@VeeEnn fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness and most of all heart pain.
The worst part of my surgery has been lingering fatigue. I have been gradually working back to doing the entire hour. I stop when I feel tired.
Wendy
2 Likes
Same for the husband…the degree of whole body fatigue as well as how long it lasted. I got a bit of a clue whilst he was in the hospital as, over the 8 days post op, I think we had about 3 visits from the social worker to double and triple check that I still didn’t want any sort of home help.
Once home he kept asking “How on earth do sick people manage?”…meaning how come he felt so poleaxed in spite of being in good shape going into the surgery. My reply was along the lines of “Maybe they’re not so irked by the fatigue…because they don’t want to do much anyway so they’re as fit as they want to be already”…which is a bit judgey, granted, but not necessarily wrong.
It’s not so much your body letting you down, but rather the huge demand on resources and any spare capacity you had to handle the healing process.
FWIW, my orthopedist forewarned me of this prior to my lapiplasty…pointing out that there are no Brownie points to be had for pushing the envelope only delayed healing and frustration. I found out that he was being truthful (rather than a “under promising and over delivering” thing)…and he was right about all the overexhuberant claims on the marketing videos on YouTube. Probably AI generated 
My hard endurance events fall into 3 categories: Spartan Races which vary from 5k to half marathon, DEKA Fit Races which are 5ks with 10 workout stations every 500 meters, and CrossFit Hero WODs with the Memorial Day Murph being the #1 toughest.
The heavy lifting doesn’t help as much in Spartan Races. Those are trail races with 20-30 obstacles thrown in. Sometimes it can be a sandbag carry of 60 pounds or a herc hoist of 150 pounds, but most of the time it is rope climbs, A frame climb, barb wire crawl, monkey bars, and other things where you need to be able to move your body weight. The DEKA races and Hero WODs the heavy lifting definitely helps because most of the work is moving weight despite the endurance component.
I can say that when I re-started lifting heavy again as opposed to running and body weight exercises, I have put on about 5-7 pounds. I’d like to think it’s all muscle but haven’t done a body fat test to see.
Everyone needs a role model, here is one of mine.
5 Likes
That guy is phenomenal ! I don’t see 80+ year olds at the ski races I do, but see some very, very fast skiers in their 70’s. They smoke people in their 30’s ( not all of them, of course. The very best skiers are late 20s to mid 30s. most of them ski’d at the collegiate level, so they have great skill to go along with incredible strength and aerobic power. The best skiers in their 20s are chasing World Cup shots, they don’t ski at these “little” state/regional races ). And there is 1 skier still racing that will be 80 next season. Have a ton of respect for him, it is a grueling event, works every part of the body, and he always finishes. Always wins his age bracket, too, lol, it’s usually just him
4 Likes
One of my heroes is my 98 year old neighbor who still takes brisk daily hill walks and stops to whack dandelions with his 7 iron along the way. Just keep moving until you can’t.
3 Likes