I'd like to say that I haven't exactly been slacking on the blog, but school has been far from accommodating for a while now. Regardless, I made the yearly visit to my pulmonologist a few months back but neglected to mention that I've officially returned to "normal" pulmonary health. The determination was made via a lung function test, which is conducted in a slick little hermetically sealed capsule that allows for the proper measurement of lung capacity, the rate at which air can be moved to and from the lungs, and even how capable the lungs are at both oxygenating and removing carbon dioxide from the blood. Nifty, eh?
Now, although I'm only sitting at the very bottom (80%) of the normal range for my particular demographic, this has been achieved in spite of the temporary limitations that past injuries have placed on both the intensity and types of exercise I can sustain. In light of this reality and the fact that those constraints are slowly falling by the wayside, I'd say that I'm doing quite well and will be able to make considerable progress in the coming 6-12 months, particularly when I can resume more intensive conditioning protocols sometime next year.
In any case, it will likely be a couple more months before I can return to my martial arts club or begin gradually reintroducing the aforementioned higher intensity stuff, but even the imminent prospect of that "return to form" is quite heartening. I've said it before, but it's worth saying again: nothing worthwhile that we seek to achieve is ever going to be easy, but few things will convey a greater sense of purpose or a more significant degree of mental, emotional, and even spiritual endurance than their avid pursuit.
Now, although I'm only sitting at the very bottom (80%) of the normal range for my particular demographic, this has been achieved in spite of the temporary limitations that past injuries have placed on both the intensity and types of exercise I can sustain. In light of this reality and the fact that those constraints are slowly falling by the wayside, I'd say that I'm doing quite well and will be able to make considerable progress in the coming 6-12 months, particularly when I can resume more intensive conditioning protocols sometime next year.
In any case, it will likely be a couple more months before I can return to my martial arts club or begin gradually reintroducing the aforementioned higher intensity stuff, but even the imminent prospect of that "return to form" is quite heartening. I've said it before, but it's worth saying again: nothing worthwhile that we seek to achieve is ever going to be easy, but few things will convey a greater sense of purpose or a more significant degree of mental, emotional, and even spiritual endurance than their avid pursuit.
