Exercise Journal, Day 2

It's another early morning (seem to be having a lot of those lately), but I've decided since my body wants to be awake that I might as well take advantage of the fact and get my exercise out of the way for the day.

Start: 88-90% (O2 - no supplemental oxygen) / 120 HR

Walk 5 min: 95% (4L continuous O2) / 113 HR

Run 1: 92%-93% (4L continuous O2) / 150 HR
Walk 2 minutes

Run 2: 91% (4L continuous O2) / 155 HR
Walk 2 minutes

Run 3: 91%-92% (4L continuous O2) / 161 HR
#3 was a fast walk, but I increased my time to two minutes.
Walk 2 minutes

Run 4: 91% (4L continuous O2) / 160 HR
Walk 2 minutes

Run 5: 91% (4L continuous O2) / 164 HR
Walk 2 minutes

Walk 5 minutes (cool down): 93%-94% (4L continuous O2) / 142 HR

End: 95% / 133 HR

Total Time: 26 minutes

My thoughts:

My O2 was a little low getting started this morning but that's because I literally went straight from bed to treadmill. My oxygen saturation always runs low when I am asleep, so those numbers are not surprising. I was sleeping with 2L continuous O2 last night. Also, I had not had my neb treatments this AM prior to starting my walking / jogging.

On a side note, I had to get my liquid tank filled yesterday (during my lunch break). I was explaining to the supplier that I use my concentrator at night but I use the liquid O2 during the day to fill my portable O2 unit (Helios) and then use that for exercise or what have you.

However, I think one of the reasons I run lower saturation levels is because my portable unit can only provide "pulse" O2, not continuous. The guy that was out here yesterday set up a regulator on my liquid tank so I can now run my tubing directly from it to my treadmill and bypass the Helios all together. The plus? I can tell a different in how I feel and in my numbers by using continuous O2 while exercise vs. pulse O2 (which only gives you a small burst of O2 when you breathe).

I'll still keep my Helios for trips, work , etc., but I think I'm really going to enjoy this new setup.

Comments? Tips? Tricks? Any and all advice is welcome.

Exercise Journal

A while back (when we were in the rush of the New Year and resolutions and all that other fun stuff) I said that I wanted to make a consistent effort to exercise this year. I started off well and then had sinus surgery. I fell off the bandwagon, got run over by the bandwagon, and somehow never managed to get back on the bandwagon.

Until now. After reading ACaseyofCF's recent post about being "Back at it!!! (FOR REAL THIS TIME)", I decided I needed to jump (feet first) back into my exercise program.

I'll admit that I'm starting slow but I am hoping to keep myself accountable by posting my lovely (or not-so-lovely) stats as I go. My thought is that as I see an improvement in the numbers below that I'll stay motivated.

In my world, staying motivated = staying healthy = staying out of Club Med.

Since I woke up at 5 AM this morning, I decided to get a start on my program, which I picked up from RunSickBoyRun. It's modified slightly, to what I can do right now, but I hope to follow this routine (mostly).

Start: 94% (O2 - no supplemental oxygen) / 118 HR
Walk 5 min: 93% (4L supplemental O2) / 122 HR

Run 1: 90%-91% (4L supplemental O2) / 145 HR
Walk 2 minutes

Run 2: 89%-90% (4L supplemental O2) / 148 HR
Walk 2 minutes

Run 3: 90% (4L supplemental O2) / 137 HR
#3 was more of a fast walk vs. a run.
Walk 2 minutes

Run 4: 88%-89% (4L supplemental O2) / 147 HR
Walk 2 minutes

Run 5: 89% (4L supplemental O2) / 155 HR
Walk 5 minutes

End: 93% / 138 HR

Total Time: 25 minutes

My thoughts:

My heart rate was a little high when I started but this was probably due to the fact that I had just finished up a Ventolin (Albuterol) neb.

My heart rate throughout was about what I expected. Actually, I don't think it would be bad for it to get a little higher, but I am worried about my O2 saturation dropping lower than it already is, considering I'm already using a fairly high LPM flow (4) on my O2. I think the maximum on my portable concentrator is 5 or 6 LPM.

Comments? Tips? Tricks? Any and all advice is welcome.

Incentive

Exercise. So, I had the best intentions earlier this year, but sadly, I haven't followed through. I fell off the bandwagon after my sinus surgery and my attempts of late have been sporadic and half-hearted at best.

Until yesterday. When I stumbled on this article, while I was hard at work reading Cystic Gal's blog (on my lunch break, of course):

"Pole Dancing: The New Way To Get Fit (in Honiton)."

I had to share this tidbit of information with my friend, A. I immediately forwarded her the article, along with some pithy little comment.

Twelve e-mails (or so) later, I find myself and five of my closest friends signed up for an Exotic Pole class next Tuesday, July 14.

"Dear God, please don't let me break an ankle or fall on my head." This should be interesting (and entertaining).

Exercise Journal

I have to say that I'm taking a moment to say "yeah for me!" I woke up this morning (barely) and really didn't want to walk on the treadmill, but I did. And I feel more awake and alert now for doing it. I haven't done any strength training since Saturday - it's been a busy week, but I have walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes three times this week (and it's only Thursday!).

If I don't get any strength training in tonight, I will definitely do so on Saturday, and I plan on walking again on Saturday, as well.

I have to get some groceries this weekend. It's very hard to maintain this idea of eating healthy when I don't keep food in the house. And there are only so many back-to-back meals of Nutrisystem, Lean Cuisine, grits & oatmeal that I can take. I'm very bad about going to the grocery store to just pick something up for dinner. Not only do I spend more $$$ doing this, I don't eat the best things for me. Case in point, I had another Milo's tea moment last night. And, no, it wasn't the Splenda kind. I blame that on Piggly Wiggly ... I was craving some sweet tea and they didn't have any of the Splenda version. =)

~ Laters ~

Weekend Wrapup

Just a quick post to update my exercise journal. I walked on the treadmill three times this week, for 30 minutes each. The first day I did a manual program, just to kind of get used to the new treadmill. The second two sessions, I successfully (almost!) completed Program 2. The only part of the program that I have difficulty with is when the speed jumps up to 4.0 mph. So far, I have only managed a slow run @ 4.0 for one minute each time. I did bump up the O2 to 4L/per minute, just to keep my oxygen levels in the low-mid 90's (89 - 94). I feel like I was able to work harder and wasn't quite so tired at the end. Of course, doing a Ventolin aerosol right before I worked out helped too!

On Saturday, I also added some strength training exercises to my routine. I completed two sets of crunches, wall push-ups, forward lunges, lying leg lifts, isometric shoulder work, and modified planks. My goal is to work back up to going an hour or more of yoga at least twice a week.

I also got about three hours of study time in Saturday afternoon. My grandfather helped me out with a few of the math problems that I repeatedly get stuck on (usually those with geometry), but unfortunately the section that I worked on yesterday didn't have a lot of geometry in it. But, we worked through about twenty or thirty other math problems. One thing I noticed is that we tended to try and make things harder than they actually were. The hardest thing about the GRE math questions is the phrasing. And I've discovered that I. HATE. QUANT COMP. PROBLEMS. Quant Comp = Quantitative Computations, for those of you not in the ETS know.

That's all folks. Catch ya on the flip side. Katey - glad you are out of the hospital!!!

SparkPeople

There's been a lot of buzz in the blog world about eating habits. Yep, you can tell it's January! Everybody is all a twitter with resolutions and promises to eat better, exercise more, stress less, etc.

I'm using SparkPeople to keep a food journal. It helps you stay on top of WHAT you're eating, HOW MUCH you're eating as well as breaking down the # of carbs, fats, and proteins that you take in. And it's FREE! I know that I'm a big carb person and one of my goals is to learn how to have a more balanced meal plan. I will most likely stick with "easy" foods ... Lean Cuisines & Healthy Choice meals , grits, oatmeal, toast, etc. because I do not enjoy being in the kitchen at all. It is my least favorite (and least used) part of my house. Srsly, my stove / oven might get used a handful of times in a year.

I didn't exercise last night as I needed some GRE study-time. However, I woke up this morning and did another 30 minutes on the treadmill. I'm at work until 12:30 today, then off to my GI appointment. I plan on walking another 30 minutes this afternoon / evening when I get home.

~ Laters, y'all ~

Exercise Journal

I didn't so much make a "resolution" this year, as a reminder to myself that in order to get healthier I need to BE healthier. With that in mind (and with the threat of pulmonary rehab from my Dr. the last time I was in the hospital), I invested in a treadmill. My goal is to work out 3x per week. Obviously, being in the hospital I won't necessarily be able to *literally* work out / walk three times per week, but that just means that I might have to do some extra sessions.

Basically, that breaks down to 156 work outs over the next year. It's a given that my level of working out has seriously declined and is no where NEAR what my co-worker (who runs 5 - 7 miles at lunch just for the fun of it) might be, but you've got to start somewhere, right?

Plus, I'm thinking that if I blog about it, it might keep me more honest. =)

With all that in mind, I broke in the new treadmill tonight. I walked for 30 minutes, 2.0 - 3.0 mph (don't laugh!), with 2L of O2. HR averaged 140 - 155, which is higher than it should be (I think). My SATs (oxygen saturations) stayed between 89 - 93 while I walked, which is a little low. Might crank up the O2 tomorrow night to 3L and see what happens. I'd really like for my SATs to be between 94 - 96 while I am working out, so my HR doesn't get quite so high.

I tried to eat reasonably healthy today which involved a pack of grits for breakfast, a Lean Cuisine lasagna for lunch (meatless), and some cous cous salad for dinner. I also had a spoonful of peanut butter, just to get some protein, since I didn't eat any meat today. My only downfall is that I drank Milo's tea for dinner ... trying to finish off the last of the gallon I bought. It's the "real thing" (not the Splenda version), which is definitely bad! Can you tell this is a work in progress?

My other updates won't be nearly as long-winded, I promise. My goal is to work my way up to running again, at least a bit.

~ Laters ~