I'm fine - Talking about a topic that doesn't get discussed, Crohn's disease

18 Aug 2018

This blog is written on behalf of Crohns and Colitis Australia’s #livefearless campaign by Dylan Swan.

Walk, jog or run, 150km’s is 150km’s.

That’s a long way to go, even over a month! Even elite level athletes can struggle to do 5km every single day for 30days straight.

Thats why the Crohns and Colitis Australia #livefearless campaign is even more impressive.

People suffering with IBD, Crohns, Colitis or just everyday supporters trying to tackle 5km a day for the entire month of September is not going to be easy.

It shows increbile fight and determination to tackle such a task, especially if you’re body is fighting against you the whole time.

Not only will it be taxing on your body physically, it will be mentally tough as well. To drag yourself out to get your kms done when you’re tired, sore or just not in the mood.

So how do you get your mind and body ready for such an epic challenge?

The first thing you need to do is set yourself a plan for the month. A thorough in depth plan of attack.

If you plan to do 5km a day that’s great, but where? What time? Outside? Inside? If you miss it and say you’ll do 10km the next day, have you ever done 10km in a day followed by 5km efforts?

A plan is great when all goes to plan, but without backups or forward thinking it can go up in smoke.

Plan for the worst scenarios each day, you may sleep in, be late to or from work, kids might be sick, it could rain, you might be sick. Any or these are common things that could throw you off if you let them.

So look forward to the month of September, what’s on? What’s your schedule? If you’re committing to early mornings or late nights, is that something you’d normally struggle with?

If you struggle with early mornings or late night, now is the time to start. You have just enough time to start building it into a habit before September starts.

Not meaning you will need to do it every day and burn out early, but a few days a week so your body is used to it is a necessity.

Secondly you will need to surround yourself with a great support crew. People that know exactly what you’re doing and why.

This will help you when you feel like quitting, or it’s too hard and you cant do it. These people will pick you up and help you get back on track.

It’s also a lot harder to bail on other people than it is yourself. Tell people to hold you accountable and not let you talk yourself out of it.

Your mental state of mind is just as, if not more important to you achieving your goal than your physical state.

Surround yourself with positivity, good vibes and remember why you started!

Thirdly, you will need to take care of your body. Stretch, stretch, stretch!!

Make stretching apart of your morning and nighttime rountine. It doesnt have to be long, 10mins in each is more than enough.

Keep is simple, stretch out your quads, hamstrings, calves, hips, groin and glutes.

For 20-30 seconds each side, 2 – 3 times through.

This will help reduce the chance of any injuries or lingering soreness you may experience.

Increase your water intake by a minimum of 1L a day to ensure you are adequately hydrated for your added activity levels.

If you work seated for most of the day, you will have tight hip flexors and poor glute activation. This is not ideal when tackling 150km!

The best way to minimize this to get up on the hour every hour and go to fill up / or get a glass of water (this will help get your water intake up as well), go to the toilet or simply do a lap around the office.

This will help by not allowing them to seize as much in long extended periods.

You can also add in 4×20 glute bridges, morning and night to your stretching rountine. This will only take a few minutes and by squeezing and activating your glutes more often, there is more chance of them staying activated while running.

Listen to your body and rest when required, you dont want to do yourself any serious damage.

Even adding an extra km here or there can help make up for any missed days or kms.

If you start by setting yourself 5km a day and it’s too hard, try break it down into 2.5km in the morning and night.

That way you dont necessarily need a single long chunk of time each day, a shorter more manageable time frame could work well for you.

Finally, enjoy it! As great of a campaign that this is, it will be tough and if you’re not enjoying the journey than it’s going to be even tougher.

Have fun with it, get your friends and family involved, put it on social media and be proud of yourself for undertaking such a huge task.

Let’s make some noise, make an impact and make a difference by showing just how strong we are.

“My name is Dylan Swan, I write a blog about life with crohns, autoimmune diseases and the daily struggles people hear nothing about ” https://crohnspt.com “, follow my blog by clicking the “follow blog” link below to get an email when the next one is published.

Jump over to my socials to follow my journey as I try to share my why with the world.

@Swanny_PT

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