Tortoise and the Hare

FVC: 2.84 FEV1: 2.32

Treadmill: Half an hour!!! Av 4.7km/h
Cross trainer: 2 mins (what can I say I was knackered)
Weights: only arms completed.

I decided to try and attack this from a different angle this time. No matter how hard I try, when I am pounding away on the treadmill at 5km/h I can't seem to push myself over 20 minutes without risk of flying backwards off the treadmill cartoon-style. So I figured as distance is the important thing here (not speed) I would slow down as my legs began to seize up, but still keep going. And it WORKED! Added another 10 minutes onto my time, and felt ok afterwards! So if I can just creep up 5 minutes at a time over the next month, I think it'll be feasable that I can complete the whole thing. WOOHOO. Obviously not quite as fast as I would have hoped (was hoping to do it in an hour, hence the whole training at 5km/h malarky) but hey as others have pointed out, if I finish the whole thing at all it will be fantastic. So that's all I'm going to aim for.

This post is entitled Tortoise and the Hare for that reason. "Slow and steady wins the race" and all that. Actually this is a very important motto for me, as someone told it to my mum early on in my transplant when I was struggling to move forward at all, and it kept her going, then when I was conscious enough to understand things, kept me going too. Hopefully on the day it will prove correct again.

I got my running, no wait, walking number through in the post yesterday so now it is very very real! I am still trying to decide what to have on my banner. Oh did I not mention that? Clearly this isn't going to be hard enough so I will be attempting to carry a banner explaining my scenario all the way round the course. Have already got in mind people who I will pass it over to when my arms are killing me...

A brand new experience!

FVC: 2.67 FEV1: 2.16

Treadmill: 20 mins av 5.2 km/h
Bike: 5 mins
All weights completed

This morning was really good. My mum and sisters picked me up bright and early as they were heading to aqua aerobics. I saw some of the class, it looks like fun, but I'm just not confident enough yet to go at someone elses pace; what if I need to stop then look like a fruitcake on my own? Anyway, whilst they splashed around "gracefully" I took myself off to the gym and did a really good workout. And even more excitingly I JOGGED for the first time!!!!!!! OK it was only for 60 seconds at a time before my legs felt like rubber, and I had to grip the handlebars as I felt so unsteady, but still YAY. Kept above 5km for the entire thing (except for 2 mins cool down) and felt extremely....well worked out afterwards.

With that and the bike combined I did just over 3k. I am a bit worried still though, less than a month to go and really I would have liked to be doing 4k in one go by now....I think September may be more of a struggle than I anticipated but am still determined to do it.

Good old treadmill.

FEV1: 2.30 FVC 2.77

Treadmill: 18 mins av 5.2km/h
Cross trainer: 4 mins
All weights completed
Sit-ups completed.

I went with Abby to the gym today. It's so much easier to motivate yourself when you have someone to go with. I headed straight for the treadmill, my faithful favourite whilst Abby went for the rowing machine which looks far too complex and scary for my liking. I maintained 5km/h for nearly all of it, but slowed down for 2 mins and sped up to a jog (first ever time!!!) for 2 mins. Jogging was very hard work, it must be different muscles that you use than for walking as my legs felt like jelly after seconds. Still it was a good morning and I feel invigorated for it. Just hope I can get my distance up before September...!