end I had a Xanax.

Woke up like the dead as you do after Xanax, went to work managed to get their on time catching public transport. Fatigue had kicked in pretty well by then, I'm just temping at the moment doing data entry and can listen to some music on my iphone as I do it.  Had a bit of a depressed, tired cry at work (you know what its like some days), but managed to get through the day. I get like this (exhausted and depressed) a bit after a race for the next couple of days, the running high is great though on race day.  Anyway after work went for a 2km swim down at the pool.  Felt much better after the swim really helps centre me.  My foots not too bad, I think the swim helped with that also.  Still having trouble sleeping so I've taken another Xanax tonight, but I'll need to make sure I don't have one tomorrow otherwise it will be the Xanax keeping me awake.  Now the race is over I need to kick back into the protein diet again to try and lose some more weight before the next race.

The journey continues :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Bit of a setback, looks like its going to be a comeback race, ended up seperating with my wife Sarah.  No-one did anything wrong and we both worked at it from day one to the last day.  Good news is I'm feeling much better for it and we look to be separating on good terms. Might even hopefully still be friends (looks likely).

Have ordered a motivation "Awesomeness" Poster to keep myself positive and focussed.

Also have been using mindfullness technique to maintain positive and present in one conscience while observing my body grieve in another conscience.  Getting very good at it.  Had to hyperfocus fully into positive and present conscience as I've been suffering really bad anxiety, particularly at night.  Think this is due to as I fall asleep I lose my second mindfullness conscience and get the full blown whack of anxiety from the first.

Had been taking Xanax but I've had some awful withdrawals as I got addicted to it a couple of years ago but hey, medication as needed is my philosophy.  I've been robbing Peter to pay Paul with the Xanax to help me get to sleep and then getting up and sweating it out later in the day at training.  Hard work though, but is working.

Tried using a stilnox instead to avoid the withdrawals. Bad idea, as I was staying in the positive conscience with the "mindfullness" technique the Stillnox made it harder to concentrate and as I had nothing for Anxiety I copped the full whack of anxiety.  I was worried about mixing Xanax and Stillnox together and so put myself into a state of hyperfocus completely in the positive present happy conscience I created in my mind using the mindfullness technique.  By hyperfocussing I was able to completely ignore the other Anxious conscience and it simply disappeared as well as nullified the effect of the Stillnox, it was as if I hadn't even had it.  Stayed in this state for a period of 4 hours (to allow for drug metabolisation) and then when I thought it would be ok to take Xanax took it and then remained in hyperfocus positive state until Xanax had kicked in and removed the anxiety.

Looking at using this mindfullness technique when racing as I can essentially create any type of conscience state I like now and stay there given the right conditions.  Need to keep training for it though.  But hey they say these Ironman Races are all just mental strength so should be fine now worries :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Have made a change to medication substituting PreGaba supplement for Xanax.  That combined with an IV earlier in the week containing Vitamin B, C, Zinc and Glutathione seems to have done the trick.

Pre Gaba tablets are
Glutamine 600mg
Taurine 145mg
Pyriodixal 5-phosphate 10mg
Zinc amino acid chelate 25mg

Taking two tablets a couple of hours before bed.

Also re mindfullness technique in above post, I thought I might have been having the start of a mixed episode but by hyperfocussing only on the positive thought I was able to ignore the depression and fatigue and take myself out of it.  How's that for mind strength, think their might be some possible treatments in there for that, I know I'll be using it again.  Could be a great too to protect against suicidal tendancies, which thankfully I don't get.

Lot's of sweating going on at the moment have lost about 5kg this week already.  Got very dehydrated also from hyperfocussing so much, not that it uses up water, just that I forgot to drink, thankfully one of my triathlon friends noticed.  As soon as I realised I drank a tonne of water and then went and had basically a full day spa treatment at the doctor's office where i got the IV.  Have a great doctor really know's his stuff.  Expensive though, if I keep this rate up at the moment alternative therapy i.e. supplements alone may cost around $3,500 but hey I just sold my house and seperated from my wife.  Loosing lots of weight, this is the time that cancers form if you are not careful so need to make sure I load up on antioxidants and goodness. :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Am currently searching for a new place to live looking to see if I can get an apartment with a gym and pool.  I also used my Bipolar Managment Toolkit I put together in the good times just in case of of a worst case scenario and it looks to have happened.  Gave it to my boss at work, I'm temping at the moment only 3 days to reduce stress.  Worked a treat, boss thinks it is a great document as it put them at ease as the knew I have management systems in place and educates and explain the type of bipolar I have.  Also gives some practical tips for them to look out for and ways to help.

They offered me a promotion last week, I declined as I just need to focus on my health right now, currently I'm just basically filling envelopes at work 3 days, but I'm getting there.  I'm using all of the resources I've put in place to get me through this, and drawing energy from friends and family and my support network to stay positive.  It looks to be working :0)

I've decided to work towards coming out completely about being bipolar maybe about a week away from the race. Need to prepare for it though, want to do it right. :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Oh also went to the podiatrist again, still having trouble with feet, getting an MRI done now, another $700 bucks had a chat to my tri coach to see if I could maybe do something to raise some funds to help pay for all my medical expenses, it gets pricey sometimes.

I feel positive though as really I've only been temporarily disabled by the reaction to Endep a couple of years ago, and I know how compared to others I have it very easy, so this is why I am doing this race to help inspire those that are in more harder times.

Stay positive people, I sure am, only wish I had had the reaction earlier in life as I'm really tasting the value of life right now.  Also I get to have a comeback how Awesome is that :0)

[run4you]

I had surgery in March - I screwed my ligaments up really bad (I have hyperflexible ligaments), basically they were doing nothing. So, the last time I flipped it, it wasn't getting better, etc.

He went in and fixed the ligaments, but I also had tenosynovitis and some sort of joint issue that he had to clean up. I'm not sure what he did for the tenosynovitis, but it was an additional part of my surgery. Blech.

Anyway, tenosynovitis is no fun :(

Hopefully the MRI on your feet will show something and they can figure out a way to stop the pain.

I have a crazy amount of doctor appointments once my insurance kicks in in June. I doubt I'll be able to race or do anything until early next year, just from that...

Glad you got through the tri!!! Congrats!

Sorry about the separation. It's never easy, even if it's amicable. I'm glad you guys were able to part on good terms though.
Medical issues suck.

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

They do, I';ll get there, went to training tonight another hour on the bike, next up is what's delightfully referred to as Hell week.  Where for a week each day you swim 500m-4km, ride 50km to 200km, and run 5km to 15km every day,  I've decided because of my foot I'll just do the riding and swimming.  Here's hoping I get through it ok, first time I've done hell week.

Also the club is trying to do something to reduce the cost of my supplements, bless them. :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Supplements just got a lot cheaper, I was looking at a bill of $3,500 this month with all the medicals, supplements and everything else thrown in.  Thankfully my Tri coach has pulled a few strings and saved me a bundle on vitamin supplements which now, thanks to the switch to Pregaba from Xanax is the only pills I take apart from the odd anti-inflammatory.

Also hell week is starting tomorrow, I'm pretty happy with my progress since last Thursday when I got put onto a much higher level of training including mornings as well as nights.

Also I've started on running again, just 1-2km at the moment and then I do a whole bunch of feet exercises, to try and build strength in the tendon again.  Here's hopoing I can get it up to 21km before June :0)

Also I'm talking to someone now about setting up a blog and possibly even writing a book, thinking I need to do something to raise funds for buying supplements and paying for my training and triathlon stuff.  I'm going to have to hire a bike in Hawaii to keep the costs down, yet I could have bought one just in what I was going to spend on supplements this month.  Crazy!

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Motivational Poster arrived it looks awesome, has a big picture of a jet fighter on it going supersonic and underneath says "Awesomeness - When I get sad, I stop being sad and be Awesome instead. True Story"

If that doesn't motivate a bipolar person I don't know what will, have framed it, think I will put it up in my new apartment I just got approved for.  It's a 1 bedroom apartment right next door to a friend of mine I'm going to Hawaii with so we should be able to do training together.  There is even a pool and gym in the complex and it is one block from the beach and where we normally set off on the long team bike rides.  A couple of others from the tri club are in the area as well so should hopefully go ok.

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Hell Week Finished, ended up burning over 10,000 calories just with riding about 90km and a short 2-5km run each day off the bike. I don't know how many calories I burned swimming as I wasn't wearing my Garmin. Maximum's we're fun to look at though Max Heart rate 181bpm, Max Speed 61.2km/hr (I was going down a steep hill), Max Pace 58sec/km, my favourite Max Cadence 157rpm, 5 blown tires, 1 broken light but all in all great fun and I feel I really put together a good base to work from.

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Went for another ride today about 50km then ran off the bike for about 2km. Have decided I should try to run off the bike each time I go for a ride. I also did some foot strength exercises again. Blew another two tyres today, this is getting frustrating, I just replaced the tyres, tubes, and rim tape. Maybe I need to get myself a new set of wheel's don't need much arm twisting to pick myself up a set of Zipp's :0) Still I do need to be careful, I've just sold my house and could easily go on a spending spree. I've already spent a fair bit just getting new stuff for my new apartment. Time to pull my head in a little on the cash.

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Doing an Olympic distance race this weekend on Sunday 1.5km swim, 40km ride, 10km run. Have decided for a laugh to use a big blue commuter hire bike which weighs 20kg for the bike leg. Should be some good fun, am going to use Can-do coconuts as drink bottles on the bike. Also going to see if I can get hold of one of those sperm shaped aero helmets to complete the look. My goal is to try and not be completely last in the race. If I can do that I'll be happy :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Alright sorry for the delay between posts have had a bit of a mad time of late, seperated from my wife and had to move house get re setup, also just went on a 3 week holiday to the states to let my hair down and build my confidence.

Quick update regarding the races of late, I did manage to complete the race on the blue bike and came 20th in my Age category which I was very happy with seeing it wasn't last.  Hard work on the hire bike though.

I have also since done another race 3 weeks ago just before I left, the swim was cancelled so I ended up running 2km, riding 28km and then finishing of with a 8km run.  Went ok.

Then of to the states for 3 weeks of recovery, was told not to exercise at all and have a break before starting training for Hawaii which starts again this week.  Going of the exercise was a bit difficult as it is my main treatment for managing my bipolar but managed to get through ok.

Now doing a race this weekend which I just plan on rolling around on.  Distance will be 500m Swim, 20km bike ride, 5 km run.

[run4you]

Awesome!!!

I just started running again, after reinjuring my ankle (less than a year after surgery to repair it... eep). I hate the beginning - it's UGLY!

I love reading your updates, keep 'em coming!

Where did you head to in the states?

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Went to Vegas, New York and LA all very rockstar!  Nothing quite matches being hypomanic in Vegas, had to put myself on a no gambling rule there for a while.

Great fun though, from what I've been told I had a fabulous time :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Back training again, taking a month off to rest the body before building for the Ironman can be difficult. Particularly over the last week when I was back home, holiday was over and I just got my two dogs back in my apartment.  Great to have the dogs back but I had a hard time getting back to training and take them for a walk morning and night as well.  Not enough hours in the day.  Not training took my centering treatment away, so I started to become a bit rock n roll, could feel like I was teetering on a bit of a mental cliff. Knew I had to do something, was late for training but still went anyway just to catchup with the crew afterwards.  Used the energy within the group to help get some inspiration. Then on the weekend took the dogs for a run on the beach. Got to about 8km's before Sandy decided she'd had enough running and simply laid down. So I then did some exercises where I was to give them a rest.

Caught up again with the Triclub for brekky on the beach, soaking up a bit more inspiration. Came home, let the dogs rest as I did a cheeky strength session in the gym in my apartment complex. It's small but got enough for what I need.  Went out last night and in true bipolar form partied hard and drank far too much alcohol.  Woke up in the morning with a massive hangover, lucky for me it was swim training time.  So went to the pool and swam 2km's, jumped in feeling awful came out feeling much better.

Sure I've missed some training sessions in the past week, but I always remember what one of my tri buddies said to me when I was really down once for missing a lot of classes. They said don't ever be upset about the training you miss, be happy with the training you do.

Wise words, ever since then going to training has been much easier.

After the past few days I've managed to get my centre back and have started my build for Hawaii :0)

[Flitknit]

Awesome! Good luck!

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Awww nuts! Have torn my calf a little last night as I went for a run.  Looks like I'm going to miss the last race of the Gatorade Season on Sunday, hopefully it hasn't stuffed Hawaii, only 10 weeks away now!

[run4you]

Oh no!!! I hope your calf heals quick - that would be awful to be this close and not be able to compete. UGH.

I cracked up at your US story - 'from what I've been told'... must have been an awesome trip indeed!

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Calf is feeling better, training is starting to ramp up now into the last 9 weeks before the race. Went for a long ride up in the hills over the weekend to start getting use to the hills in the race.

[darlenedaisy]

Wow thsnks for representing bipolar in a positive light !!! Good luck in your race, you are inspiring !

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Hmm, tough times again, body clock is all over the place at the moment!

Went to sleep two nights ago and basically went into a coma, woke up like the dead at about 2pm. Now coming into the weekend when I need to go for a long ride I can't sleep at all until after the ride. Same thing happened last week.

Need to do at least 90km on the bike today to burn off this energy. I'm completely wide awake and it's 6am. Not a wink all night, think I might be starting to get nervous about the race.

I shouldn't I've trained for this, making a point of enjoying the fitness. I'll be ok.  Time to get my ride on :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Had my ride, ended up going 120km on my bike which is the furthest I've ever gone! Very happy with myself.  Came home had a good long sleep and rest. Woke up with a little bit of a Sunburn but that's all.

Going  on a 12km run today, legs are a bit tired from yesterday, but should be fine. Can't wait

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Coach and I have noticed something new with my training, apparently I'm exercising a lot longer than my body can actually take. Coach has been trying to get me to go for shorter distances but once I get started I just don't feel tired.  The first I know something is going wrong is when something breaks. I feel like I could run twice as far as I actually do but my body is having a hard time taking it!

I am working on going shorter distances :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Getting close now, only a few weeks away. Training is really starting to amp up! 150km ride on Saturday, 18km run on Sunday and it just keeps getting bigger!

Also have started a new job, back doing technical sales!

Will be coming out to my friends and training buddies soon about being Bipolar. A little nervous but want to do it. I hate keeping it a secret, drives me nuts!

Hopefully I don't lose too many friends.

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

I'm looking forward to seeing who my real ones are though :0)

Glass half full :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

One week to go!!!!!!!!!!

Getting excited, flying to Hawaii tomorrow, can't wait!

This trip is going to be awesome! All trained up and ready to go :0)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Have arrived in Hawaii, all going well. Rode the bike course two days ago, talk about hot and windy.

Did the swim leg yesterday and ran part of the run leg today. Having so much fun swimming with tropical fish and sea turtles, Awesome time!

Also this week I came out to my Tri-club back in oz about being bipolar.  Was quite scared about it, so used the club newsletter to do it. Glad I have now, not sure how everyone has reacted, guess I'll find out when I get back. :0)

[looloo141]

WOWSER!!!  What a fantastic journey you are on, the swimming sounds amazing, I'm so jealous! LOL

I bet it felt liberating coming out about the BP, good for you!!

You are inspirational, to me and every other person suffering with ill mental health!!

Keep us posted and good luck :)

[BP2PROFESSIONAL]

Hi everyone,

Finished the race, didn't drown sorry I've taken so long too respond. Yep made it, actually did it!!!!! Yay :0)

As it was my first race at this distance I purposely didnt worry about the time too much so total time was 7 hours 8 mins. I didn't stop and kept jogging the whole time.

It was a little scary the night before the race when they said at the prerace briefing there was a typhoon in the Pacific and were expecting potential 10ft waves in the swim leg. Thankfully that didn't eventuate.

So all done, next up I'm planning on doing a Marathon in October :0)

[Bubulous]

Congratulations!!!!!

That is awesome.  I ran the army ten mile run in Afghanistan and didn't have the best time....1hr and 50 min, but I finished it and it was the greatest physical  feat I had ever accomplished.

[Nickeldoor]

Great to hear that! We know you can do it!!

However, scientifically BP has reactions on our physical body except we don't feel it. The greatest effect it has is on our brain. I just seen a medical seminar by a Serge guy in Douglas medical hospital held by McGill Uni. what makes us different from purely depressed patients is that BP sufferer does not get to grow back our brain neurons even with medications, however the purely depressed patients do. Hope I got the interpretation correct. If not, pls kindly advise.

Whatever it is, good luck on your journey and show us you can break the "4-min mile"! Good luck!!