It's been roughly 3 months since I was diagnosed with sky-high blood pressure and renal artery stenosis. I also spent a night in the ICU after a false alarm for a stroke. (I was on a super strong blood pressure med for the night and it required continuous supervision.)
Since then, I started taking walks. At first it was a quarter of a mile, then gradually pushed up to 5-6 miles, every day. Sometimes even up to 8-10 miles if time allowed.
Jogging started slow, as I could only handle about 1/8 mile at a time. [Insert knee strain injury here]. I worked up to 1/4 mile run + 1/4 mile walk for as many reps as I could handle for my daily routine.
Rucking once or twice a week was added and am almost at 40lbs of weight. (It hurts, but has taught me pain management.)
Sprints once a week for 10 seconds for about 5-8 reps somehow worked itself in to the routine. (Dunno where that came from.)
Finally this evening, I ran a full continuous mile and celebrated with a round of sprints after that.
I am 46 and hadn't ran a full mile in over 20 years. 3 months ago I thought I was going to die walking up a hill. Walking one solid mile was a huge milestone for me not so long ago.
I guess the point of this post is just a checkpoint and a reminder to myself that things are actually getting better and there are more milestones to reach.
Cheers.
Wow congrats! That's some absolutely awesome progress! Keep it up!
Interval training can be bloody hard, but it is so good for your running and your overall health. And it's a really fun change of pace (pun intended) from steady-state runs.
I'm not familiar with rucking, but as a general rule, be careful about pain. Pain in the lungs and muscles can be good. If it's in the knees or other joints, it almost certainly isn't.
Rucking is just running or walking with a weighted vest to simulate a heavy backpack. I believe the name is derived from a military style "rucksack".
It absolutely destroys my upper body (mostly my upper back area) during my normal walk. Keeping correct posture and gait with a bit of weight takes a bit more effort and works muscles that are typically not engaged in regular walking exercises.
But thanks for the warning about pain. We evolved pain for a reason, so it's best not to be ignored.