Gearing up

Yesterday was spent "gearing up" for my fitness routine, with the purchase of a pedometer to measure distance and a heart rate monitor to keep an eye on my work rate, following my friend Gary's good advice. This involved walking to town and back, along the way picking up some music books for the kids and stopping at Starbucks for coffee, so it was a pretty good one hour or more walking with the break in the middle, once again I was sweating like I had run about five miles and today, when I got up, my legs were a little stiff, just as if I had started jogging again. I did manage to do some computer stuff for lee on her business case in the afternoon, so all in all it was a good day mentally and phisically, and I had a pretty good sleep.

Today I set off to the climbing shop on my bike to get Lee some supplies for the monster bike and hike, this time with my heart rate monitor etc so I could set some baselines for my training, I was shocked to find that my resting heart rate is now 100 bpm (was 80 prior to treatment) and when I just pedaled along or walked up the street this rose to 130-140, with any sort of a gentle incline this hit 165. Around 145 is the rate my heart would beat jogging quite fast before treatment so gentle cycling is equal to the most strenous exercise I would have done in the past. At 165 I got off the bike and walked/rested as I felt faint. So at least I am getting a good feel for the performance of my main systems. I joined the local gym today and have a plan to see their resident trainer tomorrow to discuss a managed exercise program to very gently get my fitness back over the next two months.

I have my first post transplant session with Dr Scott tomorrow so I will bring up the issues around the high heart rates and other symptoms and see what she says, perhaps the hospital have some physio advisors who can give me some advice on my exercise program. Overall though I think she will be pleased with my recovery so far, compared to most folk I am doing better day by day and not sleeping so much has actually made me feel more awake and alert so that was a great tip.

Apart from concentrating on my build up, and supporting Lee with her business negoiations, I find I have little time for much other than making the dinner for the family and tidying up the debris they leave behind as they run out the door in the morning. I treat myself to soup at the cafe and read the paper but otherwise I am living the life of a housewife, I can see how you could do this full time and actually fill your day quite well, if you spend about 2-3 hrs on fitness the rest is swept up with routine stuff very easily!

So with broom in hand

Cheers

Gerry