My friend, Marie, has been bugging me for weeks (or months?) to join her in her lunch time walk/jog around the basketball court in our gym in the office. I wanted to join her, in fact, this idea also crossed my mind way, way before she told me about it, but I was very hesitant because I was scared that I’ll have palpitations and skipped beats attack during the walk.
Blame it on the cardiologist in Asian Hospital where I was confined when I was diagnosed with this heart condition in 2005. She scared the hell out of me when she said that with my condition, I could just drop dead, without warning! It didn’t help when I told her that I was active in the gym at that time, using the treadmill almost everyday. She had the guts to tell me, “That’s because you had no heart monitor when you do that!”. She told me this after I underwent a treadmill stress test which only lasted for 3 minutes because apparently, I had a ventricular tachycardia. She even immediately sent instructions for me to undergo angiogram, and to have angioplasty immediately after if they found a blockage in my heart. It was a blessing that we didn’t go back to her anymore, but instead, got a second opinion from another doctor in St. Luke’s Hospital, who asked me to undergo a different type of procedure to rule out heart blockage — a much less invasive procedure than angiogram. When all the tests came back normal, he then prescribed a medicine for my palpitations, and monitored my condition through regular check-ups. But still, my bad experience with that cardiologist still haunts me. I’m still scared to do some even minor exercise for fear of having that ventricular tachycardia again.
So, that was reason why I was hesitant to join Marie’s lunch time group. But then, I noticed that I was having palpitations even during slight movements. I began to attribute this to my excess weight, and my son even mentioned that it’s because I have no exercise, even minor one like walking for even a few minutes. He also reminded me that I bought our Wii Console because I wanted to have some exercise even at home. So, I began to observe myself, and I started to do more walking in the office, it even helped that I have a new boss whose office is located on the ground floor of our building, very far from my own workstation.
Then, I decided to join the lunch time group, and last Wednesday was my first time to join them. I made a slow pace, trying to observe myself, listening to and feeling my heartbeat. Then, I increased my pace, adding more force to my steps while swaying my arms. I then timed myself, it took me one minute to walk around the court, so, when we finished at 12:40pm, I made a total of 40, not bad for a first timer. And now, I’m excited to do this more often!
For me, a walk around the court is much better than walking on the treadmill. I didn’t even notice that 40 minutes have passed because I also enjoyed watching those who were playing badminton in the middle of the court.
It was also my first time to see the shower room since it was renovated last December. I simply love the shower head. What a refreshing way to start the remaining half of my day in the office!
Early this morning, my husband and I also took a walk around our village, and I hope this is another bonding moment that we can look forward to during weekends. And as for my new lunch time habit? I really plan to religiously do it, more for health reasons and not so much for losing weight. OK, OK, I’ll be honest, I’m also looking forward to losing my excess weight through the help of my new habit. And lastly, I think I want tip no. 4 from the list of motivating tips to make walking fun, let’s see, I’ll buy it from my online income.
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Next the 5K run