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Balancing A Busy Schedule With Family Time

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today required a little more attention to the clock than my usual Saturday. Naturally, Saturday morning also meant my regular run, but I expected a busy schedule.

We had arranged to visit my sister’s house to celebrate both my wife’s and my mother’s birthdays, which meant I needed to finish my normal morning routine before it was time to leave.

So, as soon as I woke up, I put on my running clothes and headed outside. Unfortunately, the run itself was difficult.

Once again, my pace was disappointingly slow. I have been working hard to improve my speed, so seeing another slower result wasn’t exactly the encouraging start to the morning I had hoped for.

Fortunately, I wasn’t running against only one clock. I may have lost to my target pace, but I was still comfortably ahead of our departure time. I’ll count that as a different category of victory.

Once I got home, I didn’t have much time to contemplate my running performance. Saturday’s next contestant was waiting for me: the vacuum cleaner.

I finished vacuuming, took a shower, and finally made my way to my desk for breakfast. I still needed to fit in my planking and stretching exercises before we left, so the morning became a carefully choreographed sequence of running, cleaning, eating, exercising, and occasionally checking the clock.

Some Saturday mornings are relaxing. Others apparently require project management. Despite the full schedule, everything worked. We left on time and arrived at my sister’s house exactly as planned. Once there, the stopwatch could finally retire for the day.

We had a wonderful time catching up with everyone and celebrating the birthdays together. My brother-in-law made tacos for the occasion, and after a morning filled with running and exercise, I was more than prepared to participate enthusiastically in that part of the celebration.

My running pace may not have been what I wanted today, but the rest of the day went beautifully. That is worth remembering.

Not every successful day needs to include a personal best. Sometimes success means finishing the run, completing the chores, arriving on time, spending an afternoon with family…

and being rewarded with tacos.

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Birthday Celebrations, Lawn Mowing, and the Mystery of Four Pounds

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday.

She isn’t normally someone who makes a great production out of birthdays, so I was especially pleased that she was genuinely excited about the gift I chose for her. I bought her a collection of glow-in-the-dark acrylic paints. Apparently, I chose well.

She has already started experimenting with them and, judging from the number of ideas she has mentioned, the paints have acquired a rather ambitious project schedule. I suspect various objects around our house may soon begin glowing after the lights go out.

While my wife was happily experimenting with her birthday present, I was occupied with a rather different project.

I was trying to regain four pounds.

Apparently, my body had decided yesterday’s disappearance was merely temporary. I was so busy last week that my body couldn’t maintain the weight.

We also plan to try a new restaurant as a belated celebration of my wife’s birthday. Under ordinary circumstances, a calorie-dense restaurant meal might inspire a little nutritional guilt. At the moment, I am looking at it more as strategic replenishment. After today’s mowing session, those calories already have an assignment. Hopefully, they’ll help prevent another dramatic drop on tomorrow morning’s scale.

In the meantime, my wife has new paints to experiment with, I have regained my missing weight, and we have a birthday dinner to enjoy. All things considered, that sounds like a successful celebration. And if tomorrow’s scale disagrees, perhaps we will simply have to celebrate her birthday again.

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Summer Lawn-Mowing Session: The Workout I Never Signed Up For

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

After finishing this morning’s usual lawn-mowing session, I stepped onto the scale and was greeted by some encouraging news. I had gained a little more weight.

For the first time in quite a while, I found myself almost exactly in the middle of my target weight range. That may not sound particularly exciting, but after spending much of the summer trying to keep my weight from drifting downward, it felt like a genuine victory.

Around our house, mowing the lawn is less of a household chore and more of an endurance event. Our backyard sits on a fairly steep hill, which means every pass with the mower feels like a workout. Even though I use an electric mower, it still takes five or six hours to finish the entire yard if I attempt it all at once. I’ve learned that’s not a particularly wise idea. Instead, I divide the work over two days. My legs, and probably my back, seem to appreciate the compromise.

Even so, mowing burns an astonishing amount of energy. It has become one of the main reasons my weight fluctuates throughout the summer.

Before I took over the job, my wife handled the mowing herself with a hand-push mower. Looking back, I honestly have no idea how she managed it while working full-time. She also divided the work into several sessions. Even then, she insisted it felt like running a 10-kilometer race at full speed.

Having now inherited the responsibility, I’m no longer in a position to question that comparison.

In fact, I may owe her an apology for ever doubting it. Because all of this extra activity burns so many calories, I’ve been making a conscious effort to eat a little more throughout the day. The balancing act is delicate.

I need enough calories to maintain my weight, but I also have to respect the dietary restrictions that come with my kidney condition. So far, the strategy seems to be working. My recent lab results have remained stable, which is reassuring. Of course, maintaining weight isn’t something you accomplish once.

It’s something you accomplish again tomorrow. And the day after that.

If experience has taught me anything, tomorrow morning’s weigh-in may tell a different story. The day after mowing is often when I discover that several pounds have quietly disappeared.

At least now, I have a little room to spare. My hope is simple. I’d like the scale to decide that staying put is perfectly acceptable for a while. After all, sometimes the greatest fitness achievement isn’t losing weight or gaining weight. Sometimes it’s convincing the scale to stop being so adventurous.

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Building Muscle With Kidney Disease: A Recovery Story

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

After this morning’s mowing session, my garden’s cardio equivalent, I discovered something wonderful: I’ve finally hit the exact middle of my target weight range. After months of struggling to keep weight up, this feels like winning the wellness lottery.

Here’s the thing about recovery: it’s not linear. Three years ago, I couldn’t ask my brain to move my legs. My brain wasn’t taking calls. Stroke will do that to you. For months, I relearned how to walk with a walker, then without it. Eventually, I progressed from walking to running to jogging—each milestone a small revolution. Over the last 2-3 years, I’ve poured intentional energy into rebuilding muscle through resistance training, something my body desperately needed.

But here’s where it gets tricky: kidney problems and muscle-building are locked in a standoff. Building muscle demands protein; kidney disease demands I restrict it. Add summer yard chores—the kind that demand serious physical output—and weight maintenance becomes a high-wire act. I cycle through foods, strategically balancing activity, intake, and the restrictions my kidneys kindly insist upon. Ironically, resistance training actually helps my kidneys, yet the muscle I gain makes weight maintenance exponentially harder.

Tomorrow’s weigh-in will be telling. History says the day after heavy yard work, the scale drops significantly. But for once, I have a buffer. For once, I don’t have to panic about dropping below my range. Recovery isn’t just physical. It’s learning to celebrate the small wins, building strength within constraints, and finding your rhythm when your body keeps changing the rules.

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A Slow 10K Run and the Importance of Looking at the Long Term

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today’s 10-kilometer run was… let’s just say it wasn’t destined to become a personal record. It was a slow 10k run.

The morning actually started quite well. There wasn’t much rain, the temperature felt reasonable, and I headed out thinking it might be a comfortable run. Then the sun woke up. By the time I finished my first five kilometers, it seemed determined to remind everyone that it was still July in Tennessee. The temperature climbed, the humidity rose with it, and before long the entire route felt like a giant steam room.

With every kilometer, I could feel the heat draining my energy. My pace gradually slowed as if someone had quietly turned down the power on my legs. After several cooler mornings following the Independence Day heat wave, my body had become accustomed to more pleasant conditions. Returning to hot, humid weather felt like an unpleasant surprise. Running through that humidity was like jogging inside a sauna without the relaxing music. So, I briefly considered cutting the run short.

Yesterday’s run, however, had already been interrupted by a thunderstorm. I didn’t want to make a habit of stopping whenever conditions became difficult. There are certainly times when stopping is the right decision; lightning is one of them, but today’s challenge was simply uncomfortable, not unsafe.

So I kept going. I tried pushing harder. The weather responded by pushing back. In the end, I never found the extra speed I was hoping for.

What I did find was the finish line. Sometimes that is enough. One lesson running keeps teaching me is that improvement is rarely linear. Some days everything seems effortless. Other days every stride feels heavier than the last.

If I judged my progress by today’s run alone, I might conclude I wasn’t improving at all. Fortunately, one run tells only a tiny part of the story.

See The Improvement in a Long Period

When I compare where I am today with where I was a year ago, the difference is unmistakable. My endurance has improved. My consistency has improved. Even my recovery has improved.

The daily fluctuations matter far less than the long-term trend. That thought makes difficult days much easier to accept. Tomorrow is my scheduled rest day before beginning another week of training. The stopwatch will have another opportunity to challenge me.

And I’ll have another opportunity to prove that showing up consistently matters more than having one perfect run.

Hopefully…

the weather cooperates next time.

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A Cooler Morning and a Faster Run: Progress After the Heat Wave

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

This morning began with a small mistake. In my enthusiasm to get out the door, I completely forgot to put on my running headband. It wasn’t a disaster, but sweat kept trying to find its way into my eyes. A headband is one of those things you hardly notice, well, until you forget it.

The good news was that the weather more than made up for my oversight. After the intense heat around Independence Day, temperatures finally dropped. The heat wave wasn’t limited to the South, either. My wife mentioned that one of her colleagues in New York had been dealing with similarly extreme temperatures. For me, the cooler weather felt like a gift.

I don’t take holidays off from running, so I still completed my regular 10-kilometer run on the Fourth of July. Unfortunately, I ran in oppressive heat and humidity. Every kilometer felt like a negotiation with the weather, and it was one of the most difficult runs I had experienced in quite some time.

Today’s conditions were completely different. The cooler air made running noticeably more comfortable, and my pace improved immediately. I still didn’t reach my target pace, but I was faster than in every run I completed during last week’s heat wave. That counts as progress.

Weather affects every runner, but it hits me even harder because of my medical history.

Several years ago, I experienced a hemorrhagic stroke affecting my cerebellum. Since then, my body has struggled to regulate temperature as effectively as it once did. Hot, humid conditions are much more physically demanding for me than they used to be, so dramatic weather changes can significantly affect how I perform.

Knowing that helps me keep my expectations realistic. Some days, I am competing against the stopwatch. Other days, I am competing against the weather. The important thing is recognizing the difference.

Today’s run reminded me that last week’s slower times were not necessarily a sign that I was losing fitness. Sometimes your environment limits what your body can do, and the wisest response isn’t frustration but patience.

The cooler morning proved that the work I have been putting in is still paying off. I wasn’t as fast as I ultimately want to be. But I was faster than I was last week. And sometimes, that is exactly the evidence you need to know you are moving in the right direction. Tomorrow will bring another opportunity.

I’ll just try to remember one important piece of equipment before I leave the house.

The headband.

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When a Morning Run Meets a Summer Thunderstorm

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

This morning began with heavy rain tapping against the windows.

Instead of rushing outside, I reached for my weather app. According to the forecast, the rain should ease in about an hour. That sounded like a perfectly reasonable excuse to go back to sleep. So, I reset my alarm and happily returned to bed.

When I woke again, the house was quiet. The rain had stopped, or so I thought. I got dressed, laced up my running shoes, and headed out. Nashville’s weather has been a little unusual this year.

Normally, we receive plenty of rain from early spring into early summer, but this year’s rainy season seemed to arrive later than expected. June finally brought more regular rain, and even July has been filled with thunderstorms.

Earlier that morning, my wife had already gone for her run. She looked outside, decided the weather seemed good enough, and headed out with optimism. She came home completely soaked. Apparently, the weather had other plans.

I usually don’t let a little rain stop me either. When I started my run, the rain was still falling, but only lightly. I accepted that I would probably end up wet and settled into my normal pace.

Being soaked has never bothered me very much. Around the halfway point, however, the rain suddenly became much heavier. I briefly debated whether to turn around or keep going.

Every runner has that conversation with themselves.

“It’s only rain.”

“Maybe it will pass.”

“You’re already wet anyway.”

Then nature cast the deciding vote. A loud crack of thunder echoed across the sky. That ended the discussion immediately. Rain is merely inconvenient. Lightning is persuasive. I turned around and headed home. I didn’t complete my planned five kilometers, but I did manage to get part of the run finished before the weather took over.

Discipline is..

Sometimes we imagine discipline means refusing to stop. I think discipline also includes knowing when conditions have changed enough that continuing no longer makes sense. There will always be another morning to run. There doesn’t need to be another opportunity to test whether lightning can run faster than I can. I have no interest in discovering the answer to that question.

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Maintaining Weight with Chronic Kidney Disease: Every Pound Matters

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Yesterday, I stepped on the scale and discovered that I had lost nearly three pounds.

For many people, that might sound like good news. Maintaining weight with chronic kidney disease can be challenging.

For me, it is exactly the opposite.

Maintaining a healthy weight has become one of the more challenging parts of living with chronic kidney disease. The difficulty is not simply eating more. It is eating more without eating the wrong things.

If I had no dietary restrictions, the solution would be fairly straightforward. After running, strength training, and mowing our steep backyard, I could simply increase my protein intake to help my body recover.

Unfortunately, protein is one of the nutrients my kidneys struggle to process.

That means every meal requires a balancing act.

Last year, after struggling to maintain my weight for quite some time, my nephrologist gave me permission to increase my daily protein intake slightly. Before then, I ate only about 36 grams of protein each day.

It was a welcome adjustment.

Even so, moderation remains essential.

Protein is only one part of the equation. Potassium, phosphorus, and sodium also require close attention. Foods that many people think of as healthy—such as bananas or melon—can become foods that I have to enjoy only occasionally.

Living with kidney disease often means making decisions that seem backward to everyone else.

Our current approach comes from years of careful adjustments.

When I suffered my brain hemorrhage, doctors also discovered that my kidneys had already deteriorated to Stage 5 chronic kidney disease—the point where dialysis or a kidney transplant often becomes necessary. No one could fully explain why my kidneys had declined so severely. I had always exercised regularly and paid close attention to my diet.

My wife and I refused to give up.

Working closely with my doctors, we gradually adjusted medications, refined my diet, and monitored my health as carefully as possible. Over time, my kidney function improved enough that I moved into Stage 3. Today, I generally fluctuate between Stage 3 and Stage 4.

That may not sound dramatic, but to us, it represents years of consistent effort.

My long-term goal is simple.

I hope to preserve my kidney function for as long as possible. Medical research continues to advance, and every year brings new possibilities. If I can keep my kidneys functioning well enough for long enough, future treatments may offer options that don’t exist today.

That thought gives me hope.

This morning brought some encouraging news.

I had regained nearly two of the three pounds I had lost yesterday, putting me right at the lower edge of my target weight range.

I would still like to gain a little more, but I no longer feel as though I am drifting into unhealthy territory.

Sometimes progress isn’t dramatic.

Sometimes it is simply watching the scale move in the right direction while knowing that you protected your health along the way.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll step on the scale again.

Hopefully, it decides to continue cooperating.

After all, the scale and I have been negotiating for quite a few years now, and I would appreciate it if it finally became a little more reasonable.

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A Quiet Independence Day: The Joy of Taking Care of Things

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

We successfully survived both the Independence Day holiday and a week-long heat wave.

Looking ahead, next week’s forecast promises temperatures nearly ten degrees cooler. That may not sound dramatic on paper, but after several days of running through Nashville’s summer heat, it feels almost luxurious.

I’m looking forward to seeing whether my morning runs become a little more enjoyable.

Interestingly, my wife mentioned that one of her colleagues in New York had temperatures even higher than ours. It seems this year’s summer has decided not to limit itself to the South.

While many people celebrated Independence Day with fireworks and large gatherings, we took a much quieter approach.

Crowds have never really been our favorite way to celebrate, and neither of us has ever felt a strong desire to launch fireworks into the sky.

Instead, we raised our American flag.

For us, that small tradition carries meaning.

We try to treat the flag with respect by following the proper customs for displaying and caring for it. In many ways, that reflects how we approach most of the things we own.

We believe that if something serves us well, it deserves to be cared for.

Our computers often remain with us for well over a decade. My wife’s car recently celebrated its twentieth birthday, and it still runs beautifully because she faithfully changes the oil, takes it in for regular maintenance, and keeps it clean.

Taking care of things is usually less exciting than buying new ones.

It is also much less expensive.

After putting up the flag, we moved on to another holiday tradition of our own.

Cooking.

My wife prepared another batch of Nashville hot chicken, a recipe she learned after we moved here. It has become one of our favorite ways to enjoy a little local flavor without standing in long restaurant lines.

Meanwhile, I conducted another small kitchen experiment.

This week, I increased the baking temperature for both our pizza and our pastry bites.

The results were noticeably better.

That success actually began with an entirely different hobby.

My wife had purchased an oven thermometer while experimenting with polymer clay because she wanted to know the oven’s true temperature rather than relying solely on the control dial.

What we discovered was surprisingly simple.

Our oven wasn’t running too cool.

It was simply taking much longer to reach the target temperature than we had assumed.

For years, we had trusted the oven’s suggested five-minute preheat time. Once we began waiting until the thermometer confirmed the correct temperature, everything improved.

The pastry bites puffed beautifully.

The pizza developed a much better crust.

Sometimes the solution isn’t changing the recipe.

It’s simply giving the oven enough time to do its job.

Tomorrow’s weather looks cooler, which means I am already looking forward to my morning run.

After this week’s heat, ten fewer degrees almost sounds like nature’s way of saying, “You’re welcome.”

I’ll happily take it.

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Making the Most of a Day Filled with Doctor Appointments

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today was one of those days when my calendar seemed determined to outwork me.

I had not one, but two medical appointments: my annual eye examination and my hematology follow-up.

The hematology visits are relatively new. I began treatment in February, and thankfully the results have been encouraging. My energy has improved noticeably, and my running has benefited as well. Even so, my doctor believes I should continue treatment, so the appointments remain a regular part of my schedule.

The good news is that they are no longer every two weeks.

Now I only need to go every three weeks, which feels like meaningful progress.

Unfortunately, the appointments almost always land on Thursdays.

Thursday also happens to be lawn-mowing day.

Add an eye examination, a dental visit, or any other appointment, and my carefully organized schedule suddenly starts resembling an overbooked airport.

Last time, things became even more interesting because I had a nephrology appointment scheduled on the same day.

Those visits happen only once every quarter, but they were arranged back-to-back with another specialist. Since my wife couldn’t leave work during quarter-end closing, I took an Uber between appointments.

As an accountant, July is one of her busiest times of the year. Quarter-end waits for no one.

Originally, I thought I might go directly from today’s eye appointment to my hematologist.

Instead, I discovered there was a several-hour gap between the two.

At first, I considered simply waiting somewhere nearby, but my wife had a much better suggestion.

“Go home.”

She was absolutely right.

Rather than spending several hours sitting in a waiting room or a coffee shop, I was able to return home and actually accomplish something.

I bottled a batch of kombucha, worked through several household tasks, and crossed a number of items off my to-do list before it was time to leave again.

Having only a limited amount of time created an interesting sense of urgency.

Sometimes Parkinson’s Law—that work expands to fill the time available—works in reverse. Give yourself only a couple of hours, and suddenly every minute has a purpose.

By the time I headed to my second appointment, I felt surprisingly satisfied with how much I had managed to accomplish.

By the time I returned home afterward…

I was exhausted.

Running back and forth between appointments, errands, and chores may not qualify as an official endurance sport, but by the end of the day it certainly felt like one.

Still, I can’t complain too much. The appointments are helping. My health continues to improve, and that’s worth a few busy Thursdays.

Besides, next Thursday’s challenge will probably be waiting for me in the backyard.

The lawn never seems to schedule around my calendar.

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