An Interview by Mizuno Ambassador Elise Yanover.
Robyn Baldwin is a marketing manager and fitness personality, and recently became a Mizuno Brand Ambassador. With a passion for health & wellness her website focuses on what it takes to be an Alpha Female™ (www.robynbaldwin.com) . Her blog focuses on parts of her personal journey, fitness, health, Sunday meal prep ideas, recipes she tries during her weekly food prep, book reviews and adventures that she goes on in and around Toronto and traveling to experience a life that she loves. She started the blog to capture how she balances work with life.
“I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis on Dec 2, 2014 so I decided to document my new health journey with this sidekick to inform family & friends of what’s going on. I also hope that it can help other newly diagnosed patients navigate the MS world or provide new food for thought regarding holistic health for those currently living with the disease.”
We asked Elise who writes regularly for us to interview Robyn so we can share her story with you.
I was introduced to Robyn through both social media exposure ( Twitter follower originally) and through the Mizuno Ambassador program. Robyn and I met in person at a Mizuno social gathering around Christmas 2014. This was just weeks after she had been diagnosed. Her motivation to get all the answers possible and find the best holistic treatments for MS was impressive. She immediately took charge of her own health care and attacked it like she does her intense workouts and races. We have since been together for Mizuno sponsored events such as the Toronto Women’s run series. I had an opportunity to ask her some questions regarding her diagnosis and how she is managing her symptoms and continuing on with her amazing athletic feats.
Questions for Robyn:
1. What symptoms did you have that made you seek medical attention?
One week before my diagnosis I woke up and my fingers on my right hand felt like they were asleep. Throughout the course of the day my hand proceeded to go numb. The next day my arm was numb. Over the course of the following week the numbness and tingling spread down my chest, abdomen, hip, glute and finally down my leg and foot. I thought I had a pinched nerve in my neck and sought professional help with an RMT and Chiropractor. They urged me to get an xray before they treated me as I was presenting with neurological symptoms. After my leg & foot went numb I chose to just drive myself to the hospital to get to the bottom of the mystery. 24 hours and 2 MRIs later I was diagnosed with MS.
2. Have you had to change your running and workout routine to accommodate for your MS?
During the first month with MS, I had undergone steroid treatment to halt the attack on my body. This left me extremely lethargic and tired. After three weeks, I started feeling myself again. I was cleared to resume physical activity by my neurologist and proceeded to immediately try a 2km run. As background I hadn’t been running since September as I had twisted my ankle in an OCR race at the end of Sept and took 3 months off to let it heal. I needed to develop my stamina again. After my first run “with MS” I could barely move. I lay on floor of my hallway letting my heart rate calm down and just trying to breathe normal. I had no idea if this was how my new normal was going to be as no doctor could tell me. The disease affects everyone so differently that they have no baseline to explain to patients.
I started training hard again in January. Going back to two a days. Weights in the morning and cardio in the evening. I returned to my OCR training facility Alpha Obstacle Training and built up over the course of several months being able to train 3 days a week there. Over 6 months I have been able to train harder than before my diagnosis. The only thing I’ve had to change is learning to keep my body cool during workouts and how to properly rest and recover.
With MS, when the body overheats the area that has been affect by de-myelination around the central nervous system is exposed to the heat. This can mean a return of symptoms as the nerves exposed overheat and have trouble communicating with the body. I have cooling vests that I can wear to keep or bring my body temperature low or I work out in less clothing 🙂 Since I was diagnosed in winter months I still don’t know how summer running will affect my body. I can only theorize that it will be hard as I’ve had really bad symptoms at hot races I’ve done in the Bahamas – Spartan Cruise Sprint & Nike 15K.
3. Is your recovery time different than it used to be prior to your diagnosis?
The day of a race I know I need to be able to go and take a cold ice bath or shower post race to decrease inflammation, followed by epsom salts and then followed with a nap. With MS can come extreme exhaustion and I haven’t experienced it many times but when it comes I just have to go down for a nap and take it easy for the rest of the day.
4. What are your summer goals for running and did you have to alter them at all?
If anything I’ve increased the amount of races I’m doing this year. Just to prove my statement that MS will not slow me down. At the beginning of the year I planned on competing in at least 12 races. I’ve already run in 10 races including Polar Hero Ottawa, Dion Red Barn Snowshoe Race, Polar Rush, Spartan Bahamas Sprint, Spartan Montreal Super, XMan Montreal, Toronto Yonge Street 10K, Nike Toronto Women’s 15K, Toronto Women’s 5K and one Alpha Obstacle Training OCR Race. I still have 13-15 more races I plan on running in. My summer races will prove to be the hardest with the heat but I’ll be thankful for my cooling vest and water obstacles to cool me down during my many OCRs.
5. Do you have a support group and if so how has this affected you?
My support group is my family and friends. I tried going to a MS Society Toronto chapter for young people but I didn’t find the vibe or topics of discussion one that I could connect with. I chose to connect with the MS community on social media and seek out others who are as active as I am to discuss meal plan choices and dealing with the heat. My Alpha Obstacle Training family have proved to be the best support group. They grab my cooling vests during training or at races if I need them. They promise to catch me at races if my legs are going to give out. They listen to me. Hug me and call me inspiring. And for that I’ll always be grateful to them.
6. What advice would you have for other athletes who have MS and want to remain as active and competitive as they were before their diagnosis?
I believe how we eat, what vitamins we consume, how we reduce stress and get a full night’s sleep is the building blocks to being active MSers. I believe that as we lower inflammation and stress in our body we allow it to heal itself. I believe we can continue to be athletes with MS if we take care of ourselves and put self care first before training. Once we have the basics then we can start pushing our bodies to perform better. Within 6 months I’ve developed more strength, muscle endurance and I’ve seen my cardiovascular health get better. I used to have a max HR at the beginning of workouts and now I can get through a functional training sessions while staying in zone 4 on my HR monitor.
Robyn can often be found these days on an obstacle course, training with her Alpha family and fundraising for MS. This weekend you will find Robyn at Alpha’s Race for the Cure, for more information click here! http://mssoc.convio.net/goto/alpharaceforthecure
Elise Yanover
Elise is a long time competitive amateur triathlete and Physiotherapist with 20+ years experience treating runners and athletes of all kinds. She also has an online coaching business for runners and triathletes looking to reach that next distance goal or PB. She is very passionate about biomechanics in running and does gait analysis and shoe recommendations as part of her practice. Elise also has a self admitted running shoe and apparel fetish. She is mom to an active 10 year old girl and is married to a man who also runs and races. Follow me on twitter (@eliseyanover) or email me (elise.yanover@gmail.com) if you have any questions!