I had ~5 things on my to do list yesterday and accomplished NONE of them. Lest anyone think I am always super productive.
I did, however:
- go to pilates (8 am class, kids still asleep when I got home)
- score flights to Bozeman via AA points at an amazing redemption rate (22K points per ticket for anyone curious, and we have paid upwards of ~$800/ticket in the past!). Not only was this a points find, but it was the exactly time frame and airport we prefer (PBI, and avoided an uncomfortably short/risky layover that was part of the Fort Lauderdale flight option).
- book some other things for Montana including a day trip to Yellowstone (snow coach tour)
- watch most of Harry Potter #2. We will not go into detail about the knock down drag out fight the kids had over popcorn (I honestly am not entirely sure what the controversy even was!?) so let’s just say it wasn’t an idyllic watching experience, but until that happened it was nice.
- ummmmm, that’s about it
Sometimes you just need a day of (mostly) nothingness, you know?
I woke up today with a fire lit though and have done most of what was on yesterday’s list, including podcast show notes for both shows. I’m going to record next week’s episode later today so that it won’t be tormenting me during my call week — so I feel reasonably on top of things! It will surprise no one that I prefer writing in the morning when I am fresh.
WORKOUT NOTES
Remember when I detailed my runs every week? I miss that. Well, I miss the runs more. It seems like an opportune time for a fitness update, so here we go . .
PELOTON STRENGTH: I spent a couple of months loosely following the HCOTF calendar, which includes ~40 minutes of strength 4-5 days per week and 2 days of mostly recovery (which I didn’t usually do). It was fun, but then I got enticed by Rebecca Kennedy’s 5 day split and tried that for several weeks, using printed sheets to track progress.
This was going well until I had a few bad heart days and ended up changing my medication. Then I lost my momentum and became worried that maybe what I was doing was too triggering for my rhythm issues. I haven’t really pushed as hard as I had been since then, though the new med seems to be more effective (yay). It’s very possible that now I am stabilized on the new med, things will be better.
Body comp wise, I was feeling really good overall, especially when following the RK split. I got a couple of compliments on my arms which was kind of fun. BUT I also have felt like that has not been maintained since my issues in early August. I am hoping to get back to feeling as good as I was over the summer.
Weight-wise, I am basically the same as when I was running, but I think my muscle mass is maybe slightly increased. So, that’s overall a good thing! (I am MUCH MUCH LESS HUNGRY than I was when I was running. Thankfully.)
PILATES: As I dialed down the strength, I joined Club Pilates. I chose this studio because I feel like they have a reputation for being gentle (vs say, Jet Set or Solidcore). BUT ALSO, those studios are very far away and Club Pilates is under 10 minutes (and for the 6 AM class when there is no traffic, I can leave at 5:52 and get there with time to spare).
I’ve been going ~2x/week most weeks. Sometimes it’s 1 (call weeks, I can only go Monday morning before call starts) and sometimes it’s 3 (last week I went Mon, Thursday, Sat). It is not a hard workout for me. I do feel my core engaging and find myself being able to do the movements with more control, and it’s actually pretty enjoyable, but there’s not much ‘suffering’ and I doubt much muscle growth is being stimulated. That said, I am on the lowest level and I am sure it can get a LOT harder. My plan is to ask at the end of Sept if I can “graduate” to 1.5 (the next level) and include some 1.5 classes for October (you get all of your class credits on a monthly basis and for the best access, you want to schedule all the way out for the month).
WALKING: Aside from any cardio that incidentally happens in the above workouts (strength more than Pilates), my only ‘cardio’ is walking. I got to go on a 1 hr walk with my running club friends last week, which was delightful — 2 of them just had babies so it was a stroller walk + me — so cute!! Other times I squeeze in a 20-30 min walk during lunchtime at work, or as a break from creative work while at home. I’ve done a few walk ‘n’ talks, which are delightful (the time goes so fast!). My average steps for the day over the past month amounts to ~7K according to my apple watch.
I will probably try to increase this a bit once the weather improves. Walking outside in the heat does seem to trigger my heart stuff (though less so on the new med). BUT, nothing catastrophic has happened either!
OVERALL: ~6 months out from my cardiac event and eventual diagnosis, I’m feeling moderately okay about my current fitness lifestyle. I think I might try going back to the HCOTF calendar for a bit (with the plan of interspersing months of “splits” programs to mix it up). I could also see pursuing a different modality for strength at some point. This could mean working in person with a trainer at a gym, but I doubt I would be able to pull that off while also going to pilates, unless I booked 5 AM sessions or something like that.
I am scratching the “need to progress” itch a little bit with pilates, and my “desire to follow a plan” itch with strength. And walking gets me outside and can be social! So for the most part, I find my exercise ‘needs’ are met. I was really sad for a while when my rhythms were worse and I worried I would have to leave the strength behind or dial it down significantly, but I *think* things are improving.
There is a balance I have to strike here that is important, since too much exercise (esp cardio) is what is thought to cause my heart issues to progress over time. Josh gets really anxious when he sees me breathing hard doing certain workouts and then I question whether what I am doing is good vs harmful, and that is . . . frustrating. I didn’t realize it at the time, but was really nice to exercise feeling like I was doing something purely *good* for my body and long term health. Now instead I just feel uncertainty. (NOTE: 2010 me struggling to get pregnant while running probably would have said the exact same thing. So I guess this is not a new concept for me.)
There’s no absolutely clear answer about what the threshold of ‘too much’ actually is (from the experts, in the literature, etc). So that part is hard, but I am trying to strike the right balance.
12 Comments
Finding the right level of activity that challenges you without causing heart issues is a hard needle to thread, especially when there isn’t a black and white answer about what you should be doing. I’m glad you are finding safe ways to challenge yourself. Hopefully stepping up to 1.5 at Pilates will make it a more challenging/fulfilling workout!
I had my 10 mile race yesterday and am looking forward to shifting my focus to strength training. I have not done enough of that lately. I find it hard to fit everything in. I think it will be better for my body composition to focus more on strength. And I know it’s important for a woman in her 40s, too.
Every body is different, but I do Club Pilates and a 1 class is not quite challenging enough for me, and I’m pretty out of shape. They’re great for learning the vocabulary and basic techniques, thought. I would assume you would need 1.5 for sure. Also, check the schedule and see if at least on weekends you can do ones that are not the standard flows. Control and Suspend might work well, though Cardio is indeed a lot of jumping and might be a bad fit. Try those out!
Thanks Kat! Yeah I am going to ask to go to 1.5 next month and hopefully I will be granted “approval”! It has been beneficial to get the terms and technique down though and it’s not ZERO challenge, I just want more!
You guys are going to LOVE Yellowstone. I hope you get perfect winter weather (i.e. not unseasonably and crazy cold). The geothermal features + buffalo + beautiful setting will be unreal. 22K per ticket is a great redemption! Especially because aren’t you guys going over the winter holidays? Usually it’s really hard to find good redemptions then!
yes it was a crazy deal and i was shocked and when I saw it I was like OMG i have to hit “buy” before this disappears!!
Yay to trip planning! Inspired by your past trips, my family holiday ski trip this year is to Big Sky too! And we’re also tacking on a Yellowstone excursion (except snow mobile-ing since we have 1-to-1 parent / kid ratio). So fun!! Since you’re talking deals with flights (and you’ve inspired me to up my credit card points game beyond just Southwest), I thought I’d mention this to you on the off chance it’s helpful. We’re avid skiers and always get IKON passes to use for the year when they go on sale for the next year in April. B/c I was curious if this trip alone would pay for the IKON pass (we use them for spring break too), just FYI that it definitely does / is worth it! When I ran the numbers for our family of 4 – to buy 5 days of lift tickets (we’re skiing 5 days – 12/22 – 12/26), it’s $3,155 to buy the lift tickets directly from Big Sky vs. the $2,116 we paid for our IKON passes last April. Plus the IKON pass got us a 10% discount on lodging with Big Sky Resorts (which bizarrely was cheaper than any airbnb or VRBO we could find in Big Sky??). Anyway – just thought I’d mention it since this seems to be an annual trip for your family as another thing to look into for potential savings. Note – we get the IKON with blackout dates b/c we LOATHE crowds so won’t ski at peak times anyway.
I did not price it out (and I should have!) but … we are going to be there the same time!!!
I found when I did Peloton strength classes that they tended to be fast-paced and definitely got my heart rate up, whereas if I do barbell / dumbbell strength training incorporating rests between sets, it doesn’t raise my heart rate beyond the effort it takes to do the lift. I wonder if you would have more success heart-wise if you tried a strength training approach that moved more slowly as opposed to keeping up with an instructor.
This could definitely be true!
I agree with Amy — Peloton lifting sessions give you very little rest. It’s *quite* easy for my HR to get up into zone 2-3 (or even zone 4) doing their workouts. If you do fewer reps and lift heavier with longer rest in between (2-3 min vs. 20-30 sec) you will probably a) get stronger faster, and b) maybe it won’t trigger your rhythm issues as much. You’ll also have even bigger benefits in the osteoporosis prevention arena! So, in that way, it could check all three of your boxes maybe? Good luck and TY for the update!
I’ve been using the Evlo Fitness app since May when I left my job and lost my personal trainer. It was created by/all classes are taught by a physical therapist. The classes are all designed around the science behind muscle growth (in a nutshell, getting to failure within 20-90 seconds in each exercise, exercising each muscle group 2x/week, incorporating rest because muscle growth happens during the repair phase, etc). There’s a lot of education incorporated into the program (and the creator has a podcast where she delves more deeply into the science behind their methods), and basically, the things that we’ve been taught to see as indicators of a good workout – being physically exhausted, sweating a ton, being super sore afterwards, etc. aren’t actually indicators of muscle growth. They seem to specifically pick exercises that target muscles in a way that you need to use lighter weights. The workouts require a relatively minimal amount of home equipment, and they’re actually way less intense. After years of regular strength training and being used to working out in gyms where I had access to and was regularly using much heavier weights, I was surprised to find that I didn’t need to use weights heavier than 20lbs to get to muscle failure in the exercises they picked out. I’m regularly using 8-12lb weights when it had been ages since I last used those weights. I’m definitely exercising less aggressively. Because they’re physical therapists, the exercises are often super supported to avoid injury – like you’re doing the exercise while lying on the ground – so my heart rate rarely gets very elevated and I’m not usually all that sweaty afterwards – but I also haven’t had any perceived muscle loss or definition. My husband and I go to his gym together for semi-private training as a kind of date night and I’m still able to lift heavier weights. Gentle has not meant less effective in terms of achieving strength. They also put out completely new workouts every week so it’s always something new, and the classes have the nicest warm ups and cool downs. I love it. My exercise routine now is strength for 45 minutes 3x/week, bikram yoga 1x/week, walking 2x/week.
Sometimes I think about you, like when I’m doing squats at the gym. My heart rate really increases, although very temporarily. I wonder “Would this be okay for Sarah?” Anyway… it sounds like you’re figuring out a good plan for yourself, you look good, you feel good… so it’s all good!