13 Months into Covid Pneumonia recovery, walking benefits

[natswright]

I was a bit poorly last week, after pushing a month of walking, including hills, up to 5 days a week, but after a week i've slowly bounced back and consolidated that fitness.

Finally, I can climb stairs without getting out of breath at the top. I did this by walking for a month, 5 days a week, around 30 minutes on the day and made sure that I included hills, just gentle ones.

It was tough at first, but got easier. Now I seem to have a consistant (on the flat) heart rate of around 115bpm walking briskly.

When I walk up hill, I hit around 125bpm. The more I push speed and incline, I approach 140bpm, and this is where I start to breath heavily and get a bit out of breath. I've discovered my threshold. Now I need to do a bit more strength training and get comfortable beathing at 140bpm.

When I jogged 14 months ago, my heart rate was 145-155bpm typically, and I was able to maintain a conversation. This is because when well trained, my body was able to work aerobically at this heart rate. So i'm getting close to this level of fitness, although I still have some endurance and strength problems.

Because my heart rate climbing stairs rarely goes above 125bpm, i can do this aerobically, rather than anaerobically. Turns out having a house with stairs is an advantage as on a typical day, I use the stairs 10 times without thinking.

So, what is anaerobic vs aerobic?

The difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise comes down to oxygen levels.

In aerobic, or “with oxygen” exercise, your muscles have enough oxygen to produce the energy needed to perform. Anaerobic “without oxygen” exercise means oxygen demand is greater than oxygen supply and you can’t keep up with the energy your body is demanding. This leads to lactate production and eventually the cessation of exercise.

So there you have it. The fitter you get the better your body gets at using oxygen to power your muscles. Once over the initial illness, this is what causes one to feel so breathless.

Right back to just April this year, Just getting up and moving quickly or using stairs, going up a slight incline, had my heart rate at 135bpm. My threshold then was lower, so I was out of breath and it could fatigue me much more easily.

This is why in hospital the physo told me to get better, I had to get out of breath. 1 month of walking and struggling up hills and a noticable improvment.

Next, jogging, but before that, I need to strength train again, my legs still ache after long walks and long cycle rides. However the latter is resistance training and as i'm sitting, I can tolerate a lot more of this.

Fingers crossed for running by the new year.

[Damon1864 Volunteer]

That is wonderful news well done. Have a lovely day and take care 😊 Bernadette and Jack 🐕 xxxxxx 🌻🌻

[peege]

Great news natswright, well done you for perseverance! You prove that gently and incrementally does it 👏 👏 👏

[Threecats]

You’ve done incredibly well thanks to your determination and willingness to push yourself a little bit more each time. Many congratulations to you on your achievement 👏

[JJ_7]

Hiya Natswright. I have had 4 hospital admissions for pneumonia over the past 4 years . One was necrotic Pneumonia and killed a large part of my lungs and has left pulmonary bullae and nodules throughout. I had a highly responsible well paid job and had to retire because I could not walk without breathlessness every 20 yards. I have been pushing myself walking every day and it hurts. The lactic acid has finally helped form a few new channels and I think the severe pain of exertion over the last few months has had rewards. I am now thinking of starting a Lung walking group in Richmond and Bushey Park . The usual walking groups turned down my membership requests because I would not be able to keep up with them.

One additional benefit to my persistence is that I have lost some weight gained over the torpid months of lockdown. Let me know how you are getting on. I would love to hear. Happy Walking JJ xxx

[natswright in reply to JJ_7]

Wow, that sounds terrible that you have such lung damage. I do have some scaring, but seem to have recovered my full lung function. While i'm not running yet, i've managed to increase my pace a lot.

I do still have endurance issues, and cannot walk far, prior to this I was able to walk 10 miles easily.

Other than endurance are the aches and pains I get! I have no idea why I get so achy other than it seems common post covid and also common in folks who were in ICU and bedridden for months.

Lactic acid is caused because your body simply cannot walk aerobically, its why you get out of breath. I was terribly out of breath just standing up 12 months ago, a month after discharge from hospital. Folks say you regain muscle mass quickly, but you do not as your initial activity levels are so low.

I'm lucky, I seem to have enough working lung left to do activity, although as I said earlier, my endurance is still poor compared to what I could do.

Just look at me prior to all this

youtu.be/mX5vh9MCKIE(Not working as expected?)

[Metal-legs]

What an inspirational lady you are? Congratulations on such a remarkable continued recovery after such a torrid time. I guess we all have to push through that breathless feeling little and often. My mobility is quite restricted due to rheumatoid disease& now bronchiectasis but every day I continue to do short bursts of movement to increase my breathing levels. May your recovery continue through the winter& look forward to another post from you soon about how you have got back into running. All the best.

[Alberta56]

Glad you're recovering from the slight setback. I was slightly green with envy watching your Helvellyn video- just what I would like to be able to do. The too many cameras bit rang a bell too. Sadly I'm a one camera woman these days plus monocular on good days, and hill walking might be a bit demanding for lungs which puff and blow on our relatively short Essex slopes. One can but dream. I'm doing Pilates twice a week, but can manage to overdo that. xxxGood luck. Keep inspiring us.