The journey continues...

 I had promised to give an update once I was firmly ensconced in Cardiac Rehab which had been delayed for a couple of months when they shut down for COVID. Well, I've been going for about a month and a half so thought I'd share what it's like. The schedule is three times a week which for me means Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and each session is two hours long. On Monday's there's an hour-long educational lecture on healthy lifestyle choices, on Wednesday there's a cooking class on preparing healthy meals, and on Friday there's an informational video on everything from stress management to how to properly exercise. After the first hour we head over to the gym where we're hooked up to monitors and then we warm up for five minutes and then do 15 minutes of exercise within our target heart rate ranges. Then after the fifteen minutes is up we switch to another piece of equipment for another 15 minutes. Then there is stretching, cool down, and then we're done for the day. There are always exercise physiologists and RN's watching over us and due to COVID restrictions there's only 6 to 8 of us in each class. They also monitor blood pressure before, during, and after exercise. As each week goes by you do find yourself able to tackle substantially harder workouts. On days I don't go to Rehab I'm out on my bike for one to two hours or taking a long walk. 

This last weekend I was up in Leadville and rode for the first time since April at high altitude (Leadville brags about being the two mile high city). We did the Mineral Belt Trail which can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it. I took it fairly easy and used as n excuse the making of the video below. Still, it felt really good to be back riding the "Belt". If you have never done the Mineral Belt Trail its really a special treat as it winds through the Leadville Mining district with lots of signage along the route sharing the history and fun facts of what you are seeing. As much as I appreciate Cardiac Rehab, I'll take riding the Colorado High Country any day! Plus it was a nice break from the heat down in Denver, with temps in the 70's when we were riding and hardly a cloud in the blue Colorado sky. Enjoy the video as you come along for the ride!