Floods and Fitness

The Forest of Dean lies beside two great rivers – the Severn and the Wye. Having the Severn in flood is not especially unusual, but (with a few notable exceptions) the Wye has generally behaved itself in recent times. Not this time, though. At one point it rose to more than 7 metres above its normal level, causing widespread flooding all the way downriver from the Welsh hills.

Brockweir

My heart goes out to those whose homes have been deluged by muddy water and stinking, overflowing sewers; not least to the ones who felt confident that flood waters would never rise that far.

We didn't venture out much during the worst of the storm, content to stay warm, dry and safe in our little home. I was able, though, to snap the first of these photos during a visit to friends in Brockweir.

The next two photos appeared in a local paper and a Facebook group. They're of Bibblins Bridge, near Symonds Yat and illustrate, better than any words of mine, what 7 metres of floodwater looks like.

It seems churlish to bemoan the rain and mud, when people's homes have been flooded only a few miles from where I live.  But it's the unremitting rain and the state of my favourite footpaths that have curtailed my walking and left this blog devoid of recent posts.

Wondering what effect this inactivity may be having on my fitness, I interrogated my super-clever smartwatch. The bad news was all too easy to see; over the past two weeks I had averaged just 6355 steps a day, or (to put it another way) about 25,000 steps a week below what the experts say I should be achieving.

In consequence, am I in danger of growing decrepit before my time? No... that's silly; two years of inactivity perhaps, but not two weeks. What I wasn't ready for, though, was the discovery that my health has actually improved very slightly!

Two weeks ago my fitness level was 36-40. This Cardio Fitness level is unique to FitBit and intended to show how fit I am for my age and gender. Quoting from the app...

This level is determined by your Cardio Fitness Score, which is an estimate of your VO2 Max (the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise).  Your score is based on your resting heart rate and user profile.

Crikey! I've double-checked my user profile and it's correct. I know that my Body Mass Index (BMI) is high at 27, whereas it's supposed to be no more than 25. However, I've lost 9lb since rejoining Slimming World, so it's heading in the right direction.  What will my Fitness Level be like when I hit my target weight (hopefully some time in May-June) and when I get back to a normal walking routine?  Is it in danger of going off the chart, I wonder?

What I do know is that I meet far too many people in their 70s who seem incapable of brisk or long-distance walking without getting breathless.  Perhaps I'm just lucky, though I believe there's more to it than that. Maintaining a healthy heart really is important.