TRAINING BEGINS & COSENTYX UPDATE

Hello again! Just thought I would pop by and give a quick update on how my training is going and how my new drug is working.

Let's start with the training. It always starts so much earlier than I think! I started my training long runs off at ten miles, so most of the spring I was working my long runs back up to that point. At one point five miles was a "long" run that kicked my ass, so getting back to a ten mile run to start the training cycle took some work. It's insane how quickly I've got out of shape after New York.

Happy to report I was able to hit the 10 mile training run no problem. And then a few days ago I was able to do 11 miles no problem. Now, when I say no problem, it means I was able to complete them injury and pain free. It does not mean I didn't feel completely wiped afterward and sore for days. They are definitely a challenge. I have no idea how I am going to run 20 miles, let alone 26.2. But it's normal to feel that, I've felt that before. You just slowly creep your miles up and eventually you get there.

So that's the plan. I'm just going to keep slowly increasing my mileage. As usual, I am hoping to hit three 20 mile training runs. I really think that helped for New York last year. It's tempting to follow the beginner plans that only have one, but I think three is really the key. It just really, really sucks when you are as slow as I am, because it takes over four hours! On Sunday for my 11 mile run I tried to keep it to an easy, "conversational" long run pace and averaged 11:20/mi. So I am not any faster this year. Some death marches on the horizon for ol' Thomas.

As for Cosentyx... the jury is still out. Right now it seems to be about on par with Simponi... After a few weeks I was thinking it wasn't going to work because my body seemed to be more arthritic and the further away my last Simponi shot was, the worse I felt. However, after all the loading doses and my first monthly dose, I do seem to be picking up some relief again... right now it feels about even with Simponi in that I'm not flaring and I can run and stuff, but there are times were I definitely still feel old and creaky.  So we'll see how it works out in the long run. Anything is still possible... Humira seemed to be working at first and then it flopped miserably. So I could still be in for that. Or we could have Simponi clone. And maybe, just maybe, it'll end up being better than Simponi. We'll see.

I am noticing one thing different, and that's that Cosentyx is actually working on my skin psoriasis. NONE of the treatments I used before did jack shit in that regard. I don't have much skin psoriasis, but what's there seems to be slowly disappearing without the use of any ointments or creams or whatever. Normally I have to use those to keep it from flaking and being gross, but I haven't touched a drop of the stuff in the last month and they all seem to be fading. The skin is still a little red but it's not being scaly and flakey. So that's a minor win. Even if the arthritis relief is just on par with Simponi, having my skin clear up without using anything is a definite plus.

Why do all the DALL-E creations look insanely more athletic than me? Sigh.