To Exercise or Not To Exercise, That Is the (Tricky) Question

The year before I got sick I exercised 220 times.  The year I got sick I didn’t even go to work that many days.  So it’s pretty safe to say my life and my exercise routine have been transformed by my fatigue.

I last exercised on Mother’s Day.  Because it’s a day most English speakers agree on, I don’t need to tell you that was 9 days ago.  Since then, like almost every day I exist now, I have felt ill. I have had several crashes, one meaning I had to go home from work hours early.  So I didn’t exercise and I crashed. But the week before, I did exercise and I crashed for a whole day.

So, if every day feels like I have the flu, should I exercise?

To be honest, there’s no clear cut answer. I just got home from work. It’s a super warm May day here in Sydney.  A crazy 27 degrees. If you’re going to exercise in an outdoor pool, as the sun sets, and we head into winter, then today was the day to do it.

So I did.

When I started seeing my exercise physiologist at the Fatigue Centre, he said cut back on my swimming. “Average rate heart of 135bpm Georgina”, he said, “That’s it.”  So I tried. He said “One kilometre only, Georgina”.

I said, “Ok”.

So tonight I went swimming. I said to myself - less than 30 minutes. Just do 20 laps and see how you go. I did 24 laps. 27 minutes. Average heart rate 141bpm. At the end I was tired. I pulled myself out of the water.

But now I feel euphoric. My joints ached through the swimming (what a lovely symptom that is!) but now I ache pleasantly in my muscles as well. My eyes looked at the dusky sunset and I was calmed. My ears heard the rumble of the commuter train and I thought this is where I’d rather be.

I don’t know how I’ll feel tomorrow. I might be ok. I might feel like death warmed up. I have 3.5 hours of interviews and another meeting as well. So if I’m going to be really wiped, it’s a bad day to do it.

But at the moment, I feel glad I made the effort to swim.