Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Heart attacks are strange things. Mine started off like indigestion, and I didn't think about it much during my waking night shift. It never went away for the next 3 days though, and it was eventually getting very painful to breathe. At about 2am on the 4th day after it started the breathing got really shallow, painful and ever more difficult so I rang 111 and talked to the woman at the other end. She summoned an ambulance instantly and 2 hours later I was in the operating theatre.

As I was awake on the table, after they game me a local anaesthetic, the activity around me stopped when the lead surgeon announced that they couldn't fix the problem with a stent. The blockage was in a very tiny vein on the surface of the heart and it was too "wiggly" to get a stent in. I thought I'd be dead pretty soon after that, to be honest, but they changed plans and managed to squash the blockage with a tiny balloon they managed to get into place and then inflated. Very clever people they were indeed. Could have turned out a lot worse, I suppose!

Gym tomorrow - yay!

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

The next bit....

I had been reading about a Half Marathon (13.1 miles) that was being staged in Doncaster. It would start in Rossington, and finish at the famous Doncaster Race Course. Dare I enter? I had walked a lot further than this, and although I had even run distances of up to eleven miles, this would be an all out road race. The race took place on the 24th April 1983 and I ran a splendid time of 1 hour 37 minutes. I was still more fell walker than runner, and so on June 25th 1983 after being driven by a friend to the start of the Lyke Wake Walk at Ravenscar, I set my watch, and at 10:00 am jogged away from the start of my fifth crossing. The bogs were dry and firm, and the weather was cloudy and cool, and after a fine run, at 6:30pm I reached the finish at the Sheepwash car park in Osmotherly; 42 miles in eight and a half hours.

I had been introduced to Len Mackie, who worked with my mother on the buses, he had run several marathons and was keen to break the elusive three hour barrier. He became a great friend, and we ran together on many occasions. He was mainly a road runner, but on hearing about my exploits on the fells from my mum, he wanted to have a go at fell running. But for me 1983 was not over yet, and on the 3rd September at midday, I lined up at the start of my most gruelling challenge yet. The Bullock Smithy was a fifty six mile race to be completed within twenty four hours. Some of the route would have to be navigated in the dark, and as such, survival rations must be carried, with warm clothing and other safety Items. Checkpoints had to be visited at about five mile intervals in order to be logged in and out. I walked a lot on this one and finished in 19 hours 44 minutes, the friend I started with, Peter McWilliam, who was a fast walker rather than a runner called it a day after about half way, and I ended up jogging to the finish with a very friendly Spanish guy. We managed 109th position out of 162.

April 1984 saw me again lining up for the start of the Leger Half Marathon in Doncaster, I managed to wipe off six and a half minutes from my previous time, and finished in 1 hour 30 minutes in a position of 807 out of 3280. Len had been teaching me about road running, and I was about to introduce Len to the Lyke Wake. On the 16th June 1984 Len and I crossed in 12 hours, that would be my sixth.
Peter McWilliam did eventually complete the Bullock Smithy with me later that year in sixteen hours. It was during my third Bullock Smithy with Peter, in 1985 that I met an extra special friend. We had been making good progress and had covered about 35 miles, darkness had descended on us, and I had stopped for a call of nature, Peter carried on and I had to tread them in to catch him. He had caught up to a straggler and they were walking and talking, when I arrived Peter said “Do you know this bloke?” Turns out he only lived four miles away from me in Doncaster and we had never met. It was Jim Fletcher and this would be the beginning of some great and wild adventures together. Jim and I ended up doing the next five Bullock Smithy’s together in my best time of 10 hours 13 minutes for the 56 miles, and a best position of 10th out of a total of 177 successful competitors. Some other organised walks and runs up to the end of 1985 were:
The Three Peaks of Yorkshire, 26 miles in 9 hours: The Saltersgate Circuit, 26 miles in 4 hours 49 minutes: The North York Moors Crosses, 53 miles in 13 hours 30 minutes: The Bilsdale Circuit, 30 miles: Several West Cleveland Circuits, 26 miles and other assorted road and fell runs. Most were completed with Len and Jim.
On Wednesday 28th May 1986, Len, Jim and myself set off on an attempt to do a Lyke Wake Double. It was a gruelling 84 mile challenge that had to be completed in under 48 hours. After running the first crossing in about 10 hours, and resting for 3 hours at Ravenscar, we were down to a walk on most of the return journey, we completed the double in 30 hours 45 minutes, the hardest thing I have ever done.

This would be the last time I had the pleasure of running with the late Leonard Mackie.
It would not be the last time in 1986 that I was tested to the limit. After just six weeks recovery I decided to tackle the annual Lyke Wake Race. For one day every year they supported runners to race the 42 mile route, but because it was supposed to be a race, you were only allowed 12 hours to complete, after this, support would be withdrawn and you were on your own. I managed to run the distance in 6 hours and 48 minutes to come 40th out of 97 competing. I ran the race every year after that up to 1996. Posting a best time of 6 hours and 1 minute in 1991, and a best position of 7th on my last race in 1996.
1986 also held another first for me, on the 28th September I ran the Nottingham Robin Hood Marathon and managed a creditable time of 3 hours 21 minutes. Over the next ten years I would run a total of 36 full marathons, including, The London Marathon, Snowdon Marathon and 8 Robin Hood Marathons. My best Marathon time was 3 hours done on the Telford Marathon in May 1991.

Apart from the events mentioned, there have been hundreds of miscellaneous road and fell races on all types of terrain. I have always had a passion for hills, so in August 1990 I took part in the Buttermere Horseshoe, a 20 mile fell race that takes in some of the highest peaks in the Lake District……..

I think you now get the picture why it was such a shock to be cut down in my prime.
I was made redundant from a job I had been in for 22 years, a job I could do standing on my head, so all my energy went into running, it was top priority, or so I thought. In April 1994 after being given the chop, I did not run another event for the rest of the year. Don’t misunderstand though, I continued to train as normal in those dark days. It was in June 1995 that I returned to running events with the Stamford 20K, and then a procession of Half Marathons and other distances. Having returned to full time employment, I was back in the mix. But in 1996 after finishing in the top three on The Peakland Heritage (36 mile) and running my last Lyke Wake Race and Full Marathon, I resigned myself to running distances up to Half Marathon (13 miles). By March 2004 I had completed 50 Half Marathons, the fastest being Worksop 1987 in a time of 1 hour 23 minutes. If I appear to be boasting or bragging I’m sorry, it’s not intended. I just want to put some background perspective on what brought me to be stretched out on the lounge carpet with my life ebbing away. I never gave it a thought that life could be taken away so remorselessly, whoever and whatever you are. If there is one thing I have learned, I am not immortal. But I thought I was.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Thanks to the NHS we have had a couple of lucky escapes Tachyon......
I will always be indebted to those doctors and nurses who returned me to fitness....

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Rain. Not a downpour, but the dripping-off-the-eaves sort had me tying back my hair and zipping up my collar against the inevitable soaking. Though it had been five long weeks since my legs and lungs had really been tested, I sucked in a deep breath and plunged out into the world - a place I had dreams about during a month of bleak institutional nights. With thoughts only on the world around me and trying in vain to stay dry, all my responsibilities washed away with the showers. Every hard-won breath was rewarded with an earthy aroma of pine needles and the the fresh scent of ozone with the falling rain.

Feet heavy and wet, I slowed just enough to make the corner where trail meets the road cars peel curtains of water in their wake. Experience reminded me that a mistimed crossing could mean a drenching, but with the good fortune of light traffic, I leaped and hopped my way across, with a sigh of relief until just on the other side, I stepped into a boggy hole that left me knee deep in mud. Oh well, nothing a good hosing wouldn’t cure. Step, squish, step, squish, I wiped the water away from my brow and lashes and pressed on.

In perfect cadence, my legs were saying go, go, while my lungs battled back with a syncopated stop, stop. The rhythm with the rain and my hard-beating heart rounded to the place in the forest where the towering trees lean together to form a cathedral in a misty gothic arch. In the gray light and dripping rain, I ran the endless nave past the transepts with names like Bayou Trail and Rabbit Bend. Beyond them and round the corners, no doubt rabbits and and armadillos huddled in fern apses.

How hard it was to run, how much my body seemed to cave into age, too many days off, and the inclement weather, but somehow the symphony and magic of the cool rain gave me just enough - what? Grace? Inspiration? Mercy? I’m not sure, but I did it. Shivering, soaked and muddy, I made it back in terrible time, but felt happy to be back to my little church without walls or ceilings.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Gosh Tachyon also. How frightful! I’ve never experienced anything like it.
It’s good you had such resourceful doctors.

Grey Fox , you and my brother are in the same league. He’s as obsessed about his marathons. Three years ago he came 1st place in Canada’s long distance biking for his age group. I’m so proud of him. He’s the 2nd guy riding in the picture. Middle guy on the podium. The pictures were taken from a magazine.

This afternoon I jogged 2 kilometres, bicycled 6 miles , trained my upper body hard on four Atlas machines and did my usual 20 minute leg routine.

While still a dreary evening for jogging your descriptive narrative of the event made me for there. The scent of pine needles is so familiar to me. You’ve had a rough few weeks Sue. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You did good. There is no place like home is right.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Super workout, Bratti! It sounds like you come from an active family. Cycling is another sport that will carry us through a lifetime. It looks like your brother has figured that out - and then some.

Tachyon, I am always appreciative when someone shares their heart attack experience. We are so inclined to dismiss the symptoms away. Both of my parents have recovered well from heart attacks, and have been active for years since. I hope I behave myself and get myself seen if the symptoms appear. Apparently the symptoms in women can be more subtle.

The weather here was gorgeous, though humid which took a little wind out of my sails. Everyone in North America was like minded though I was the sole runner among hundreds of cycling retirees who come here for the winter. It's a little risky because many of them aren't as adept as Bratti's brother, but today I managed a nice four miler unscathed.

Step aerobics this evening while we watched the Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It was extremely well done! The movie that is....

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Walter Mitty here....

It was always going to be an eight miler this morning, among one of the reasons why; because I couldn't think of a good excuse not to!...
I stepped outside to check the thermometer while it was still dark and stepped into the middle of a dawn chorus. Although I couldn't see one bird, the trees and bushes were alive with chattering.

It was a mild 6*C and dry'ish, a clear blue sky and a 7:30 am sunrise meant that I had reached four miles, and a perfect vantage point to see a massive red disk rise up from the silhouette of the village where I was born some three miles away across several arable fields.

I had settled for a six miler the last couple of weeks due to a snuffling head cold, but now all trace of it seem to have disappeared and I ran comfortably and confidently with no problems and enough power in my muscles to see me complete this mornings eight miles of enjoyment....

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

I enjoyed your recent report Surfermom and am glad that you decided to 'bite the bullet' and run in the rain. It's never as bad as it looks once you're out there, as long as you lubricate the moving bits........

Bratti, your brother and I seem to be cut from the same cloth, and he has achieved some impressive results.....He certainly gets my respect, as do you for embarking on a great fitness regime. Well done!...

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Well I really don't know how to begin with my post this afternoon. Since I last posted, this thread alone has taken me almost half an hour to read thoroughly, such is the interest contained therein from all of you.

Heart attacks are a force to be reckoned with are they not?! Bob, you've had two and Tachyon one too. That must be the scariest thing is it not? being fine one minute and the next on your knees (or slumped in a chair) fighting for breath. I realise there is some light-headedness to begin with but I guess we never know when these events are about to take place. A thumbs-up smiley each here to say credit to you both for coming through these horrifying episodes. Let's not forget Bratti's brother too: One more for him
Let's hope those attacks will not strike you again - or any of us for that matter - until our last naturally fading minutes on this doom-ridden planet of ours!
Oh, and Tachyon, while we're on this subject. I do think night shift working is so much more hazardous to one's health. In the past 13 years I have seen colleagues collapse through exhaustion, contract type 2 diabetes, get serious back and sciatica issues and suffer other painful aches and strains. I'm sure nights affect us more than day work and I'm always conscious of these problems which is why I find it absolutely essential to keep myself fit - both at work and outside of it. Touch wood, aside from some lower back, knee and coughs, earaches and gym-related niggles, I'm okay so far. But I'm still a boy, aren't I?!

Bob - Your posts especially here have been so interesting and enlighteneing to read. Not specifically about the heart attack but of your running beginnings and subsequent efforts in the later post too - you're a superbly fit man and I envy your prowess once you lace up those trainers of yours! Well done buddy!

Bratti, Lion Queen - keep up the walks, swims and gym work. You know it makes sense as I do. All of this exercise surely makes us less suseptical (is that a word?) to serious illness.

On to Suzie (am I okay calling you by your name still, Suzie - I always feel a tad awkward about it. I'll revert to Surfermom if you like?
Humidity and then some rain to hopefully clear that sticky air over there in Florida. Can't be much fun running in either, although like you say, the rain is beautifully refreshing when you are running. I remember those days well when I used to do my hill jogging!


Me? Yesterday I hung six Venetian blinds and two curtain tracks. Today I pieced together a bunk bed from scratch (and without instructions - with some help from my 8-y.o. grandddaughter who was drilling holes for the first time and loved it!) I'm pleased to say that my stepdaughter has now almost completed her move into her new abode, although there will still be quite a bit of work assembling furniture and tidying things up. My next task is to fix two more blinds on Wednesday hopefully (if she can afford to buy them this week).

Next weekend I have decided though to have the whole time to myself. It's not being selfish, it's important "me time", which has virtually evaded me for the past two weeks already. So it will be a return to my Saturday afternoons out with the lads (for just that one weekend anyway), with plenty of gym work from tomorrow all lined up too.

Take care all. Back with a write-up tomorrow after a legs workout

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

The last chapter so far. Thanks Floydy and Bratti for your comments, much appreciated...It was the best forty years of my life.

The smouldering ember of life suddenly ignited, I could hear a telephone conversation taking place, and as it came into focus I realised that I was still here, and that Sue was speaking to the emergency services. The ambulance was here in no time and the paramedics got to work with injections, and a handful of stick on suckers, each complete with it’s own cable, I was connected up like broadband. We were soon on our way to hospital, with Sue beside me holding my hand. Apparently, all the information is transmitted to a team of cardiologists, who were monitoring my progress back at the hospital. Half way there we were ordered to stop as I took a turn for the worst, but I was soon stabilised and the journey continued. I was found a bed and made comfortable. Throughout the whole experience I was never in any serious pain, discomfort, maybe. I was still in my running kit when I arrived on the ward, and I needed to shower, that though, was out of the question. It was three days before I could eventually wash unaided, it felt so good to be clean and not have greasy hair. After various tests, it was found that I had indeed had a heart attack, but with low blood pressure and a cholesterol reading of 5.6, plus the fact that I only weighed 10 stone, it was put down to Fags and an unfortunate inheritance. My Dad had a couple of heart attacks and a stroke over the last few years. I always imagined that if smoking was going to get me, it would be in my lungs, but this was a silent killer, without symptoms, I had no idea what damage was being done until it almost killed me. I stayed in hospital for five days, and not knowing what had caused it, or how serious it was, I felt so vulnerable. Because blood pressure and heart rate were on the low side, it was decided that I should not be put on Beta Blockers, but I had returned home with half the contents of our local pharmacy. Ramipril, Statins, Aspirin and a GTN spray were the main ones. After a few days at home I was visited by the cardiac nurse, to make sure I was eating properly, and not doing anything strenuous. She tore a strip off my next door neighbour, when she found him cutting my lawn and wrongly identified him as me.

I was a self employed courier, but I wasn’t allowed to drive for six weeks, so no income, and although I could claim sickness benefit, I got it in a lump sum after returning to work. So, all my customers received invoices, and most paid up promptly.
I had booked a couple of days away in London for Sue’s birthday in June, it was just a week after being discharged from hospital, we went away anyway, I just took it more steady than usual and we had a great time. Over the next few weeks I filled my time with walking round the neighbourhood, and even some longer ones now and then.
After six weeks I would have to take the treadmill test to monitor the condition of my heart, to see if I had recovered. In beautiful weather I walked the four miles to the hospital. It caused quite a stir when I arrived in shorts and running shoes, after all I had just had a Heart Attack six weeks before. I was looking forward to running again, but in a controlled environment, where if anything went wrong, they would know and stop the test. The machine whirred into life, and I got into the rhythm of a steady walk, it gradually speeded up until I was jogging, “Any pain?” the doctor asked, “No, I feel good” I replied, “We will take your heart rate up to 155 BPM and hold it there for one Minute and then slow it down to a stop”. As the words left his lips the machine slowed and came to a halt. Blimey, I thought, that was a short minute. “Is everything okay?”I asked. “You will have to see the Doctor” he said, so I made my way to the waiting room. “Did you get any pain?” said the pretty young female Doctor as I made my way to the chair in front of her desk. “No” I replied, “In fact it’s the best I’ve felt for ages, and it was nice to be running again, albeit a short session” “Well this is going to be a problem for you, because your heart went into distress and they had to terminate the test. But the worrying thing is, you had no warning, so you don’t know when it’s happening” I had no idea, I felt nothing. “I’m going to send you for an angiogram, they will insert a catheter into your groin, which will follow an artery up into your heart, and we will be able to see what is going on.” She added. I left the hospital and walked home, at least we would find out what the problem was.

I carried my GTN spray religiously wherever I went, so, like Popeye with his spinach, I could blast some under my tongue and do superhuman feats. That’s the theory anyway. So one day I put it to the test, I reasoned that if my Dad had Angina, and had passed it onto me, then I would not be able to return to running. I had to know. I was walking along the canal bank, and then sprinted for the next mile, if I couldn’t do it without needing the spray, that was me finished. I arrived at the mile point on my knees, head swimming and legs like rubber, but I didn’t need the spray. Theory proved! I WILL return to running, one day...
And on Thursday 26th August 2004 just 12 weeks after Black Sunday, I completed my first proper 3 mile run. I continued to do 3 miles every other day until Sunday 12th September, when I upped the mileage to seven. I had come back from the dead.

My angiogram took place at Doncaster Royal Infirmary on Tuesday 12th October 2004 and it was confirmed that I had a blockage in a small branch of three arteries, one of which was all but closed, this had been the cause of my heart failure. All my other arteries were healthy and clear of obstruction, it was agreed that running had indeed been a major contributor to the good condition of the rest of my circulatory vessels.
It had been arranged that sometime in February 2005 I would visit The Northern General Hospital in Sheffield to have some stents placed into the affected arteries.
(Stents are small metal tubes placed into the arteries using a catheter, inserted into the groin, and a type of balloon, which, when inflated, allows the stents to be accurately placed.) It didn’t go that long though, because after returning home from a job one Friday night, I answered the phone to a nurse from the Northern General hospital, who suggested that I might attend the hospital at short notice for the procedure. I said “How short?” “Tomorrow?” she replied. So on Saturday 11th December 2004, Mr Oakley placed 3 stents into my plumbing, and I was discharged that evening.

In 2005 after careful research I managed to gradually wean myself off all the drugs I had been prescribed, and continued with my running, building up to long Sunday runs of 10 and 11 miles, by the end of the year I had managed to accumulate 745 miles.
2006 turned out to be a year of niggling injuries, nothing serious, but due to missed runs, I could only manage 600 miles this year.
2007 was better with a final total of 995. But my confidence had taken a bashing, and I was reluctant to return to road racing. But there would be a dramatic change for the better. After a successful interview with Royal Mail, on the 27th November 2007 I jogged down the road with my first bag of post. I became known as the running postman, always in shorts, and always running. My weight reduced from 11 stone down to 10, I was eating like a horse, while turning into a lean mean delivery machine.
The last road race I did before Black Sunday was the Ackworth Half Marathon, and was surprised to learn that Ackworth was the place I would deliver the post.
I wasted no time in signing up for the 2008 Ackworth Half Marathon, and on 16th March, while being observed by most of my customers, completed the course in 1 hour 46 minutes, which was six minutes faster than my run in 2004. Mr Oakley and the team at Sheffield Northern General Hospital had done a superb job, and returned me to the life I love. I went on to complete Newark and Bridlington Half Marathons later that year, although, being a postman, it was difficult while on races, to resist the temptation to run down peoples paths.
It was my sixtieth birthday on July 14th 2010, and as a result of some prudent financial organising earlier on in my career, among other things, I had the opportunity to retire, so I made 13th July my last ever day as a working man. I loved the outdoor life of a postie, and wished I had taken the job when I was younger, but you only remember the good days, although there were many, there were also wet, cold and stressed ones which are better forgot.

Since my retirement I have carried on religiously with running and racing, making my tally of Half Marathons sixty one, with a couple in the pipeline for this year (2013) although speed is drifting away, the enjoyment isn’t, and I hope to be running for a few years yet. God and Mr Oakley willing………