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July 6: Second workout at the Clev. Clinic Cardio Rehab Dept. this morning. Now the big difference today vs last Friday’s workout was that I did not do a treadmill run. My left knee’s medial meniscus and the SI in my low back were sore from just that short 18-20 minute treadmill run, so Shannon, my attending physiologist was good with me just going to all cycling today. Heck, the last thing I need right now is some stupid running injury to kick in as I’m really trying to get myself back in bike shape. At this point running ranks very, very low on my priority list, so getting sidled from a meniscus tear or my SI joint flaring up to the point to where I cannot do anything - NO WAY! 

So what she did was just double my bike time. I guess what they were trying to do is measure and monitor me with those two different sets of HR zones for both bike and run. I don’t think I made it clear enough from the onset that in my world right now cycling is primary, hiking secondary, and running tertiary. To me running is no longer a “spiritual” and pleasurable endeavor. It’s boring, painful, slow, and drudgery. Yup, there was a day when I just loved to run, where I got the runner’s high, felt the speed, felt the exhilaration and excitement, felt the love. Today I feel no love.

Got changed into some running shorts and hooked up a 4-lead EKG telemetry unit to my chest. Then Shannon did my BP, weight, resting HR and such and all looked good. So today she wanted me at 35 min in my “zone” 118-132, with a 3 min WU and a 5 min WD. Got through the WU and then up to my prescribed zone, though it was more on the low side so she bumped the wattage up 5W and that kind of slowly got me where I needed to be. Now I was keeping the cadence at like 105-115 most all of the time.

The other folks doing there workouts must think I’m some sore of nut because within 10 minutes I was just dripping with sweat and spinning my brains out. The bike I’m using is this thing with pseudo-aero bars with contacts on the aero position and the upright bar position that you can hold which give you your HR reading. So I was in the pseudo-aero position most of the time, with my ass scooted up onto the nose of the saddle in order to get maximum cadence, kind of like scooting up on the saddle nose to sprint in the saddle. The bike has just these cheapie plastic toe clip pedals that you cannot use regular clipless cycling shoes with, so I just use my running shoes. And finally the saddle…uhhh…it’s one of those big fat, wide, nasty, horrible things that an elephant could sit on. This thing definitely was NOT the bike I used for my original stress test a week ago. 

But, for such a short workout I could definitely deal with it. So I kept my cadence and stayed within like 125-130 for the whole ON time of the workout, spinning over 100 all the time. During this stretch Shannon would ask me how I’m feeling and if I have any chest pain. She also did one BP measurement. At one point I asked her, kind of like suggesting, if she wanted to up the wattage so I’d drop the cadence, but she was good with where I was at. Dang it!

I should have worn a headband because by the end of the main workout I was just dripping head to toe with sweat. Once I was done with the WD I literally had to go to the men’s room to get a giant handful of paper towels to mop up all the sweat on the floor, on the base of the bike, and on the bottom tube area of the bike. Then I had to use these antiseptic wipes to totally wipe down the bike from all the sweat on the bars, seat and pedals. I mean I just washed that bike over with a waterfall of sweat! 

Shannon had me sit down a bit, then did another resting HR and BP measurement. Then she asked my dietary questions as to what I’d been eating for brekkie, lunch and dinner. Now I’ve been pretty damned good so far working to stay close to this Mediterranean diet thing, and she seemed happy with my answers. The one thing I did learn, according to her, is that pork is still considered a red meat despite the fact that it’s white - new to me! She really stressed the veggies and fruit, and believe you me, I’ve been eating more veggies per day that at any other time of my life. Hell, I’m pooping a veggie basket every day!

So I left there feeling pretty good with what I’d done thus far. I’ve one more workout there this Friday and then I’m on my own. Now there was one moment where I was kind of taken aback, and it came when I asked Shannon about how I’m to progress after the Friday workout. She informed me that we’ll go up another 5 minutes at my “zone” on Friday, and then I can up my rides in the “zone” by about 5 min at a time 3x/week. And I was thinking, “shit, I’ve already done a 2 hour workout outside in my “zone” on my own with my new HR monitor!” And as she was going over the progression, I was doing the math in my head, “up five minutes to 40 min workout, to 45, to 50, to 55…and I’d be like a month away from what I’m doing outside right now.” Hell, what I did last week! Well, I’ve been excellent thus far in listening to everyone in this whole rehab process, but I’m making this one adjustment on my own - I can NOT just go out and ride 45-50, 55, 60 etc. minutes. I’ll stay with my 2 hour ride, but just make my “zone” set inside of that. The rest will be under my zone. 

And I’m thinking all this as she’s talking to me. I just didn’t have the heart to tell her that “Pete’s been a bad boy!” So I listened attentively and played good patient. I guess I get it in that they want me to very gradually work my heart back into shape. I do get it. But it’s just not even worth going out on the bike for 45 minutes - to me anyway. So I’ll do the right thing and contain that main set, my specified HR zone, in the middle of the ride and have it sandwiched between all below zone riding.