Soggy feet and a doggy treat

What a great day. 7 o'clock this morning found me doing careful 2 minute intervals on the flat path along the River Kent. It was cool and beautiful at this early hour. The dew was yet to burn off the grass and my feet made a pleasing swishing noise as I ran gently through it.  For the first time in ages, I got soggy feet while out running. It felt great.
The river is tranquil now as, curiously, were the sheep. They're normally a little skittish at this time of year, but this morning they grazed contentedly, raising their heads to look carefully at me as I ambled past before returning to their high fibre breakfast.
My rehab programme recommends I run for 2 minutes, followed by 2 minutes walking, repeated 3 times.  This sounds as if it's hardly worth getting out of bed for,  but I followed it religiously and finished wanting to run more and with no discomfort. So maybe it works. I have to do this a couple more times and then I can up the intervals to 4 minutes on, 2 minutes off, for a further week. I'll let you know how it goes.

Smileyrating 10 (I'm still over the moon at getting out!)

I made a few new friends tonight. Their names are Kit, Skye, Bruach, Scar and Annie. They are very, very special. They are all Border Collies who are, or who are training to be, search and rescue dogs for the Search And Rescue Dogs Association. I have volunteered to be a 'dogsbody' for the Association to help train the dogs. When I've learnt the skills (how to respond to each dog, how to get it to bark when required, the right level of play to use depending on the stage of its training etc.), it'll mean spending my thursday evenings, and the occasional weekend, lying in a bivvi bag out on a mountainside, pretending to be an injured climber or walker, waiting for one of these extraordinary animals to come and find me.  At the moment it means getting to know all the dogs and their handlers, so I get lots of doggy playtime. It's great!
If you should see a 'SARDA' collecting tin on a counter of your favourite gear shop, do drop a few coins in. As with all Mountain Rescue in the UK, it's all entirely voluntary and made up of dedicated people who turn out, dog in tow, because somebody else's world has gone horribly wrong.

WOO HOO!

As the days perceptibly shorten, as condensation appears on your car windscreen in the morning, as the sycamore leaves in the hedgerows become dusted with the silver of mildew and the blackberries hang in juicy profusion, something strange is spotted in the fields along the River Kent. 'Tis a strange, shuffling creature with a big grin on its face. Yes! it's a Hayfella, bimbling along in the great wide open for the first time in months.

Following strict instructions from Mrs HF, I walked briskly for 10 minutes to warm up, then entered the fields where I ran gently for 30s followed by 30s-1min walk. This was repeated for 20minutes and then I walked home. And the good news is, that I had no ill effects in the nether regions at all. (Perhaps I should point out that surgery has left me with two 4 inch long scars, one on each side of my groin, right where your knicker elastic goes!).

The running was simultaneously brilliant and awful. Brilliant that I should be doing it at all. Awful in that I've got such a long way to go before I can run anywhere as I would want to run.  But today, in the most beautiful conditions imagineable for running, the brilliant won out.

Swim tomorrow. Then run again on Wednesday. Maybe I'll run for a whole minute. Double woo hoo :)

Smileyrating for this run: How could it be anything other than a 10!

HR Sorted

Thanks to the genius of Mrs HF, my HR queries are solved and I now have three numbers to guide my training from as soon as I can start running again.
Here's the method she used:
Assume HRmax = 180 and HRrest = 48.
180 - 48 = 132. This is the heart rate range.  To work out the training zones you take the required percentage of the range and then add back in the HRrest. So...

Long slow steady training at 65%      = (65% of 132) + 48 = 134
Cardio/aerobic training at 75%          = (75% of 132) + 48 = 147
Interval/anaerobic at 85% or above   = (85% of 132) + 48 = 160

Simples!

Now all I've got to do is to get healed enough to actually run. I've had a bit of a set back while turning over inadvisedly in bed, so it might be a week or so yet.

On heart rates

Took my resting pulse in bed this morning. 48bpm. It might have been lower, but I had to get out of bed to get the heart monitor and strap it on!
Still,I'll settle for 48.

What I'm uncertain about is my max HR.  As I rapidly approach my 54th birthday then the '220 minus your age' rule of thumb (or should that be rule of ventricle?) gives me a max of 166. But on my bike ride the day before yesterday I had an average of 152, or 92% of my theoretical max. Now I'm pretty sure no-one can exercise at 92% of their max for 44 minutes, so I think my own max HR must be higher.

Until I can get out and do a maxHR test, I'm going to use 180 as my max. This is a figure from my last maxHR test, performed at least 10 years ago. Even this higher figure means that I was biking along at 84% of max, and, when walking yesterday (I went to post a letter in the village and took the longer way home, walking briskly all the while [isn't 'briskly' a fabulous word?]) my average was 95, or 53% of max.

I think I need to find the more sophisticated rule of ventricle for working these things out. Can anybody help?  It seems the height of conceit to imagine I'm doing my stuff with the heart of a 40 year old.

It's a start!

After being hunched over a computer all morning I took advantage of the fine weather to nip out for a quick 30 minute walk this lunchtime. What a gorgeous day. Lakeland in full colour. Enough tumultuous cluds to make it look exciting, incredibly vivid green grass - thanks to all the rain - and peculiarly pink-hued sheep.
I had a fantastic time and... (dramatic music under...)...I RAN A BIT!! All of 50 metres up and over a grassy hummock but it's a start. I felt a slight groin pull, so will have to be careful, but WOW!
It's hard to imagine just how good it was to feel the wind flowing on my face as I eased over the grass. It's dispiriting how knackered I felt after having done it! I'm back to square one and will have to find a nice programme to ease my way back in. But that'll be fun compared with not being able to do it at all.
One good thing - being so out of condition, I got a huge endorphin rush from running just one little hillock. The fitter you get the longer/harder you have to run to get it! 
Sorry for the breathless tone. I'm a bit excited.

Smiley rating 10/10

One step at a time...

An update. I'm on the mend. I can sit, get up again (which was harder than it sounds a couple of days ago), walk around for a bit, and very nearly wash and dry my own feet. This sounds weird, but I couldn't bend for a few days; I could just about reach my knees! I can do my sandals up now, but socks are an impossibility!
I'm still not allowed to lift 'anything heavy' - but what is heavy? The coffee pot? The cast iron griddle pan? The hosepipe to water the fern collection before the ban comes in? Shopping bags? Can I take the bins out? I've done all of those except the shopping bags, which is the only example the surgeon came up with when I asked the question.  It's all suck it and see. But I can begin to picture myself out running again....
This is the dangerous time. Overdo it now and I could be back to square one. I must be patient.
One side-effect is that the enforced idleness has meant I've put on weight. So I'm now eating less. It makes life cheaper!

The journey begins...

Had my operation yesterday and would like to say a big Thank You to all the staff at the Day Case Surgery Unit at Westmoreland General, Kendal who made the whole experience as stress-free as possible.
Today finds me very sore, with a bruised groin sporting two whopping dressings. The ibuprofen+paracetamol is dulling the pain and, as long as I don't move below the waist, I'm all right.
In fact, today is a very good day. I'm thinking of it as the start of getting back out on the fells. I've just got to heal, strengthen, walk, and then, finally, finally, run. I'll get there.