After debating back and forth with myself on twitter on whether or not to run today, I ended up running just before the rain storm came in. I can thank Tom and Abby for that motivation. The look on their faces when I told them we were not going to run this morning! Oh, they were too heartbroken. So running I went.
Today I took some notes. I noticed first that I had some intense pressure in my head. It's more like between my ears and it makes everything sound really muffled. I wonder why that happens? It's like I'm being strangled, only I'm not.
I also took my pulse ox with me so I could see how badly I was de-satting even on 5 freaking liters of o2. Well I mostly stayed at 91% which isn't bad, but it's a far cry from how well I feel at 95% and the lowest dip was right when I ended and practically keeled over from breathing so hard, at 89%.
My time also suffered today, but I'm going to blame that on the wind. it was quite windy and I think that slows me down. My 1 mile time was 13:07 today.
So when's it going to get easy?
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Mile A Day
So I've been doing this Mile A day thing for about a week I think. I took some time off when I flew to San Diego. I don't have any way to transport my oxygen tanks when I travel in the air, so I get to take breaks off running when I vacation.
Today I ran my mile in 12:56. I'm not impressed with the time, but considering the amount of ground I covered while walking, I think it's ok. I wish I could get under 12 minutes. I always set out with high expectations. I run and it feels great for about 40 seconds. How sad is that? FORTY SECONDS. That's about the amount of time it takes for my sats to drop.
I was telling Paul the other day that running with such low oxygen sats is really hard and I feel like I can't breathe in deep at all. I'll have to video tape it sometime so you can see how much I struggle. Sometimes I get really panicky like I'm never going to be able to catch my breath. I didn't have the same panic while I was jogging, training for my 5K. I think it's the extra exertion that causes the extreme breathlessness that only someone with chronic lung disease can appreciate. It kinda sucks. I miss the days of breathing effortlessly!
Today I ran my mile in 12:56. I'm not impressed with the time, but considering the amount of ground I covered while walking, I think it's ok. I wish I could get under 12 minutes. I always set out with high expectations. I run and it feels great for about 40 seconds. How sad is that? FORTY SECONDS. That's about the amount of time it takes for my sats to drop.
I was telling Paul the other day that running with such low oxygen sats is really hard and I feel like I can't breathe in deep at all. I'll have to video tape it sometime so you can see how much I struggle. Sometimes I get really panicky like I'm never going to be able to catch my breath. I didn't have the same panic while I was jogging, training for my 5K. I think it's the extra exertion that causes the extreme breathlessness that only someone with chronic lung disease can appreciate. It kinda sucks. I miss the days of breathing effortlessly!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
One Year Checkup
It's been a year since I started this blog. Well, to be exact, it's been 51 weeks.
I started on this exercise trek to improve my FEV1 and today I have the results one year later. Drum roll please:
November 7, 2008
("lung capacity") FEV1 1.43 Liters (45%)
(smaller airways) FEF 25-75% 0.77 Liters (23%)
November 10, 2009
FEV1 1.38 Liters (44%)
FEF 25-75% 0.59 Liters (18%)
Over the course of the year, my highest FEV1 was in May at 1.49 Liters (47%) and my highest FEF 25-75% was in February at 0.85 Liters (25%)
Was it worth it? I don't know. It sure was a heck of a lot of work only to NOT improve one bit. The moral of the story is, I'm a 33 year old Cystic with unrecoverable lung damage. My lung age is 102 years old. I should get a medal for that at least.
I started on this exercise trek to improve my FEV1 and today I have the results one year later. Drum roll please:
November 7, 2008
("lung capacity") FEV1 1.43 Liters (45%)
(smaller airways) FEF 25-75% 0.77 Liters (23%)
November 10, 2009
FEV1 1.38 Liters (44%)
FEF 25-75% 0.59 Liters (18%)
Over the course of the year, my highest FEV1 was in May at 1.49 Liters (47%) and my highest FEF 25-75% was in February at 0.85 Liters (25%)
Was it worth it? I don't know. It sure was a heck of a lot of work only to NOT improve one bit. The moral of the story is, I'm a 33 year old Cystic with unrecoverable lung damage. My lung age is 102 years old. I should get a medal for that at least.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
A Mile a Day, Take Two
Today I ran my mile, just as I promised, even though it would have been so easy not to do it. I figured since I will not get a chance to run while I'm in San Diego, Friday-Sunday, I might as well make the most of my week here before I go. (I can't run in San Diego while I'm visiting friends because I can't bring my tanks on the plane.)
Today I brought my pulse oximeter with me to find out why I felt so ill during the second half of my run yesterday. Turns out the first minute or two my oxygen saturation stays pretty stable. It drops from 100% on 5 liters to 95%. That is totally NORMAL! But then it continues to drop the more and more I push myself. So even though I'm still on 5 liters of O2 my sats decrease to 90% and they stay there. That is really interesting because I'm sucking on a whole lot of oxygen! 5LPM is a massive dose and it's the highest output my tank has.
I may have to re-think/re-organize my plan to continue to run like this. Obviously, running 1 mile on 90% is not going to kill me today, but I may be doing damage to my heart in the long run. The good news is my HR is pretty stead in the 160's which is pretty normal for me, even during my jog. That probably has a lot to do with the oxygen not dipping below 90%. I know from experience once I get into the 80's my HR also jumps into the 180's.
Today's time was better than yesterday at 12 minutes 29 seconds!
I have 4 more days to experiment with this mile a day project. Stay tuned!
Today I brought my pulse oximeter with me to find out why I felt so ill during the second half of my run yesterday. Turns out the first minute or two my oxygen saturation stays pretty stable. It drops from 100% on 5 liters to 95%. That is totally NORMAL! But then it continues to drop the more and more I push myself. So even though I'm still on 5 liters of O2 my sats decrease to 90% and they stay there. That is really interesting because I'm sucking on a whole lot of oxygen! 5LPM is a massive dose and it's the highest output my tank has.
I may have to re-think/re-organize my plan to continue to run like this. Obviously, running 1 mile on 90% is not going to kill me today, but I may be doing damage to my heart in the long run. The good news is my HR is pretty stead in the 160's which is pretty normal for me, even during my jog. That probably has a lot to do with the oxygen not dipping below 90%. I know from experience once I get into the 80's my HR also jumps into the 180's.
Today's time was better than yesterday at 12 minutes 29 seconds!
I have 4 more days to experiment with this mile a day project. Stay tuned!
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