Treadmill Tales – day something or other +2

Just a very quick update because it’s late (for a ‘spoonie’) and I need to eat then rest.

I couldn’t run yesterday much as my mind wanted to do so, my body was not capable. I was very fatigued after a poor night’s sleep; I got just four hours and that was broken. I had a busy day too, out and about and also carrying shopping. I arrived home at 4:30pm and it was all I could to collapse into bed soon afterwards.

Today I ran again and it felt really good. I listened to a track by Mike Oldfield called Crises. I’ve got a 20 minute version on my MP3 player. Give it a listen. The beginning instrumental section is rather mellow, then there’s an upbeat instrumental section, before some vocals, that was a perfect accompaniment for running. In fact, I rather wanted to dance!

I wanted to try to beat yesterday’s stats and thought I’d aim for a six minute run. At 5:30 I knew that I’d done enough for today. My goodness, I think I might actually be cracking this pacing malarkey at long last! It’s only taken me … YEARS and YEARS.

Stats:
Time – 5 minutes 37 seconds
Distance – 0.33miles
Pace – 3.7 miles per hour
Calories – 30

 

 

Treadmill Tales – day something or other!

I’m back in the zone 🙂 !! I’m hardly a boxing fan but somehow this music sums up the ‘training vibe’.

I’m feeling good – I’ll blog about the reasons for that later in the week when I’ve more time – and I was finally able to get back onto my treadmill this afternoon after a forced haitus of around two and a half weeks.

I felt like running and I did. I thought I might manage a six minute run, then I got sensible and thought I’d do four and a half minutes. As it turned out, I pushed it to five and felt jubilant. I’d finally dug out my old MP3 player. It was very cheap; it’s touchscreen but barely :-D, still it works and it’s stuffed full of all manner of music and podcasts. I love the treadmill but I need something to listen to, otherwise I get bored. I ran to the sounds of the Best of Abba.

Stats:
Time:- 5:09 minutes
Pace:- 3.7mph
Distance:- 0.30miles
Approx calories burned:- 27.3 calories

If you’re reading this in isolation, it’d be helpful for you to know that I’m returning to exercise after a long and serious illness and that I have some health issues that require me to build up slowly and carefully. Pacing is vital. I’ve crashed and burned so many times and have finally learned that lesson.

 

Treadmill Tales: Days 16 and 17

Still under the cosh of this virus, I skipped Day 16, but increased my time by two minutes today, Day 17, instead of by one in order to make up for that.

Time: 14 minutes
I jogged for the first three minutes at a pace of 3.4mph
the walked for the next 10 minutes at a pace of 3.7mph
before I jogged the final minute also at 3.7mph
Total distance: 0.83miles
Calories: 75.2

I’m happy with that but I feel pretty tired now because this virus is walloping me. I’m enjoying the jogging, although the last couple of sessions have been hard because of the added impact of the virus. Walking still feels a bit boring compared to jogging but increasing my pace today helped to keep me engaged.

Tomorrow is a rest day. I start a 15 minute week on Monday, by which time I hope to be through the worst of this virus. It’s frustrating me in its greedy consumption of spoons! I am feeling grotty, fatigued, slowed down and I’m much less productive as a result – which is risky for my mental health – but I am coping so far.

Treadmill Tales: Day 15

Well, I am pleased to have that under my belt!

12 minutes
3.4mph
61.4 calories
I jogged for the first three minutes and the last minute and I walked the remaining time.

I said that my plan would be subject to revision as I reflected on my progress and here are my thoughts so far.

• I’m delighted to be jogging AT ALL, I didn’t think that would be possible as I had become so deconditioned due to illness and gained so much weight.
• Now that I’ve introduced a little jogging, the walking is feeling a bit boring in comparison so I’ve decided to maintain the 3.4mph pace for the jogged minutes for now, but up the pace for my walked minutes in that hope that that will increase my engagement. I will also try to dig out my old MP3 player and set up some podcasts on that that I’m longing to hear.
• If I can manage a session tomorrow on top of going out then I plan to do 13 minutes and then 14 minutes on Saturday.
• I’ll do 15 minutes on Monday and then I plan to stay at 15 minutes for the rest of that week. My pace will probably stay at the same rate but I plan to jog for a total of five minutes – three at the start and two at the end.

 

Treadmill Tales: #12, #13 and #14

Another week of being hijacked by symptoms necessitates a slightly more creative treadmill routine.

I planned to do my session on Monday (Day 12) evening but in the end it just wasn’t possible to work it into my routine after a heavy day. My appointment at the GP surgery and a few errands had involved a good bit of exercise.

On Tuesday (Day 13) I spent 11 minutes on the treadmill and upped my pace to 3.4mph, I jogged for the first three minutes AND for the last minute. I covered 0.6miles and apparently burned around 56 calories – that’s a dark chocolate coated rice thin 🙂 ! I was very pleased with all of that.

Late on Tuesday night, I brushed my teeth and almost immediately afterwards found that I had a very sore throat and neck. I then really struggled to get to sleep and was awake until around 5am. The postie, buzzing to get in, woke me just after 11am. I was too sore and out of it to make it to the door in time. He left a card advising me of two parcels too big to go through my letterbox. I’m not expecting anything so I’m very intrigued. I’ve scheduled them for redelivery tomorrow.

I was able to get it together – just about – for my therapy session at midday. On days like that therapy delivered via the telephone is a boon. I wrote some notes after what was an intense session, then showered and dressed. I walked up to the top of my road (uphill) to the postbox, to deposit a wedding card for my ex-husband and his fiancee who are getting married this month, and I picked up a few items from the nearby shop. I found the whole endeavour a bit of a struggle and then knew I was either coming down with something or having a further spoonie flare up. I was SO delighted to see Pharmacy Bob at the top of his usual hour slot, avoiding the need for me to fight crushing fatigue any longer. I could barely keep my eyes open. I collapsed into bed at 4.30 and was soon asleep. I slept for around three hours then I watched some telly, had something to eat, and managed the odd message on social media. I felt rough, ached all over, my throat still hurt and I was coughing. I took paracetamol and when the achy turned to more intense pain, half wished I’d taken something stronger. I fell asleep around 1.30am and woke just after 9.30. I felt better than I had but had to take my time getting going. By lunchtime I’d completed my medication routine (one pill then wait an hour, then take my bile acid binding agent mixed up in fruit juice and wait a further 20 minutes before eating anything), showered, dressed and had something to eat.

I’m tired, sore and feeling slowed down and somewhat frustrated by that. Sitting at my desk is uncomfortable, but I really want/need to write today. I also feel rather ‘foggy’ which doesn’t help the writing. I’m behind with approving and replying to comments on here, I’m sorry about that folks, I’ll catch up as soon as I can, possibly not until I have a few more spoons at my disposal.

I hope to be able to get on the treadmill in a couple of hours time (mid afternoon) and clock up my 12 minutes. I really need to go out tomorrow if at all possible, so I’ll be concentrating on looking after myself as much as possible today to give me the best chance of doing that. At this stage, I think this is a virus. It can be difficult to tell as flu-like symptoms can come as part and parcel of my chronic illness. I really don’t like using the phrase, and prefer the euphemism spoonieness! That struck me there because generally I prefer direct phrasing over euphemism. A virus on top of spoonieness (!) can be a real pest.

 

Treadmill Tales: #11

Day #11 should’ve been Saturday but since spoonie issues laid me low enough to be in bed for most of the day, I swapped my rest day and made Sunday Day #11 instead.

I’m up to 10 minutes and a half a mile. Inspired by my little two minute jog on Friday, I jogged for the first three minutes yesterday. In the back of my mind I was wondering whether I should really be doing it, but it felt good. On the treadmill I am on the flat and that seems to have less bearing on my pain levels than walking uphill or on stairs.

Actually, the little bit of light jogging felt REALLY good, because I felt like running again might actually be possible. I was surprised that I was able to sustain a three minute light jog after an extended period of inactivity including a four month period spent housebound and mostly bed bound, but immensely buoyed by it.

Stats: 10mins – first three minutes lightly jogged, walked for the remaining time.
Pace – 3.1mph
Distance – 0.51miles

Today will be another 10 minute session, I’ll start increasing my time by a minute a day again from tomorrow. I’ll begin slowly increasing my pace again from today.

I am really happy to be back on my treadmill.

Treadmill Tales: #9 and #10

Day nine was a write off, as was Day seven as I said in my last tread report. It has been a challenging week on the #spoonie front.

Instead of increasing my session length by one minute each day from Monday, I instead increased by two minutes on Wednesday and again today.

Stats: Nine minutes at 3.1mph – 0.44miles in total. I did a very light jog for the first two minutes, which felt good, and the usual walk for the remaining time. I’ve also had a wee stroll up to the top of my road and back today, as I did on Monday. I hope I don’t pay for it with a painful night, as I seemed to on Monday!

x

Treadmill Tales #5 and #6

I completed my treadmill ‘5’ at 11 this morning, clocking up the same stats as on the previous five days – 0.25 miles at a pace of 3.1mph. Slow, slow, slow but I know it’s the way I must go! Again, I enjoyed being on the treadmill on Saturday and this morning. I felt it in my knees, the left of which took a huge whack in a fall last November, today. Falls are part and parcel of my ‘spooniness’, and I’m most prone to them when stressed, rundown or insufficiently pacing. The knee issue this morning may be down to the timing of the ‘tread sesh’, those last week occurred in this afternoon or early evening, it may have been due to the pain and stiffness that are felt especially on waking and for some time afterwards, due to Fibromyalgia.

I made myself laugh while ‘treading’ on Saturday, just after writing this post, as I suddenly remembered a host of other achievements I could have listed. It cheered me anyway to remind myself of what I’m clocking up.

Sunday is a rest day – no treadmill on the plan – which was just as well as it became an ‘enforced rest’ day as it turned out. My mood was somewhat impacted, which is always a worry, and my mind was bothered at turns by grief, memories and new understanding. The latter is welcome but can be painful, often very, and is difficult without ready support.

Treadmill Tales #3

Today’s ‘5’has been done in much the same fashion as yesterday. I enjoyed it, walking at the rare ol’ pace of 3.1 miles per hour and clocking up a wee quarter a mile. 

Treadmill Tales #1 and #2

Two days down,  two days under my belt.

See yesterday’s post ‘Treadmill Tales: The Return’ for my plan of action. 

If you’re here for UBER stats you might be disappointed, I’m recovering from serious illness and have ongoing chronic conditions which mean I’ve got to start out really S-L-O-W-L-Y. 

Yesterday’s ‘five’ felt like it went on for longer than that (!) but I still felt the thrill of being on the treadmill and remembered how good it felt to run. I swallowed my frustration and walked as planned. I wasn’t paying huge attention but think my pace was 2.5 miles per hour.

I got on the treadmill just after 7 this evening, to my surprise really after a long, productive and active day. The ‘five’ flew by, I enjoyed it and felt I could’ve gone on for longer.my speed was 3.1 miles and I covered a wee quarter of a mile! 

Now I’ve had dinner and finally ‘flopped’ … all I want to do is sleep! 

Heart x