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The Physical Shinn (Prior)

Last update: October 5, 2024

The John Shinnick Website

The Physical Shin (Prior)

                   Walk, Don't Run
 

Last month I raised a red flag. I tried to run but found I couldn’t. It was an utter shock. So I set out with an objective of finding short distances along my usual walking route that were flat, and for pieces of those, perhaps only 50 or 60 feet or so, I’d break into a trot. Just to see how it felt.

 

What a relief to find that I had no problem with this. Okay, not a high bar at all, but these (very) short jogs all felt pretty natural. So, the next day, I made these short jogs a bit longer, maybe 40 or 50 yards. Still, only on flat stretches, but definitely longer and the pace was a bit quicker. Still a low bar, but this was still very experimental. I wore a sweatshirt because I knew this strenuous activity would make me sweat. It did, a little. The next day out, a little longer, a little quicker still. About the same number, twelve I think, but I’d proven to myself that this was doable. 

 

Of special interest was the knee that I’d hurt earlier in the year. It gave me on trouble at all. Nor did any of my other ailments. I was not in afib at the moment, so I can’t tell how that would fit into things, but I’ll cross that artery when I get there.

 

I was getting to the point where I was thinking of a routine to incorporate something faster than a walk into my daily walks, when I got away from walking. It turns out that all the yardwork I was doing was making me too tired to walk. Much of this is because it had been very hot (high nineties, unheard of in my neighborhood) and sawing is actually physically exerting.

 

So now that most of the yardwork is done, I need to get back to this plan of progressively running more and more during my walks. Except that the heat-wave continues. 90s through the weekend. Then I go on my road trip. Not bloody likely when I’m on the road. And that’s the problem with exercise. The most important part of it is consistency. With any luck, we’ll get lots of rain through the winter months, then I’ll have to balance running with catching a cold. That should be fun.

 

After writing the above last night, I went out for my two-mile walk-jog. I again mixed in a bit more jogging, even though it was my first time out in three days. I was trying to make it about 50/50, even jogging in some of the slightly uphill or downhill stretches. I consciously raised my knees a bit more than before. It was still a bit hot for this place and today’s 85 degrees didn’t help my pace at all, but I was happy with my effort.

Shoes that can accommodate either walking or running.

But to follow up last month’s article, if I find a softball team to play for, I should be able to run around the bases with a little practice.

 

In other breaking news, I’m in the midst of a round of ologists. I started with my urologist. My prostate has been pretty constant, normal for my age and pretty stable. I had to move my cardiologist back a bit; it was the only thing interfering with my upcoming road trip. I’ll see Dr. Edelen in November. I still use my Kardia Mobile every day. It’s that device that takes what they call a medical grade EKG in 30 seconds. Actually, the recording takes 30 seconds, but after setting it up and then letting the application analyze the data, the process takes about a minute. 

 

Just to refresh y’all, my type is paroxysmal afib, which means it comes and goes. Generally, I’ve been having one week in afib followed by four or five weeks not in afib. When not in afib, my dosage of Metoprolol (which lowers my heart rate) goes down, and I allow myself a glass of wine twice a week.

 

Nothing else seems to be going on with my physical well-being. 

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