Only run when you're chased

Spring is here and 50 degree weather has brought the normal, every-day joggers back outside.  The crazy ones ran outside all winter - I know, because I saw them.  Because my wedding is in 100 days and I am finding that my schedule and the spin class schedule don't necessarily jive, I took it upon myself to start jogging.  My first attempt was on a treadmill in some terrible Payless shoes and was not very successful. I did manage to run for 25 minutes, but I was in pain afterwards.  This prompted the decision that for the first time since middle school, I would purchase a real pair of running shoes.  I have gotten by with run-of-the-mill, cheap tennis shoes for a long time and now I have the perfect excuse to buy a new pair of shoes!  I went to the sporting goods store and came home with a pair of pink Sauconys, 2 pairs of shorts and a green UnderArmor shirt. 

On the first nice Sunday of March I decided to go on a short 3-mile run.  The new shoes were like running on clouds in comparison to my old ones, which made it 10x easier to run than before.  I have been out twice since then and am currently working on finding the right mix on the work-out and cool-down playlists on my Ipod for optimum motivation.  I haven't been able to run past 3 miles yet, but I'll get there. 

The best motivation is seeing other people outside running or walking their dogs.  It may be more crowded, but it's nice to know that you're not alone.  Getting passed or trying to keep pace with other runners is great motivation too.  That's where your self-motivation should kick in and push you to go further and faster.  You wouldn't be running at all if you didn't have the self-motivation to get off of the couch and go outside, so it shouldn't be that difficult.  The results are nice too.  Realizing that my body probably will gain muscle before it drops fat, I have been taking measurements to track my progress.  I have lost at least 1/2 an inch on my thigh and calf since I took my last measurements, which was before I broke my arm in August.  All of this is great motivation to keep going!

Of course, running on concrete is extremely hard on your body and it shows.  Hopefully the knee pain that I'm currently experiencing is because I haven't done any running since I was in tennis in high school.  All of the articles that I have read say that it's best to not do too much at the beginning because that's how people get hurt.  My goal for this week is 10 miles and I'm already at 5.6.  All I need to do is run 2 more days, which should be easy as long as it doesn't rain.  Wish me luck!

Breathe!

On Tuesday, I stayed home with what I thought was a fever/flu-like symptoms. I slept almost the whole day and expected to feel better by Wednesday. However, when I checked into the doctor's office on Wednesday afternoon because of chest pains, the nurses put me in a wheelchair and rushed me into Urgent Care immediately. One nurse started pressing on my ribs and suggesting that I could have a heart problem. Of course, after they took my blood pressure and pulse, which were normal, they changed their tune. Then they put me on a nebulizer and I did several breathing tests.

After my chest x-ray, the doctor told me that I have calcified lymph nodes in my lungs. These appear as little white spots and are the result of growing up on a farm. Apparently there are fungi in the soil and when it is plowed, they are stirred up into the air and you inhale them. This causes the lymph nodes to calcify and is completely normal for anyone who lives in the midwest. Also, these are not the source of my chest pain or cough. Besides the little white spots, my chest x-ray was clean, so the doctor called it viral bronchitis and I was sent home with cough medication and an inhaler. He told me to make another appointment if I didn't see improvement in 3 days.

Well, today is day 3 and my symptoms are worse than ever. I can't say two sentences without a cough. My inhaler is a God-send because I would probably suffocate during a cough-attack without it. Normally my job as a museum docent doesn't require a lot of talking. People generally keep to themselves and don't ask many questions. Of course, today would be the day that I have to talk in front of a group of 26 boyscouts and every guest in the hotel visits the museum. I am only supposed to use my inhaler every 4-6 hours, but it has been really difficult trying to stick to that today. This afternoon, I was coughing so frequently that one of the boyscout leaders took a waterbottle out of his bag, gave it to me, and said, "Here, you need it more than I do."

Then I did the worst thing one could possibly do at this point - I consulted WebMD. It gave me a variety of choices as to my condition. Bronchitis, pneumonia, and asthma were all at the top of the list. I have already been diagnosed with bronchitis, but it could have turned into something else. There is a good chance that I have another chest x-ray and more breathing tests coming my way on Monday. Wish me luck!

Singers & Exercise

The holidays are over and this semester is in full swing, which means it is time to begin working myself back down to my wedding dress size. Before I broke my arm, I was going to both spin and yoga twice a week. I planned on filling the few weeks between the end of the summer session and the beginning of the fall with rollerblading and lifting, but now I know that strapping wheels to ones feet will inevitably end in a broken limb.

Now I have both the time and physical ability to go back to those two classes that I loved so much this summer. The question is, will strenuous exercise, such as spin class or lifting weights, hurt or help my singing? Every textbook that I have read seems to think that singers will strain their throat muscles if they do anything other than swimming or walking. However, the modern opera singer can't just be a good singer, they must also look great. This means that exercise is a necessary addition to one's daily routine.

How is anyone supposed to get into good enough shape to be able to sing and dance at the same time by walking? Singing requires excellent posture and great abs, so walking just isn't going to cut it for me. I need something more intense and exciting. My exercise of choice is spin class. If you have never been to a spin class, prepare to sweat - a lot. It is an intense cardio workout that will make your legs burn until you can barely walk.

Intense exercise can be very beneficial if one is smart about it. It is necessary to think carefully about the time of day that exercise should be scheduled. Intense exercise can often aggravate acid reflux, which makes it a lot more difficult to sing. Also, don't grunt while exercising, breathe normally and you will be fine. Grunting is a misuse of the voice akin to clearing one's throat, so just don't do it. Use common sense - don't go straight from the gym to rehearsal because it will not go well. Your body needs some time in between to rehydrate and recover after exercise. Under normal circumstances, one is supposed to drink an extra liter of water after a spin class, but most people don't go and sing afterwards. This requires even more water.

If you use your head, it is definitely possible to exercise and not destroy your singing voice. More updates later on whether I accomplish my goal of fitting into my wedding dress!

Wedding Blog!

In case you didn't know, I'm getting married in less than 6 months. We have been engaged just over a year and have been planning the wedding long-distance, which is a bit of a challenge. Technology has been a wonderful asset to our wedding planning. I was able to email my fiance pictures of potential venues along with spreadsheets that I created with pros/cons for each. I did the same for potential photographers and he was also able to go to all of the photographer's websites. We just ordered our save-the-date cards through VistaPrint, which we sort of designed together. I sent him a screen shot for his approval instead of ordering a PDF proof because I'm thrifty, but it worked, so I see nothing wrong with it.

It would seem that some things would be impossible to do without being in the same country, but so far we have found a way to cope. The first part of our marriage counselling was done via an online test, which we were supposed to do separately anyways. Of course, we'll both need to be in the same room to go over the results of the test, but we'll worry about that later. Because the save-the-dates will be going out soon, we decided that it would be good to start our wedding registries. On our both our Amazon.com registry and our Target registry we can both add/delete items from the list, which is really nice. We even typed up a list of things to register for via Skype.

Although, it is really easy to register for board games and movies without touching them, I think we are going to run into issues when registering for bedding and towels. There are no Targets in Canada, so he won't be able to inspect some of the items that I want to register for and vice versa. If all else fails, we will just really have to trust that we know each other well enough to pick out items that we will both like and pick neutral colors so everything will match. That said, if anyone has any ideas of how to get around this problem, I'm open to suggestions!

My fiance and I have started a blog about our struggles and triumphs trying to plan our wedding long-distance and on a tight budget. Check it out! http://jayandchristy.blogspot.com

Therapy

It's official. My arm is no longer broken. The doctor said that I didn't have to wear my beautiful little plastic brace anymore unless it was icy - and then only until December. Apparently if I fall without the brace on in December, I will break my arm anyways, which is a frightening thought.

Luckily, my arm is almost completely back to normal. My therapist said that I have a normal range of motion in that hand now, but apparently my other arm is extra-flexible to the point of hyper-extension. Basically, my left arm may never be as flexible as my right one ever again, because normal wrists don't stretch that far. She said that I wouldn't necessarily have to continue therapy at this point, but I don't know what I'll do without it. My flexibility and range of motion may have improved, but what about strength? There are still a lot of things that I can't do, such as push open doors or push myself up. This means no yoga for a while (she said maybe in January).

I may not be an athlete, but is it too much to ask to be able to do one of my favorite recreational activities again? Are other therapists trying to let people go before their therapy is really complete? If I was elderly, would they make sure that I could push myself off of a chair, because I can't manage to do that right now. Of course, after I explained that one of my other goals was to be able to do yoga, she gave me more stretches and suggested that I continue to come. I still like my therapist a lot, but moments like that make me wonder whether she really understands my needs or just wants to get me out of there as quickly as possible to make room for another patient.

Progress!

Last Wednesday, after 7 1/2 weeks I finally had my cast removed! My arm wasn't as smelly as people said it would be, but there were other surprises - such as the great need for exfoliation and the newly-dark hairs on my arm, which I speculate is from lack of sun-exposure. According to my x-ray, my arm isn't completely healed yet, so if I fall on it without a brace on, I will need surgery. Because my PT appointment was an hour after my orthopedic appointment, one of my nurses found me a brace to wear between appointments so I wouldn't feel so terrified to leave the building for lunch. Then my physical therapist made me a custom-fit brace out of a large piece of plastic with a zipper, which is sort of modern/high tech-looking. She said that I can remove the brace 3-5x/ day to do my arm stretching exercises and she gave me exercise putty to play with to strengthen my hand.

The best things about the brace are:

1. Being able to wash my arm/not having to use a garbage bag to cover my cast in the shower - so annoying!


2. More clothing options - the 3rd cast didn't fit through long sleeves


3. Not having to coordinate my outfits with the color blue all the time - the brace is white : )


4. More range of motion!


5. Much lighter/cooler than a cast - which would be nicer if it wasn't so cold out right now...

The only downside is the constant terror when I'm not wearing the brace. I haven't slipped on a rug or tripped over the cat yet, but it's a constant possibility because Pippin likes to stand under my feet and I'm a klutz - if I wasn't, I wouldn't have fallen in the first place. For now, I will continue to exercise extreme caution and hope that the next 3 1/2 weeks go quickly.

Gestures

During the past 2 weeks I participated in an amazing audition workshop at MNOp and was critiqued on all aspects my audition from my walk to my resume. The first week I decided to wear a cute magenta dress that I had just bought because it fit over my cast and had a nice a-line cut to it. However, I had a few issues with hosiery and the dress became overly clingy in all of the wrong places, which wasn't flattering at all. My shoes, which are perfectly fine normally, slipped every other step on the ice-slick floor. Needless to say, they commented on my short, clingy dress and my clumsy walk.

The most interesting part came when I began to sing "Mein Herr Marquis" from Die Fledermaus. Because I have sung this in auditions before, I planned out the gestures that I would use. Actually practicing these beforehand would have been smart, but I just thought through the song in my head. I didn't realize until I went to do my normal gestures that I needed to be able to bend my wrist to do them. I looked like I was swatting at the air and when I put my hand on my hip, it looked and felt very awkward. The good news is that I sang well and that the audition panel assured me that the cast made a great ice-breaker.

The second week of the audition workshop, I was much better prepared. My resume looked immensely better, and I wore a different dress and character shoes - although even my character shoes slipped on that floor. My walk was better and more confident than the week before and I only slipped a little when I went to the pianist. This week I was better prepared for my gestures and there were fewer of them needed in the songs that I chose. I started with my current favorite aria about revenge and destruction, "Der holle rache" from Die Zauberflote, which was very intense. My roommate told me later that she laughed during it because it looked exactly like when I was yelling at the Comcast people on the phone after our cable/internet didn't work for the 3rd time that week. I got a laugh from everyone when I followed that with "Be kind and courteous" from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Overall, I am very grateful for the experience of dealing with this obstacle while trying to learn how to be a professional singer, but I can't wait until this cast comes off in 7 days and I get a removable splint instead.