Slice of Chaotic Life

Having checked that my pulse was decently low today too, I decided to make a couple half-hour rounds without Airomir, the asthma medicine I took yesterday.

Remembering the warmth of the last couple days, I set out in just trousers and a thin shirt (and the new running shoes, of course). But it was overcast and a chilly wind today. It would still have been OK if I could jog, perhaps. But around the time I had warmed up (ten minutes walking on the first round) my pulse watch had gone weird. It would easily take minutes between each time it updated the pulse, and then it would sometimes give obviously wrong numbers (like 77 or 181, when I knew I was in the 120-140 range). Since it was so unresponsive, but mostly around 130, I did not take the risk of doing any longer jogging, just a short stretch here and there, and otherwise just walking fast.

I still completed the circuit, which usually takes 33 minutes in walking shoes, in 28 minutes. So it does seem I am moving faster than usual, even with almost no jogging. That is interesting. It means my pulse may not be THAT much higher than it should be compared to my exercise. (Although I doubt I really burned 1000 calories in two hours yesterday, especially since I was just pottering around part of the time.)

When I came back inside after the first circuit, the pulse watch suddenly worked perfectly again. I thought the cold might have had something to do with it, and took a second round with a windproof jacket. Since the cold wind was the major problem, I now felt comfortably warm the whole trip. But the pulse watch still became unreliable after some minutes, although not quite as bad as the first time. Bad enough however that I could not follow my pulse when jogging – it might take a minute or two before the number changed.  So I still jogged only short stretches and walked fast for the rest.

Since I did not jog for long, I did not really risk a full asthma attack. I did however get a light bronchial cough and excess phlegm, same as the previous days. There was really little difference with or without Airomir with the current workload. I assume if I started jogging longer, there would be more difference. The pulse watch is a year old, so perhaps I need to change battery in the belt. I can’t do that myself, will have to send it in, which will take some time. I may buy a new and have the old changed at my convenience. Of course, that was what I thought last time too, and mislaid the old eventually before I got around to sending it in.

I have also downloaded an Android app (Runkeeper) which should be able to keep track of distance and speed automatically while I walk, whereas the pulse watch monitors my pulse, time elapsed and calories used. So if I get to use them both, I should have a pretty good idea of what I am doing. But it won’t be today. While I might have been able to take another round (my feet are less tired than yesterday), my digestion is acting up again, so I’m not going anywhere.