Cleaning house

I alluded to nondescript belly issues in my last post that were making me feel crappy during my workouts.  This has been going on for a month.  A solid month.  The symptoms: feeling full when I wake up in the morning, water retention (3-4 lbs worth!), sloshy stomach while running, etc.  I kept waiting for the "cycle" to break, assuming it was somehow related to the hormonal party that my body must be having at this time in my life, but this was starting to seem more like a continuum than a cycle.

I realize that these symptoms could be indicative of a larger medical problem, but I feel it necessary to exhaust some home remedy options before attempting to navigate the labyrinth of HMO care.  So far, I have tried watching my salt intake, eliminating all alcohol consumption (gulp), and taking over-the-counter diuretics to relieve the water retention.  None of these have reduced the feeling of having a built-in CamelBak around my midriff.

I found myself at Whole Paycheck over the weekend in the herbal remedy aisle and decided to take drastic action.  I pretty much did an eeny, meeny, miny, mo on the "herbal cleanse" shelf and found a 7-day raw food cleanse that promised results.  It was hard to tell exactly what results I might expect, but I thought it was worth a shot.  I think I'm probably supposed to be changing my eating habits to correspond with the spiritual intent of this product, but that's not practical for me given my training load.

I started the cleanse Monday, so I am in the 3rd day.  What I found out after I dropped the $30 on this product is that it is baby-shit-mixed-with-cat-vomit flavor.  It was not clearly labeled as such, but internet reviews of the product confirmed it.  I have managed to choke down the various treatments daily, hoping that I'll wake up feeling miraculous the next day.

I began questioning this plan last night when I felt like absolute crap during my workout.  I had 12 miles (in the 90-degree heat, of course) that included 10 minutes at tempo (5:56 pace), then a 4 x 1000 breakdown (600m @ 5k goal pace, 200m @ 1500m goal pace, 200m @ 5k goal pace) w/2 minute jog rest.   I barely managed to hold my paces and had to extend the rest between the 3rd and 4th repeats to do so.  It all felt much harder than I wanted.  I hydrated like the dickens after the run and was pleased that my body did not hold the liquid hostage.  Perhaps coincidentally, I was back to my normal weight (-3 lbs. of water weight) this morning and had lost the CamelBak. 

When I initially woke up this morning, I felt like I had been hit by a bus.  Luckily, this feeling passed after I lingered in bed a bit longer.  I have felt even better as the day's progressed.  I normally don't buy into all of the homeopathic garbage about cleanses releasing toxins from your system, blah, blah, blah.  However, I really want to believe that this is what's happening.  I want to believe that the shit-barf-flavored sludge I consume before bed is cleaning me out and that the toxins are being incinerated inside my body, playing ring-around-the-rosy for a couple of days, before being banished for good.           

Luckily, I don't have any brutal workouts scheduled for the next few days so I can keep letting those toxins loose before I ask my legs to run 4 laps fast around the track on Saturday.