Who is Kris?
Kris is a badass OCR runner from the UK who has been kicking Fibromyalgia’s arse since receiving the diagnosis back in 2017, more than 10 years after symptom’s first started to show. In his guest blog Kris explains how he trains and the journey he’s taken to get to a place where his fitness is improving. Kris shows true grit and offers some great words of advise for anyone out there who is struggling.
If you want to connect with Kris or discover more about him, you can find him on Instagram at @iamfibrofit
From training five times a week, doing gym work and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, to sometimes struggling to get out of bed due to chronic pain and fatigue. What had happened, what had changed? It took me over 10 years to finally find out and start to get my health back.
I would have considered myself relatively fit, training BJJ three times a week and supplementing that with strength and cardio at least two times a week, when I started to notice things change with my body. My finger joints, elbows and shoulders started to ache and would sometimes be painful to move, at first I just put this down to training, lets face it, BJJ is not about being comfortable but using joint manipulation to cause pain to your opponent. But then things started to get progressively worse, the joint pain would radiate throughout my body, sometimes feeling like someone was pushing hot pokers into my joints and muscles and also feeling extremely fatigued. A trip to the doctor was in order.
After explaining my symptoms to the doctor, they decided to carry out some blood work. One thing that came back was that I was Vitamin D deficient, could this be the simple solution to my problem? I started to take a vitamin D supplement as I am still doing being a shift worker, working in a factory and in the UK, I don't get much natural sunlight. This made a slight difference but I was still in pain and fatigued.
I would have good days, bad days, good weeks, bad weeks even sometimes good months and bad months, but the problems persisted. The joint and muscle pains became worse, I stopped training as it caused too much pain and I was already fatigued so just could not face it and used my energy just to get through my working day and life. I started to gain weight and everything started to have an impact on my mental health as well suffering bouts of depression. I continued to push with the doctors to try and find out what was happening but after tests and more tests they could not figure out what was wrong. Then finally a breakthrough, after trying several different doctors I was finally referred to a Rheumatology specialist. In December 2017, after 10 years, I was finally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.
I was so relieved that I had been given a diagnosis, as at least now I had something to work with and hopefully start to make positive changes to my life. I spent the majority of 2018 finding out what worked for me. Fibro is so individual and what works for someone may not help someone else. I tried several medications until I found one that helped, my joint and muscle pain reduced and my energy levels increased.
At the end of 2018 I decided that 2019 was going to be the year I regained control over my health and wanted to start to improve my fitness. I joined a beginners running group with a local running club (Sunderland Strollers), I struggled and quickly picked up a knee injury. I stopped for a while but in the meantime found an online program that I thought would suit me well. Breakpoint Prime Evolution was an online program that focussed on three areas, mindset, health and nutrition. The mindset work was great, including breathing exercises and other things like setting goals and targets, I still use this now. The health part was step by step videos which were bodyweight strength and also mobility, which I found helped me massively and the nutrition section was also great. I hate the word diet and prefer to say nutrition, it helped me “clean” up my nutrition. I started to feel better, stronger, more mobile, I started to lose weight but most of all I started to feel healthier both physically and mentally.
I continued following the online program, and started running again following the Couch to 5K app. A few months later, I joined the Sunderland Strollers running club and throughout the year participated in several races ranging from 5K to half marathon, but I quickly fell in love with trail running. I love being out in nature, in a more relaxed environment just enjoying it. I continued to supplement my running with strength training, mobility and yoga and then stumbled across OCR. What you can climb things and roll about in mud as an adult? I'm in.
2020 was going to be the year of OCR’s for me, I booked three Spartan Races: Sprint, Super and a Beast for throughout the year. I also booked some smaller events too. I started to change my training slightly to incorporate things that would help in OCR, but one thing I noticed was that there is very little in the North East of England for OCR. There are no training facilities, luckily we have a local climbing wall, so I decided to set up a Spartan Run Club in Sunderland. We only have few members but it's great to be with like minded people and share experiences.
Then Covid happened. Events started to be postponed or cancelled, although this was devastating I saw it as an advantage, a chance to improve so in 2021, when I do these events I can absolutely smash them. I wanted to step up my training, that's when I found Team Grit. The monthly program suits me well, a brilliantly laid out plan that is simple to follow but pushes you to the max. Even after a short time, I can tell the difference in my fitness and is allowing me to push my body that little bit more.
So, if any, what advice would I have for someone who is struggling with Fibromyalgia. First and foremost, know that things can improve, you can make changes in your life for the better. Don't get me wrong, I still have joint and muscle pain, I still get fatigued, but I have found ways to help to overcome these things. You need to find out what works for you and what doesn't, but never give up. Secondly, Recovery. One of the easiest things to forget in such a busy life. Mobility and yoga help me massively as does many other things like massages and meditation, but most important is sleep. Improve your sleep hygiene, this will make a difference to anyones life.
I hope my story helps others as many others have helped me. Keep moving forward.
