Ready? Set? GO!

A number of people have asked me why I selected running out of the myriad of other forms of aerobic exercise. I think growing up in a "running family" swayed my decision. However, there is an aspect of running that I find peaceful. I have never been a fan of gyms and fitness centres. Running provides me with a solitary outlet; an opportunity to be outside and alone with my thoughts. Another aspect I have always enjoyed about running is that it fits so easily into my schedule. All I need is a route, training shoes and some water. When I completed the Toronto Half Marathon a number of years ago, I was fittest and mentally sound I had ever been. That's a version of myself I want back; I always ask my clients "whats has worked that you're not doing right now?" For me, it was training for a goal- reaching a finish line and patting myself on the back after a job well done.

I was thinking today, I am going to try and take as many pictures of my training, nutrition and accomplishments along the way. I love the idea of having a photo journal. Also, as I read more about mental health and running, I will gladly post those little factoids in my writing.

Tomorrow is my first training day. I've committed to training 6 days a week. Coincidentally, Monday's will be my rest day- so I "took the night off" this evening. Aaron Grainge from FitPrograms was kind enough to make me a two day a week strength training program. Strength training will literally give me the anaerobic strength to complete the race. In terms of running, the idea is not to run your farthest distance over and over again; I will run my farthest run once a week. Also, I am going to do as many runs as possible outside and not on a treadmill. Learning to pace myself was something I found difficult during my last run. A treadmill sets the pace for you- thus making it hard to train your body to do it for itself. Two of my runs will be medium in length and I will have one shorter easy run a week. Below is my schedule.

Monday- Rest
Tuesday- Medium
Wednesday- Strength Training
Thursday-Medium
Friday-Short Run
Saturday-Long Run 
Sunday-Strength Training 

An update of my various assessments. In an effort to avoid measuring my mere proficiency at taking the two mental health scales- I will only assess myself once a month. Furthermore, I will report on my weight and medication use twice a month. And finally, I will share my experiences as they come to me throughout the week.

Thank you everyone for your support.

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At the Starting Line

 Running from Pills, Pathology and Pizza is a transparent qualitative and quantitative journal as I train for the Toronto Half Marathon. For the next seven months, I will monitor and report on a number of variables related to my experience with depression and anxiety.

 There is a breadth of literature surrounding aerobic exercise and mental health recovery. Starting a training program is a natural way to personally explore and test how fitness and exercise effects my experience of depression and anxiety. Why am I doing this? I want to engage folks in an honest discussion around mental health. I want to perhaps support others who have had similar experiences- who knows, some of you may join me on this journey.

To measure progress, I will be using two metrics; The Beck Depression Inventory and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. A word of caution- these are "google" versions of the empirically supported instruments. Nonetheless, the two instruments should provide me a baseline and a consistent measurement throughout my experiment. Other variables I want to measure include my weight and medication dosage. Some of the literature I reviewed indicated that medication use declined as folks adhered to an aerobic fitness plan. One confound is the relationship between my medication and weight. One of the two medications I take has weight gain as a side-effect. I am curious to see how my weight will contrast against the dosage of this medication. Another confound will be my regular participation in therapy. I am not prepared to stop going to therapy for this experiment- thus I was to be explicit in this limitation.

Here is how this is going to work. I will discuss my training one to two times a week. Reporting on how it's going, what is working, what I am struggling with. Twice a month, I will measure my depression and anxiety on a scale and discuss how my mental health has either improved, remained the same, or decreased. Furthermore, I will share my medication use (code them as "Medication #1 and Medication #2) and report on their dosage.

Diet and nutrition are of paramount importance to training and mental health. Instead of reporting everything I eat- I will generally discuss my diet an report on cravings and struggles. My training routine will consist of one short run, two medium length runs, one long run and two strength training days. Nutrition as stated will be monitored- I will allow a cheat meal and snack once a week.

Baseline
Weight- 205lbs
Medication #1- 200mg
Medication # 2- 100mg
Depression Inventory Score- 40
Anxiety Inventory Score- 32


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