Geoff Owen
The full journey from discovery, diagnosis, operation and recovery (hopefully!)
ByPass (CABG) to 5K
Day 93 - (Aug 19th) - A BIG DAY for me!
Yes - if you've read the Cardiac Rehabilitation page this was the day I was given permission to 'run' - some of the earlier training runs are on the 'Cardiac Rehabilitation' page as I had not been signed off by them yet.
From now on I'll be putting my runs on this page so you can see all of the ups & downs of trying to train to do my first official timed run - only a 5K Park Run to start with - next year I'll get it up to 10K.
Day 112- (Sept 6) - A BIG DAY for me!
It's been a while since my last post - various reasons - busy working, a few aches & pains, PROCRASTINATION but I finally got out this morning - this was a 4.5 mile 'run' with Martin - my Goal was to 'run' without any stops like I had done previously.
When we started it was raining - so close for me saying - 'lets do it tomorrow instead!'
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Thankfully with Martin there I went ahead & started - we kept a reasonable pace up - we did slow down as we ran past a Heron who was sharing then towpath with us - it didn't fly away - also when we got back to that spot about 2 miles later it was still there and didn't fly away again - I think I may take my camera the next time!
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We did have a stop at one point to chat to a couple of policemen who were looking at some cars - it turns out that a new 'hit squad' has been formed to target vehicle theft in South Birmingham - it works, they'd just found a big posh Range Rover that was nicked a couple of hours earlier!
Anyway - back to the run - yes it ended up being a good one, even though it was a steady one it was still faster than the last time we did it.
Time for a shower now & then go out to pick some catalogues & then drop them before I go to work!
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There may be times where you really don't feel like doing what you know you should do - PUSH through that feeling (it's not easy) as the feeling you get when you've done it is so much better - I'm now raring to go (as soon as I've had my shower)!
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A good start to the day!
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I hadn't been lazy since the last post - done a few walking work/business miles:
Thursday - 3.22
Friday - 4.03
Saturday - 4.52
Sunday - 3.2
Monday - 2.82
Day 119 - (Sept 13th) - A short run
Day 121 - (Sept 15th) - A short run
Just a flat 3 mile - pushed the pace up slightly - however need to work on my breathing as I had a few pauses!
Day 129- (Sept 23rd) - A BIG DAY for me!
Well that was not good!
A recovery run that wasn't
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This was supposed to have been a recovery run - last week I pulled my calf muscle - so I've not ran for over a week - yesterday it felt OK and today it did - so I thought it was time for a gentle 2 or 3 mile jog.
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I got as far as the first mile and then the pain came back - so rather than make it worse I walked all of the way back!
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I didn't stop Strava so you get everything on here - even when I stopped to do the FB Live
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Day 134- (Sept 28th) - A BIG DAY for me!
Not what I wanted to hear 🥲
Day 138- (Oct 2nd) - A Little Blip on My Journey! 🥲
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I suppose one advantage of walking is it's easier to take a camera with you!
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I took mine today & did a few photos - nothing exciting but here they are! 🤣
Day 153 - (Oct 17th) - A BIG DAY for me!
A bit of an Update
Proof that I only went slow - 2 little jogs only!
More next time
Day 160 - (Oct 24th) - Calf recovery - Walk/Jog
Part of my calf recovery - did a 4 mile walk and jog.
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It went quite well - calf was OK but need to build my stamina back up as breathing was hard!
Doing 2 - 3 mile walking most days - just start getting my speed pushed up now
Day 178 - (Nov 11) - 6 Month Anniversary from the Operation
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Here they are - up to date photos of both scars - chest (to gain access to get to the heart & pinch an artery to do one of the bypasses) & arm (where they harvested an artery to do a bypass with).
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As you can see this is exactly 6 months from when I had the Op and they are looking good. No pain or infections, I did not use any creams or oils on them - just soap or shower gel when I had a shower.
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The arm is still number around the wrist & the lower half of the scar - BUT I think it may be getting a little less numb.
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If you have the op you may think the scars will never heal but give them time and things WILL get better.
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As you can see from mine - the arm one is almost just a fine white line now. The chest one is getting there - I'm
sure that in another 6 months that will also have disappeared - especially if I don't shave around it!
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Now if you scroll back for 6 months you can see how they started and see the difference.
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Saturday May 13th 2023 - 12 Month Anniversary from the Operation
YES - I've now survived 12 months from the operation!
As you can see there has been a big break in posts since the 6 month point - the reason for this is - the operation went well and by 6 months I was back to doing everything I used to do before the arteries started to close down!
Unfortunately the 6 month anniversary Park Run never happened - nothing to do with the operation or the heart! But it was due to the old 'running injuries' - the pulled calf muscle I talked about earlier - went again 🥲 and there was no way I could have done even a slow run 🥲.
Then it became the busy time of the year with our business so I had to make the most of it and keep the customers happy so the running went on to the back burner and I did not really start again until the weather got better in about March. The calf muscle had got back to normal by then.
I started to do the running again & did a few Park Runs as well as at least one 'training' run in the week, these were all steady short runs with no intensive training or efforts like I used to do in the distant past, 🤣 just enough to start building up my stamina and getting my legs and body used to running again.
The first Park Run (5km) was over 31 minutes - but I finished it! 🤣
Over the last 2 or 3 months I've manged to get this time down to 27 minutes and 48 seconds it was a Personal Best (Post Op), I appreciate that there is NO WAY I will get to my original Personal Best (25 years ago) of 17 minutes and 15 or 18 seconds), so now I'm just focusing on POST OPERATION times! 🤣
SO - the day came - yes it's my 1st post op Anniversary - the idea WAS to get a Personal Best on the Park Run - HOWEVER 2 weeks ago it happened again - on a run my calf muscle went twang! 🥲 This time I wasn't going to let this set back stop me from doing my anniversary Park Run - so I stopped running for 2 weeks - I put all the different concoctions on my leg as I could find - hot ones, cold ones, nice smelling and not so nice smelling ones.
The day came to do the run and I felt OK - I took it steady, not overdoing it and hoping this would warm the calf muscle up and keep it going to the end.
I got to about the 3 quarter point and it went twang again! I did swear a little, I apologised to those who were running close to me. My pace slowed a quite a bit to start with and then I started to build it up as the end was in sight!
I finished and felt good - other than the leg, breathing was good again as I'd missed out with my Beta Blockers! 🤣
It wasn't as Personal Best - when I got home the results were posted and I was only 11 seconds down - I did 27 minutes and 59 seconds!
I think I will set my Goal to get into the 25 minutes by the end of the year! Although I think it's another couple of weeks without any running! 🤣
UPDATE🤣
Yes - the CABG to 5k didn't really happen - due to the ongoing calf injury I had to really have a full year out without running! 🥲
So I did not really manage to get running regularly until 2024 and even then it's only been the weekly Park Runs - BUT anything is better than nothing!
The good news is that my calf muscle has been on best behaviour and it has caused no issues this year - I make sure that I do a good load of 'calf lifts' on both legs before going to the run and some exercising before the start.
With no training or running in the week (due to being too busy) my times have come down from in the 30 minutes to my new Personal Best (Post Operation) of 26:00 on 4th May 2024.
The following week was 26:27 on a new course - so really that was the closest date to my 2 year operation anniversary - I was not too upset with that as it was easily my 2nd best run so far.
I know that I'm never going to achieve my very best Personal Best of 17:18 but that was done about 25 years ago and with LOTS of weekly training and running, but I'll be happy if I can continue to improve (despite some tablets holding me back!).
My new Goal is to be SUB 25 minutes by the end of 2024.
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