Slice of Chaotic Life

The daily life of a celibate middle-aged man.

Archive for August, 2012

Charged up

Posted by Itlandm on August 31, 2012

I took a walk/jog today again. My pulse was not super low, but it did not stay up either even after five quarters and 800 calories. So I guess I still had a lot of charge left. After all, I did not exercise at all yesterday (well, except for my commute, about 25 minutes of walking).

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For want of a nail

Posted by Itlandm on August 29, 2012

My pulse was super low today again. My batteries must be fully charged and supercharged. I didn’t exercise yesterday because of recurring gut pains. It does not seem to have stopped whatever process it is that charges the batteries of my body though.  But after 500 calories, I had to give up because a half ingrown toenail acted up. I’ve tended to it but didn’t jog more today and won’t be tomorrow either.

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Supercharged?

Posted by Itlandm on August 27, 2012

After a couple rainy days in a row (a rare thing here on Norway’s south coast) my pulse was super low, even by my standards. I could jog longer before my pulse reached 130 (that is where I usually drop back into walking) and it took shorter before it fell to 115 (where I go from walking to jogging). In RPG terms I would call it a 10% boost to recovery for a duration of 40 minutes. Actually it was probably slightly below 10%, but fairly close.

I usually get this if I have not exercised in two or more days, unless I have a fever in the meantime. I believe ordinary humans have it too, because it is common to rest the second day before a race, says Google, and only do brief exercise the last day. So this must be a well known phenomenon, but I have not found any name for it. I don’t know what causes it either. It is not glycogen, I think, for I almost never use up my glycogen. When you run a marathon, you will use up your glycogen at some point and it is called “bonking” or “hitting the wall”. Your body becomes heavy and even shaky and you cannot run even if you try, although you can still walk. Some people become able to run again, albeit slower, a so-called second wind. And of course if they drink sugar water, they will be able to run on that once it hits the blood.

I’d love to know what this “supercharging” is that lets me perform better after two days without exercise. But even if I don’t know how it works, I still make use of it.

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My weekend

Posted by Itlandm on August 20, 2012

On Saturday, when I put on the pulse watch to exercise, I found my pulse was 15-20 points above the usual. This is a sure sign I am brewing on an infection, when I have not exercised really hard or in a new way the day before (that gives the higher pulse as well). I was not super surprised, because I have cut corners on sleep the last week (without compensating enough with brainwave entrainment). So I took only half an hour’s walk that day, and nothing on Sunday. On Sunday, I had a slight temperature, not quite a fever but higher than normal.

Night to Monday, at 4 AM, I woke from pain in both my upper jaws, and a feeling of swelling and pressure, most strongly on the left.  By the time I got to work around 9 AM, the pain in the right side was gone, but the left was still so bad I planned to go to the clinic and get some antibiotic. I did delay it though, and the pain lessened throughout the day. By now there is just a faint tenderness, and soreness in the gums. Today  my pulse is back to super low again. I walked and jogged for about 40 minutes, but had to stop as one foot was about to blister. I could probably have kept going if not – so much time without exercise means my battery was fully charged.  So evidently a couple days of infection does not stop glycogen from building up in the muscles. It is probably a completely separate process from the immune system thing.

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Still walking around

Posted by Itlandm on August 4, 2012

My pulse hasn’t continued to go down – it has actually gone just a little bit up. Not a lot though, 5-10 beats depending on the day, from the minimum I wrote about last time. I walk, with some jogging, most days when it is not raining. It very rarely rains two days in a row here on Norway’s south coast, more like two days a week, although during July it is more like three days a week.

What I do is walk casually for ten minutes to warm up. By then my pulse is usually just over 110, so I jog a short stretch to get it to 125 at least. Then I walk till it is just over 115, and jog till it is 130. I repeat this as needed, and after a while it stabilizes around 120. As long as it is 117 or above, I don’t stress it further. I admit that sounds random, but I’ve been doing this most days of the week for months, and I recognize certain “levels” of functioning. It is a bit like the stock exchange, where a stock may have a ceiling and a floor. If it goes through one of these, it takes on a different formation which is less predictable. My pulse is like that.

Apart from that I can’t think of any great news concerning my body. This is good. Long may it live, but we can only do so much for that and leave the rest to providence.

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