Not sure if I should say I burst into excitement or broke down in excitement, but for sure I was numb and didn’t know how to react and whom to share with when I touched 20mins on August 9. It may sound simple, ridiculous and even frivolous to many, but to me, who’ve not been able to run for more than 10mins in the past 36 years, this milestone a month before my 38th birthday is an icing on the cake.
Two years ago, same time, I was struggling with palpitations and my entire family was helplessly watching my every move. And now with no one around to watch or/and cheer, I felt like a glutton feeding on my own success and celebrating it. Three months after the surgery, I was back at the gym and 7mins on the elliptical was a challenge and I had to constantly watch my heart beat and not take it beyond the permissible limit. Last August, I cycled some difficult terrains at Maine and there were moments I had to get off the cycle to catch a breath, but I successfully managed to complete the entire cycling expedition despite rain and cold breeze on the last day. And when I took the fitness challenge test upon to return to India, I passed it by covering a mile in 10 mins but at the end of the test I was tired to even brag about it.
When I moved to Paris, I was determined not to skip gym, something that I have committed to for over 13 years. To be honest, I spent more time looking for a gym than for a home. I looked at the equipments, the distance from home and work, evaluated the crowd to draw my inspiration to perspire. I know you will smirk at me for all this due diligence, given that I was hardly achieved the one mile challenge in 10 mins a year ago.
How did I come around to achieve 20mins at a constant speed of 12.5kmp on the treadmill without panting and puffing? What happened in the last 12 months? Did I use any performance enhancing drugs? Did I train specially to improve my lung capacity? Infact, I had taken a 45 days break from the gym before I achieved this milestone.
Before I shared the news with my close friends, I ensured this was not fluke and I repeated the experiment multiple times on multiple machines. I even repeated this on the elliptical for 20 mins and held my heart beat at 170 beats per minute for over 15 minutes and achieved more than what I did on the treadmill from calorie, distance and heart beat perspective. I tried out Elliptical and treadmill combo for 30 mins.
At 6 am on August 9, I felt like a blind man who got his eyesight, a deaf who got back his hearing, and the dashboard in front of me immediately sent serotonin levels to my Sahasrara chakra and dumped endorphins into my blood stream leaving me in a state of shock and excitement. And since then I have been at the gym everyday repeating this feat and ensuring this is not a stroke of luck.
And when I finally shared it with a few close friends, they were really supportive, but all of them sounded cautiously optimistic given my heart condition. A doctor friend of mine and a marathoner and living in the UK, suggested that I get off the treadmill and start running outdoors. Another marathoner from Chennai suggested the same and advised that I reduce my speed and sustain myself for longer. He even spoke about a few heart patients running marathons and guided me to go on a few websites from where I can learn beginner tips for marathons. They know and I know I have no Ethiopian gene running in my family to think or attempt a marathon, but their words came as a big motivation.
While resting at the locker room, I recalled the scene from the day after my heart surgery, my lungs were struggling to expand, while the woman next to me, twice my age practiced lung exercise on the hour with dedication and discipline. My age helped me to walk out of the ICU ahead of her, but I made it a point to stop by her bedside and let her know that she had silently taught me a lesson for life. And two years later I read about the achievement of another septuagenarian who earned her PhD researching on the musical aspects in Thirumangai Azhwar compositions. I realised that moment that life doesn’t begin at 38…it begins at any age as long as you have a sense of yearning, direction and discipline.
There is still one variable that I am yet to test i.e. external factors: change of place/equipments, high levels of motivation/inspiration from fellow buddies, and cooler temperatures. While most of us all claim fatherhood to all our achievements and gobble up all the credits, but I will only take credits for my commitment to continue gym and yoga post surgery. I never imagined or even set out to achieve 600 calories 30 mins or achieve 2.5 miles in 20 mins.
In the journey of life we will all cross such milestones (this is insignificant to many) that expand our boundaries, break our mental barriers, physical challenges and leave us with a momentary high but and confidence to go beyond. And with these thoughts, I get ready to celebrate my 38th birthday with another challenge....a hiking trip in the Austrian side of Alps (Salzkammergut) for 5 days covering 70 kms. So wish me well on the next challenge and come back soon for more pictures and stories.
