Well I certainly don’t want to go out and run any sprints, but I think chemo-induced fatigue from last weekend’s RICE protocol, may have bottomed out on Thursday-Friday. Friday afternoon I went to the gym. The plan had been to ride the bike for 14 minutes and then do the weight session – modified based on how I felt. On the way over I thought "I’ll ride the bike for 12 minutes – it’s just a warmup for the weights anyway."
So I started on the bike – and had to dial down the resistance level from nine (I usually set it at nine or 10 – the top level is 12) to six after three minutes! And a few minutes later to four. I just had no puff at all. It”s like the body could not get out of first gear. I finished the last couple of minutes at level six. Incredible the difference between what I could do on Friday, and what I did last Friday!
The weights went OK – I only did some work on the chest press machine, some abdominal work, the back machine (very important – using this machine the last two years has almost eliminated my chronic low back pain!), and some leg extensions. Eliminated the other stuff. Weight work is easier than cardiovascular work for me right now – I just take longer between sets.
When I got home, I felt better.
Then yesterday morning (Saturday) there was definite improvement. I was in the house the whole morning anad toyed with the idea of going to my office for an hour or so – and then talked myself out of that. Instead I took an afternoon nap.
After the nap, the four of us headed out to a birthday party for my goddaughter, Mary Margaret Brusstar, who will be one year old. When we arrived Laura, the goddmother, and Laura’s parents were already there. It was a great evening, with a sit-down dinner (neither my son Tim, nor Mary Margaret’s older brother Joe are very good at sit down dinners!) and with Laura charming the pants off my two little boys. I have known Kathy and Dan Brusstar for about 14 years. In fact I knew Kathy when she was Kathy Thompson and worked part-time for me in Manhattan. She likes to say that her job description with me was answering the phone, typing four words a minute, and reading The Wanderer.
We stayed for about four hours, and I felt fine the whole time. The wine probably helped.
This morning I feel better still, but no way can I go out and do any real physical exertion. I am going to the gym later and will try and improve on Friday’s sorry performance.
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